ARROW MCLAREN’S MILWAUKEE DOUBLE-HEADER PUT TWO LIVERIES ON ONE CHEVROLET
At the Milwaukee Mile, Arrow McLaren faced an unusual logistical challenge when rain disrupted the opening race of its 2026 INDYCAR double-header. The team had planned two liveries for Nolan Siegel’s No. 6 Chevrolet; instead, a compressed schedule turned the concept into a demanding overnight exercise in speed, precision and adaptability.
AI-assisted voice playback. Starts only when you choose Play.
A race weekend is normally measured in laps, pit stops, and finishing positions. At Milwaukee, Arrow McLaren had another metric to contend with: how quickly a race car could change its identity.
The team entered the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES double-header at the Milwaukee Mile with plans to run two different liveries on Nolan Siegel’s No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. The first was rooted in McLaren’s familiar papaya orange, accented in white and carrying Kohler branding. The second was conceived around blue accents and Chevrolet and GM’s Future Techs initiative. What appeared on track as a simple visual change required an intricate piece of race-weekend logistics behind the scenes.
The Milwaukee Mile was the only double-header on the 2026 INDYCAR calendar, with two 250-lap races scheduled across the weekend. The historic 1.015-mile oval, located in West Allis, Wisconsin, presented the team with an already compressed timetable. Then the weather intervened.
Saturday’s Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 was stopped by rain after 90 laps. With insufficient daylight remaining to dry the track and associated access areas, INDYCAR postponed the completion of the race until Sunday morning. The second 250-lap race remained scheduled for 1pm, followed by the final 160 laps of the first race later that evening.
For Arrow McLaren’s livery specialists, the altered schedule transformed the original plan. Instead of rewrapping the No. 6 on Saturday evening as intended, the team began work at approximately 6 am on Sunday. Three specialists were responsible for removing the first vinyl wrap and applying the Chevrolet and GM Future Techs design before the second race. They would then have to reverse the process once again, preparing the car for the delayed conclusion of Race 1.
The team had also simplified the second design to make the changeover more manageable. The concept had been developed with GM Design, with the design process taking approximately three days. The speed of that development reflected the same urgency that would later be required in the garage.
Liveries occupy an unusual position in motorsport. They are branding, but they are also part of the visual language of a racing team, changing the way a car is perceived at speed and distinguishing one entry from another. In this case, the No. 6 became a moving demonstration of two different partnerships within the same weekend.
The first scheme carried McLaren’s traditional papaya orange with white detailing and Kohler sponsorship. The second shifted towards blue, incorporating Chevrolet and GM Future Techs branding. The programme is designed to connect prospective automotive service students with the GM Automotive Service Educational Program, or GM ASEP, a two-year associate degree pathway combining classroom education with hands-on, paid training at participating dealerships. GM’s current programme information directs prospective students towards ASEP-affiliated schools across the United States.
That connection gives the livery change a purpose beyond visual novelty. Automotive racing depends on a broad ecosystem of engineers, technicians, mechanics and specialists, many of whom work outside the spotlight of the circuit. Bringing an automotive workforce initiative onto a Chevrolet INDYCAR entry places that relationship directly within the environment where technical skill and rapid decision-making are visible every race weekend.
For Chevrolet, motorsport has long occupied a significant place in the brand’s history. The company was founded in 1911 by Louis Chevrolet and William C. “Billy” Durant, with the Chevrolet Motor Car Company established in Detroit. Louis Chevrolet’s experience as a racing driver was central to the brand’s early identity, while the company’s first production car, the Classic Six, combined engineering ambition with a more accessible automotive proposition. Chevrolet subsequently developed a broad reputation across road and racing vehicles, becoming one of General Motors’ principal marques.
That racing heritage continues through Chevrolet’s contemporary involvement in INDYCAR, where it supplies engines to teams including Arrow McLaren. McLaren itself has a substantial history in the series, having won the Indianapolis 500 in 1972, 1974 and 1976. McLaren Racing returned to INDYCAR competition in 2017 before partnering with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2020; it took majority ownership in 2021 and assumed full ownership ahead of the 2025 season. Arrow McLaren fielded three Chevrolet-powered cars in 2026 for Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel and Christian Lundgaard.
The Milwaukee weekend ultimately belonged to O’Ward. Driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, he won both races, becoming the first driver since Rick Mears in 1981 to win two INDYCAR SERIES races on the same day. The result also brought O’Ward’s 2026 victory tally to three.
For Siegel, the results were more modest: 13th in Race 1 and 17th in Race 2. Yet the No. 6 was part of a strong overall weekend for Chevrolet-powered entries. In the completed results of Race 1, Team Chevy drivers occupied the top seven positions, while Chevrolet-powered drivers filled the first four places in Race 2.
The weekend also represented a significant point in Arrow McLaren’s developing competitive story. O’Ward’s victories came alongside Christian Lundgaard’s first career oval podium, while the team continued to operate from its newly established McLaren Racing Center in Indianapolis. The facility, unveiled ahead of the 2026 season, was expanded to 86,000 square feet as the team consolidated its operations in a new home.
Chevrolet’s current official US dealer locator provides the brand’s verified retail network for those looking to explore its road-car range, separate from its motorsport programme.
What happened at Milwaukee illustrates a less visible side of racing. The spectacle may be measured in victories and podiums, but competitive motorsport is also an exercise in preparation, coordination and responding to circumstances that cannot be controlled. For Arrow McLaren, a weekend intended to showcase two liveries became an accelerated test of all three.
The No. 6 Chevrolet ultimately appeared in both designs as planned, despite a race schedule rewritten by rain. On a circuit where fractions of a second can determine the outcome, the ability to work quickly without losing precision proved just as important in the garage as it was on the track.