Kanaan, 48, has pledged to retire after his 22nd Indy 500 start on Sunday, having returned for a one-off race with McLaren after finishing third with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2022.
That was his only IndyCar start last year in a career that began back in the CART days in 1998 in America’s premier open-wheel series.
He won the Indy 500 with KV Racing Technology in 2013 and was the 2004 IndyCar Series champion with Andretti Green Racing.
Kanaan will start the 107th running of the 500 in eighth place, after a dramatic final run in Saturday’s qualifying session put him through to the Top 12 shootout.
“It was a roller coaster of emotion,” he said. “It was one of my best qualifying efforts on Saturday, which is amazing, coincidence and all, save the best for last, but we were out all day long.
“I said, ‘I'm not happy. I've got to give these people some excitement’. I said, ‘We're either going to make it or we're going to not come back on four wheels.’ And we made it.
“It's all or nothing. At the end of the day, if something bad happens, Zak [Brown, McLaren Racing boss] cannot fire me because I'm done anyways.”
Source: Autosport