ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — In the latest twist of an ugly story involving social media abuse and hatred, Agustin Canapino “will be taking a leave of absence” from Juncos Hollinger Racing’s No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet this weekend at Road America.
Indy NXT winner Nolan Siegel, who attempted to make the Indy 500 last month after making his IndyCar debut in the 2024 season opener, will make his second career start in place of Canapino.
In a statement, Juncos Hollinger Racing said, “The growth of online abuse and harassment resulting from the events of this week have led to a very difficult experience for Canapino, the team and the entire IndyCar fan base, and the safety of Agustin and the rest of the competitors has to be considered first and foremost. Abuse, hatred, and harassment in any form is a detriment to this sport, and we must prioritize the mental and physical well-being of both our drivers and our competition.
“Online abuse is unacceptable, and we need to ensure that our drivers are prepared both mentally and physically when they get in the car,” said Brad Hollinger, Co-Owner of Juncos Hollinger Racing.
“We are saddened by the events that led to this scenario.”
The team’s statement did not include any reference to team co-owner Richardo Juncos.
During the IndyCar practice broadcast on Peacock, NBC Sports’ Georgia Henneberry reported that Canapino was at the track Friday before the team put Siegel in the car.
NBCSports.com spoke exclusively with David O’Neill, the Juncos Hollinger team principal about the decision to pull Canapino from the Chevrolet after Siegel completed his first practice with the team Friday late afternoon at Road America.
“It happened pretty quickly,” O’Neill told NBCSports.com. “What we do is look after our staff. Agustin is an employee, and we have been monitoring the situation since 3 o’clock on Sunday at Detroit. We put our statement out which was we are not going to talk about it anymore. We’ve done what we need to do. We’ve supported that we don’t agree with the online abuse.
“Of course, there is nothing you can really do with it. It got worse and worse for whatever reason, and it started to affect Agustin.
“At that point, we had to take a decent look at the whole situation and understand how he was feeling, whether he was ready for a weekend like this, and if he could commit to it.
“As the week progressed, it got closer and closer to a decision. We made the decision about 1 p.m. today. We spoke with him and said, ‘All the mental abuse you are suffering, we are going to make the call to pull you out of the car this weekend,’ which we did.”
O’Neill admitted that Canapino wanted to stay in the car to race Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, despite the international turmoil facing the driver from Argentina.
“Like everyone, he’s a racer and he wanted to race,” O’Neill said. “We have to think of the safety side as well, whether he is ready for it. Any mistakes made out there, whether he did or didn’t make them, they are a risk. That’s our job, we have to make decisions and it’s an educated decision we made, so we went with it.”
The decision came on a turbulent Friday during an already intense week for JHR that got even more chaotic 20 minutes into Friday’s practice session. Romain Grosjean, who drives the team’s No. 77, went nose-first into the Turn 14 tire barrier. Grosjean was OK after the incident.
The decision to put Siegel in its other car comes in the aftermath of an incident in last Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix. Arrow McLaren driver Theo Pourchaire, who was penalized after running into Canapino during the race, said he received online abuse and death threats from Canapino’s fan base.
Arrow McLaren and JHR both released statements condemning online hate. But on Thursday, Arrow McLaren severed a strategic alliance with JHR after social media activity by Canapino, who posted that he also was subjected to abuse and also liked several posts questioning whether Pourchaire received threats.
“This decision follows actions that occurred earlier this week on social media in regards to an on-track incident,” Arrow McLaren said in a statement announcing the end of its JHR alliance. “As reflected in the team’s social media community code, Arrow McLaren will not tolerate any form of abuse or discrimination and totally condemns the online abuse directed toward our team and driver.”
IndyCar also released a statement Thursday: “No one should be the victim of online abuse or threats. IndyCar has been in touch with both teams to discuss this matter and made certain where we stand. We all have a responsibility to reinforce a welcoming atmosphere and firmly denounce clear violations of online conduct.”
In its Friday statement, JHR said it was “working directly with IndyCar to create a better community for our fans, drivers and team members, uniting to make IndyCar a welcome sport for all.”
O’Neill told NBCSports.com that the end of the alliance between the two teams is a major setback for Juncos Hollinger.
“It’s a knock for us for sure,” O’Neill said. “We just have to gather ourselves together and move on from it. We appreciate the alliance, and as we worked together, we got a good job done. It’s unfortunate it has come to the end.
“There are a couple Chevy teams out there. We are still spinning from the last week. The main thing to do is stabilize the team. We have 60 or 70 people here that rely on us to make good decisions.”
It’s the third time during the past two seasons that Canapino has been involved in a situation of online driver abuse. Last year, former teammate Callum Ilott was threatened after being involved in incidents with Canapino at Long Beach and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
“You have no control over things on social media, especially when it involved countries,” O’Neill said. “It’s like a game of football. If I support a team and you support a team and a penalty is called, whether you agree with it or not, and a goal is scored, the call stands and there is nothing you can do about it.
“We can’t control it. We can only stay and understand it and stay on top of it and try to control our staff.”
Siegel was rushed into action quickly.
Just as Friday’s practice was about to begin, the crew was working frantically to prepare the seat and pedals of the car to fit the new driver. Adjustments had to be made and the Indy NXT driver was able to get on course to complete 18 laps around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. His best lap was 137.488 mph.
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was the fastest at 140.063 mph in the No. 10 DHL Honda followed by Andretti Global’s Colton Herta at 139.955 mph in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Santino Ferrucci was third at 139.804 mph in the No. 14 Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing.
“On track I think the session went really well,” Siegel said. “We had no issues going through what we wanted to get through. I made progress every outing. I was being super conservative. Getting thrown into this is not the easiest thing. It’s also not an easy track to just go out and push hard from the beginning. This track is super high commitment and super fast, so I took my time to get up to speed. I feel it went smoothly and now we have a good base to work off.
“Now I feel like we can get the weekend going properly. I can meet everyone as I only had like 15 minutes to get ready to do this. It’s not an easy situation but really happy to be here and excited to be working with the team.”
O’Neill said Siegel was the best available driver in the paddock who could be ready for Friday’s practice session in such short time.
“It definitely helps and of course there are several drivers out there that are not here in the paddock,” O’Neill said. “We had half an hour to gather it together. He has experience. He is a sensible young driver, and he is the future. We took the opportunity to put him in the car.
“I think Nolan did great. He was up there. He’s not too far off. The experience he has at the track, jumping out of another car, it’s completely different and the track has literally no grip here. It’s a feature and not a fault and it is something he got used to pretty quickly. We need to support him through this weekend, give him a good car underneath him and see what he can do with it.”
Because of Arrow McLaren’s connection to Canapino exiting the car for Siegel, NBCSports.com attempted to speak to Pourchaire and Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward.
The Arrow McLaren PR staff declined to make Pourchaire available and said Ward was “swamped.”
