INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan has announced this will be his last year as a primary driver in the IndyCar series.
The announcement was made at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday.
This will be his 23rd season of competition.
Kanaan, 45, is set to compete in the five oval races of the NTT INDYCAR Series season.
He is scheduled to begin his final campaign, which will be called the "TK Last Lap," with the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24. Kanaan will then run Saturday night races at Texas Motor Speedway (June 6), Richmond Raceway (June 27), Iowa Speedway (July 18) and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (Aug. 22) to close out his final season.
"I look back at all these years racing in INDYCAR and the first thing that comes to my mind is how fortunate I've been to be in the top level of the sport for this long. I walked into this sport as a 23-year-old with lots of hopes and dreams and I can say, without a doubt, that I accomplished everything I wanted," Kanaan said.
Kanaan did say he could return for a future Indianapolis 500, but not for another partial or full IndyCar season.
In his career, Kanaan had 17 wins, 15 pole positions and 78 podium finishes. That was from his 377 career starts, which ranks him just behind the 407 starts made by the legendary Mario Andretti.
It was in his 12th attempt at the Indianapolis 500 in 2013 that he cemented his place in history.
As for the future, Kanaan isn't quite sure yet.
"For the future, who knows?" he said. "I'd love to still be involved with INDYCAR to some degree. I've also had offers to race in a number of different series, but that's not my priority at the moment."