Driver Interviews 2025 Part 1

This is, is off track.

Colin Herda joins us now. Colton, welcome.

Thank you for having me. Well,

It's the least I could do After you tucked me in last night, Of course I was kind back to our regularly Yes.

Scheduled program. Yeah. Nightly calls.

Yeah. You had ignored me for a little while

and I was hurt, but I realized you were busy this week, so Right.

Um, why, why did you feel the need to call a bunch of the field and tell 'em that you wanted to wish him a good night?

Um, So it was actually Riley's idea.

I didn't know of the trend, but um, she said a lot of people were doing it and I thought, oh man, that's gonna be good.

Um, the reactions were a lot better than I thought. .

I didn't even think about the fact that everybody was gonna worry about like, what I was doing to their bus.

That was my favorite from McGlocklin.

Okay. 'cause everybody was like, even like, Alex was like,

why, why would he be calling me?

Right. . And the weirdest thing was nobody even

texted me afterwards.

It was just kinda like, I just called them and that was it.

They weren't like, why did you do that?

They just accepted it and went to bed.

How does that make you feel? Because that means

that everyone that you called was just like, yeah.

That, that wasn't that abnormal.

Yeah. I mean, maybe I'm a lot

more of a weirdo than I thought.

Like, they're like, oh, that's kinda like on brand. Yeah.

Uh, yeah. Nice guy. I don't know about that, but . Yeah.

I don't know. It was, it was a very strange night.

I, I was very surprised how much the video blew up.

How many people liked it.

Um, yeah, it was, I thought it was very funny. Was

Did, did anyone give you a reaction you weren't expecting?

No. It's all pretty on point. No,

I was really happy to get grumpy, Alex.

'cause sometimes, well that's just Alex.

I've been getting a lot more happy Alex lately and I hate happy Alex.

Yeah. It's weird. Him being a dad has

really ruined his like Yeah.

Angry moody motif. Yeah.

And so I was happy to regular, get back to the regular, uh, kind of mm-hmm.

Unhappy, grumpy. Alex,

Were there any that you had to cut from the sketch because they were inappropriate?

Yes. Um, I didn't call anybody else that's in the video,

but I did have to chop up some of this stuff.

Ah, okay. Was said.

Okay. Anyone that you wish you'd called

Willpower.

Why? Because he is the funniest man on the grid.

Um, I don't think a lot of people know that.

Um, I think maybe more so 'cause people have talked about it, but he is probably the funniest guy on the grid by quite, quite a chunk .

Um, and his reaction, it's just, he's funny because like, you don't know what's gonna come out of his mind.

Yeah. . Yeah. Like anything can happen with that guy. Yeah.

Um, so he would've had a really good reaction. I think

That would've been good.

I'm trying to think if like, it would've been funny to pick like some officials or like, like call the race director, call Kyle Novak and just tuck him into bed. Tuck him

In. Oh,

That would go over call rp Just wanted, never had a phone call in my life with rp.

But, you know, maybe don't Even have to like source his number from like Newgarden or something.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Just, Hey Ra, just wanted to say,

Uh, you might need to tuck in with how things have been going. Yes. You might enjoy it.

He's had better weeks. Yeah. I'm sure. Say better weeks.

Uh, all right. Let's talk about your week. Yep.

Um, Carr looked pretty good all throughout practice.

Obviously you had your issue in qualifying.

Um, kind of talk me through what happened on that run. Yeah,

I mean, looking back at it, everything came in as expected.

You know, the engineers are always looking at ride heights and, and looking at how much front wing we call COP, the center pressure of the car.

Um, everything came in as normal as expected.

So the only conclusion that we can draw, um, was probably that we were just too light on downforce.

Um, um, and that's typically the case when you lose it like that early on in the run.

It's like you have the tire grip, but it's just too light on down force.

So it was a weird one 'cause it's really late.

Like you could see like there was a lot of ya in the car going through the whole corner and you could actually see the, the tire marks, um, on the outside rear going through the corner.

Um, and it almost made it out, but I don't think it mattered.

I think if I made it through turn one, it was gonna happen somewhere later on down the road.

Um, but it just sucks because for a number of reasons it sucks to crash and qualifying, you know, your day's pretty much done.

Um, which it wasn't for us, thanks to the crew and, and their fast thinking.

But it sucks to crash on lap one because that's the fastest you're going mm-hmm .

Through the run. So, um, it hits a little bit bigger,

but, you know, for me to see, I've had so many people come up to me that are like, I've been a mechanic for 40 years, uh, and I've never seen anything like that where the guys got straight into it and rebuilt a car.

I was in the wall at 1215, the car was done at 4:00 PM Yeah.

And we got back out there at like 4 45 after going through tech and all that.

So I, I've never seen anything like that.

And a lot of people have come up to me and been like, I've been here forever and I have never seen anything like that. Well,

Like the, the direct comparison was with Armstrong, right, right.

Armstrong crashed at 8:45 AM Right.

And I think got on track at five 15.

Yeah. After us. Yeah.

Way like an hour after it crashed way before. Yeah.

And you guys like that group just managed to pull that, you know, seemingly out of thin air.

Yeah. I, I think, you know,

unfortunately maybe the guys have gotten pretty good at that.

'cause we have written off a lot of cars here in the past, um, at Andretti.

Uh, you've been a part of, of some of those as well in the past.

But, you know, I think it's, it's, it's a cool thing in IndyCar where you can't have the t car built up.

You can't have a backup car built up. Right.

Um, you can have certain parts, you can have front suspension in the tub, um, but that's pretty much it.

So the whole rear end of the car, all the sides of the car and even a lot of the front end needs to get adjusted.

