Nathan Brown | IndyStar

Clark Wade, Clark.Wade@Indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – With just more than two weeks remaining, Tony Kanaan is under the gun to achieve what he calls his “Christmas wish”: a solidified IndyCar ride for the 2020 season. Tuesday, the series veteran did everything but flash a signed contract to confirm his return to the IndyCar paddock for his 19th season.

“We’re close,” said Kanaan when asked about his plans during an event announcing Global Medical Response as the new title sponsor for the newly named GMR Grand Prix. The race will be May 9 and kick off Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’ll be in IndyCar next year. We don’t know the extent yet. We’re trying. Obviously, it’s no secret the team (A.J. Foyt Racing) is still looking for some funding, but I’ll be back, hopefully.”

Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Since joining IndyCar legend A.J. Foyt’s team with a full-season ride starting with the 2018 season, Kanaan has registered just eight top-10 finishes in the series, highlighted by a third-place finish at Gateway in August. It was the team’s first podium finish since Takuma Sato’s runner-up finish in Detroit in 2015. Foyt, who has run a pair of full-season IndyCar entries since 2015, hasn’t picked up a race win since Sato’s Long Beach victory in 2013.

Kanaan’s 16th and 15th-place finishes in the series standings the past two years represent his worst end-of-the-year finishes since he broke into what was then known as the Indy Racing League full-time in 2003 with Andretti Green Racing. Previously, he'd finished 10th or worse just twice.

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Recently, his team of the past two years has been mired in frustrations. Since Kanaan and Matheus Leist paired up for the start of the 2018 season, they've combined for fewer top 10's (10) than DNFs (11 - three crashes and one mechanical issue for Kanaan, along with three crashes, three mechanical issues and one bout of handling trouble for Leist according to Racing Reference). The garage has also struggled to find effective damper technology to help get the most out of their machines, while dealing with a shorthanded engineering staff in comparison to most other teams around the paddock.

Even more devastating, the team’s major sponsor, ABC Supply Co., announced a couple of months ago its plans to scale back its involvement in IndyCar to just the Indy 500 in 2020.

The future of Leist with A.J. Foyt Racing is also uncertain, after Larry Foyt told IndyStar in June that the 21-year-old’s status was still being determined. Following those comments from Foyt, Leist cracked the top 15 just twice in the final eight races of the year, highlighted by eighth at Portland.

In contrast, Foyt said he desired to do everything in the team’s power to help Kanaan finish his IndyCar career on a high note.

"I think we all feel like there’s unfinished business there," said Foyt in June. "And that goes for him, too. I want him to go out on top. He definitely doesn’t want, toward the end of his career, to just be riding around. He wants to win races. We still feel like we have a chance to win the Indy 500 and other races as well. We’re in this together, so I think he’ll definitely be with us next year."

Kanaan echoed those sentiments Tuesday, adding that he hoped hope that positive news could come quickly.