INDIANAPOLIS – Think of this weekend’s 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 (11 a.m. ET/NBC/INDYCAR Radio Network) as that kind of all-in poker moment for AJ Foyt Racing. No, they’re not folding if they don’t win Sunday’s race, but one of the oldest teams in the NTT IndyCar Series knows that the prestigious race is their best shot of victory this season.

During the IndyCar Media Day way back in February, Tony Kanaan said that he didn’t think that they were quite there yet in terms of race pace to win at most places in 2019. The one place he thought that they did stand a chance though – Indianapolis. But, after eight practice sessions and two days of qualifying, Kanaan is worried that those chances aren’t as good as last.

Last year, both Kanaan and his then rookie teammate of Matheus Leist started in Row 4. It was easily their best showing of the season. Leist, played it safe all month en route to a 13th place finish.

Kanaan, was strong and quickly found his way to the front in the race. He led 19 laps and was arguably one of the top three drivers in that race. There wasn’t much of a different between Will Power, Ed Carpenter and Kanaan’s No. 14 Chevrolet.

Unfortunately, after a mid race pit stop, Kanaan got a cut tire and had to hit pit road for an unscheduled stop. That took him off the lead lap and forced him to push. While he did unlap himself, he did push a little too hard as he got in trouble and crashed in Turn 2. He’d finish 25th.

While he thought they’d be strong again this year, he thinks that everyone else stepped up their games a bit more which is why he has to drive different this go around.

“You know, this year has been a very difficult year for us,” said Kanaan. “We had a very rough start. I don’t think we’re as competitive as we were last year here, unfortunately. I believe a lot of the teams actually stepped up. I mean, last year we were in the top eight every day, and in the race, we led the race a few laps.

“To be honest, I would love to tell you yes. I think anything can happen, but I don’t feel like we’re there. We will be working on it, but this still can be our best race this year. Like I said, we’ve been fighting a lot of demons and trying to get going towards the right direction, and I think — I mean, look at Simon (Pagenaud). I think he’s one that I always look up for, the first couple races he’s been up, and he’s been really good, and then all of a sudden you don’t know what — it’s like, what’s going on.

“But I haven’t done anything different. For us, the importance of having a good race here, it’s high. I think we had all the focus over the winter as far as the team, we focused on the ovals, especially here. My boss (AJ Foyt) is like Simon’s boss (Roger Penske). That’s all he cares is about this place. Everything else comes second. I think we still have a pretty good possibility to have a good result. Am I going to have as good a car as I had last year? I don’t think so, but it is what it is. Sometimes that’s the way it goes.

Kanaan, has led at least one lap in seven straight ‘500’s. He has two top five finishes in his last three tries and was obviously well on his way to a third straight last year before that cut tire. Since 2010, Kanaan has five top five finishes in the prestigious race. Unfortunately, this is about the only place he’s had much success lately. He starts 16th on Sunday.

Kanaan, also brings in a 71 race winless streak. He hasn’t won since the 2014 season finale at Fontana, which was his only win in the No. 10 entry for Chip Ganassi Racing. That ultimately was the reason he wasn’t retained with the team for 2018. Over his past 149 series starts, he has just two wins. In his previous 122 races, he won 13 times including the 2004 championship.

So, for him and this point of his career, it’s time to win and if this is the best opportunity to do so, that’s even more intensity for him. But, he said that he has to temper the fire inside on Sunday.

“Well, that changes everything,” Kanaan said on if not having a car capable of winning changes his approach. “I think when you have a car to win, you race one way. When you have a car to finish in the top 10, you race in a different way. You’re more aggressive and you’re — so to me, for us, it’s important to get a solid result. You know, like I said, we’ve been finishing 12th, 13th.

“I mean, Matheus (Leist) had a pretty good run in the rain at the GP. He got extremely lucky with the strategy, but he drove well in the rain. We got a top 4 finally. So I think for us that’s what we need.

“I think I’ll be a little bit more conservative in the race. They’re expecting me to be conservative on the starts and restarts, but that’s just what I do, and we’ll see. 20 laps to go if we’re in the mix in the top 5, I’m going to go for it, but if not, we’ll try to get, I think, a realistic top 10 for us here would be a pretty good result.

AJ Foyt Racing in general hasn’t contended in a while. Their last win came back in 2013 at Long Beach. That’s a 105 race winless streak for them. Furthermore, Takuma Sato’s win in April of that year is Foyt’s only win since the 2003 season.

They’ve been in a massive rebuild mode lately and trying to get back on track – hence the signing of Kanaan in 2018.

This organization has scored a combined three top five finishes since the start of the 2015 season. This is the first year since 2016 that they brought both drivers back in fact.

In 2017, they went with a new engine manufacturer from Honda to Chevrolet as well as two new drivers. Mix that with a new engineering department and you can tell that would be a rough start to the year. But, since the Mid-Ohio test that season on, they found something.

Despite that, they brought in two more new drivers for 2018 in Kanaan and Leist. Unfortunately, they’re still searching for speed.

It would be a very popular victory if a Foyt car can win again, especially at Indy. Mario Andretti and Team Penske are celebrating their 50th anniversaries this year. Andretti for his win and Penske for their first Indy 500 start. Foyt, is hoping to get their first Indy win in literally 20 years. Their last coming in 1999 with Kenny Brack.