The 22-year-old Chicago-born American Lithuanian landed one of the most coveted seats on the IndyCar Series grid after spending the past two seasons with Dale Coyne Racing, and the adjustment has kept him busy since the checkered flag fell on the 2023 season four weeks ago at Laguna Seca.
“Since the season ended and everybody came back from their vacations, I managed to start to do a few days at the shop and meet all the people,” Malukas said. “It was definitely a long day meeting a lot of new people, and I was trying to remember all the new faces and names, but everybody was amazing and made me feel like family. Actually a few of the people I met were people that I grew up with in go-karting, and they were showing me pictures of when I was very little, like eight years old, still playing with Hot Wheels.”
We're so proud of you. 🥰👊 pic.twitter.com/2qb7jJRwAl
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) September 29, 2023
Malukas, who will drive the Chevrolet-powered No. 6 Arrow McLaren entry, has also been thrust right into a frantic offseason. Last week, he, along with Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, was on hand for IndyCar's announcement of Milwaukee's return next season. Then a couple of days later, he got a first taste of the new hybrid engine set for the ’24 season with what he called “a very good test” at Sebring International Raceway.
“It was of course a lot of new things happening - new team, new engine - but overall, the hybrid stuff I think is a massive plus,” he said. “It all went very well.” There are also plans in the works for a full-time move from Chicago to Indianapolis over the course of the next month in an effort to be closer to the team’s shop and build chemistry with his new co-workers ahead of next season.
“Yeah, things have changed definitely quite a bit,” said Malukas, who has a career-best IndyCar finish of second (Gateway, 2022). “It's been a big change just even from outside of a racing perspective. This is going to be the first time I'm going to be moving out of the Chicago area. Down in Indy, it's going to be a new place for me. So, it's a lot of big life changes going on and a lot of new connections and a new format that I've never worked with before. It's just trying to get used to all of it. But from my side, all of it has been amazing. I've enjoyed every single change that's happened and just looking forward to the next big move.”
All of the changes are part of why there is still an element of surrealness, too.
“From the announcement until now, it's been a lot of different emotions as well,” he said. “It's been a rollercoaster; excited, then nervous, then back to excited, then feeling comfortable and just happy. All have been very, very good. And I'm just still pinching myself that this is all happening, and it just makes me so happy. I walk around wherever I go, I just feel like I've achieved another dream of mine that I've had since I was a kid.“
