Kyle Moyer’s time as a free agent didn’t last long.

The veteran team manager who was one of three executives released last month by Team Penske has been hand-picked by Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan to join the Indianapolis-based NTT INDYCAR SERIES program. Moyer will be the organization’s director of competition beginning with next week’s test at Iowa Speedway.

Kanaan and Moyer worked together for years at Andretti Global when Kanaan was a driver. Moyer was the team manager when Kanaan won the INDYCAR SERIES championship in 2004.

Moyer left Michael Andretti’s team in 2015 to join Roger Penske’s organization. Moyer, along with Team President Tim Cindric and Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, were released by Team Penske in advance of the recent Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge after the cars of defending champion Josef Newgarden and Will Power were found with unapproved modifications ahead of qualifying.

At Arrow McLaren, Moyer will replace Kanaan as the race strategist for Nolan Siegel, allowing Kanaan to work with all three Arrow McLaren drivers on race weekends.

Kanaan told the Associated Press that almost every team in the paddock tried to hire Moyer, but the relationship the two of them have gave McLaren the edge.

“Kyle is one of the best strategists in the paddock, so talking about his qualities, not just about him as a human being, he knows a lot about racing,” Kanaan told the AP. “Kyle probably is one of the top guys of knowledge of INDYCAR. He’s been around it his entire life.”

Moyer grew up in Monrovia, Indiana, and was brought into the sport by the Bettenhausen family.

Kirkwood Credits Decision Making to Surge

Series points leader Alex Palou had the spotlight for most of the first half of the season. A dominant start featured five wins in six races, including an Indy 500 victory, and made him the undisputed championship favorite.

But lately, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood has turning heads – and is turning the title tide.

Kirkwood has surged to third in the standings, 75 points behind Palou, thanks to wins in the only three races Palou hasn’t claimed. Kirkwood had just two wins in his first 53 series races. He now has three wins in the past six races.

“I think he’s always been there,” Colton Herta said of his teammate heading into Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR (1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). “Maybe he's gotten a little bit better at how to race and when to go fast in races, and that just comes (with experience). But I think he's driving pretty similar to last year. He just had bad luck with penalties last year.”

Kirkwood agrees the difference isn’t raw speed but decision making. He cited last year’s fifth-place finish at Road America as an example of when pushed too hard early in the race trying to stave off eventual third-place finisher Scott McLaughlin. The effort backfired and opened the door for McLaughlin and Palou to pass.

“I realized later it was inevitable,” Kirkwood said. “I pushed too hard too early.”

We’ll see what he learned from last year.

Dixon Penalized for Impeding DeFrancesco

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon said he was trying to create a gap to maximize his chances of advancing in qualifying, but race officials said Dixon impeded the hot lap of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco during the first round of qualifying. The penalty proved costly to the Chip Ganassi Racing veteran.

Rather than advancing to the Fast 12 and perhaps earning a top-10 starting position, Dixon lost his two fastest laps and was reduced to the 25th starting position. Only three times in his career has he started farther back, including 26th earlier this year in the Children’s of Alabama INDYCAR Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. He finished 12th in that race.

“It is what it is, man,” he said in ending an interview with FOX’s Kevin Lee on pit road.