So it's uh, it's a cool thing that it kind of sets those guys apart because I think a lot of people, they just look at it and they're like, oh yeah, they're mechanics.

Like you go to the Toyota dealership, those guys would take a day and a half to do what they just did.

Yeah. Right. Like, and they did it in four hours

and it would take 18 hours for a normal mechanic to do it.

So they're incredibly gifted at what they do.

Uh, and it's cool. I like that they were able to show that.

Not only that, but I loved the fans when they were rolling the car back in.

Yeah. Like cheering for for the guys

and they know what they just did was incredible. So it was cool to see.

It's like the Indy car version of that famous Lama thing where Audi just replaced the whole back end of the car in like seven minutes or something.

Yes, exactly. Yes. Exactly. It's kind of like

IndyCar's version of that.

Mm-hmm . Um, so you had an incident,

I forget how many years ago now, where you, was it carb day you had a, a Wreck 2022 carb day, 2022 carb day.

And then the race carb that you had for, for the race wasn't the same No. Didn't have the pace.

Right. Your guys whipped together this car

in four-ish hours.

You go back out there and it wasn't a, well, let's install it.

Let's feel it out. Let's just see what it, you went out

for a run and you got your car in the show one and done.

Yes. Um, not only that, but that's just the trust that me

and Nathan O'Rourke, my engineer, Rob, team manager, all all of all of us on the 26 car have in in our guys that they're gonna do the right thing.

And they're, they're not only gonna fix the car fast, but they're gonna do it in a safe manner.

And, and I don't have anything to worry about.

Um, so not only did we get in the car, we were pretty heavy on downforce.

Um, you know, we could have been a lot, lot lighter. Um, so,

Sorry, lemme jump in.

Was the, was the, was the plan to go do a run just to kind of do a run assuming that it might not be fast enough 'cause you were safe on downforce and you probably have to go again? Yes.

Yes. We were going to, yeah.

Check COP check ride heights, check that the car is, um, safe to drive.

Um, but you never get that from the backup car where it's that fast. Right. So, I

Mean, you got into the show pretty comfortably. Exactly.

With A very safe setting on a backup car.

I guess to put it in perspective, like our Speedway cars take about four months to build up.

'cause everything has to be perfect.

Everything, um, all the body fit, how everything works, all the painting of the cars and it has to be perfect.

Right. And then they put that car together in four hours

and it goes probably one and a half mile an hour slower than what, what we thought we were gonna qualify at with our other car on extremely heavy down force.

Like, um, that's crazy.

We, we were right behind Kyle, um, a little bit off of Marcus, but you know, right there head of Marco.

So it just shows like that, it whatever they've, they've done.

Uh, we learned a lot from our 2022 experience of, of having really bad backup cars.

Um, and, and it's worked whatever, whatever the process and, and difference in, in what they've been doing in these last few years.

So then what kind of confidence does that give you?

What's your confidence level now going into the race?

We've had the Monday practice, so you've been in the car, in in traffic now and equal footing with everyone else.

How does it feel and, and what is the confidence level going into Sunday?

Same as before. Um, you know, I felt very confident.

I felt very racy, um, on the days before.

Uh, I would say as you'd expect, the car speed's a little bit less.

Um, but it's not anything that's gonna affect us in the race, I think.

Right. It would affect you in qualifying not in the race.

Um, so I, I got into the car Monday.

Everything was the same, like ride heights, COP like just matched to a t.

Um, and the car was reacting exactly the same.

So I'm very lucky, um, for a number of reasons.

But you know, to have that car to be able to perform like the, like the main car, you just never get that.

So I, I feel extremely lucky.

The race day looks like it's gonna be a little bit cooler.

Mm-hmm . Which depends on who you talk to.

'cause if we had differing opinions on this now, so in your opinion, cooler race, maybe cooler track temps, is that gonna lead to a, a better race and make it better for you starting where you are?

Or would you rather see it really hot, try to separate the field a bit more?

No, I don't want it to be hot. Um,

I don't like being hot in the car , but I think it looks irrelevant.

I just like being too Hot.

I think the handling will be a lot better and guys will run a little bit closer and that will help more.

Um, what happens when it's hot, you run a lot further back and the tow is just, it's so much better when you get closer, um, you really get yanked up to the car in front.

So I think because of that, that will help.

Um, not having tire deck will be a huge key player.

Um, with the colder temps, you just, you're not gonna have any, I think, um, whereas if it's, you know, 90 degrees, you probably will have some tr some some drop off.

So I, I think it's better when it's cooler.

Um, you can run less down force.

You can, guys would be a lot quicker.

It's more fun to watch a, a faster race, uh, even if it's only by, you know, half an mile an hour.

But I think it will help with the racing.

I think it will be better. Yeah.

Faster, closer. It's a better show what's not to love.

Yeah. What's not to love. All right.

So finally, what is, you know, everyone's obviously here to win, but what's a, what's a result that you'll be pleased with at the end of the day?

Um, I'd say right now a top five after the race, if I finish in the top five, I think I'd be, uh, disappointed.

Um, but, you know, coming from 27th, uh, with all the stuff that's happened this, this month, obviously the goal is to win.

The plan is to win. Um, but we'll see. Right.

If you finish like second or third, I've, I haven't done that here yet, but I imagine it's just like the worst feeling in the world.

You must rather be fifth. Yes. . Yeah.

So, you know, I just wanna clean race.

We unfortunately have not shown up on Sundays.

Um, you know, I just want to get one under our bag and, and have a really solid race here.

All right. Well, best of luck. We, uh,

hope it all goes smooth for you.

Thank you. We're here with Alex Rossi,

but we're behind schedule and Alex Polo is on deck and already waiting, so thanks for coming bud.

Good chat. Thank God. Sit back down.

You're not gonna, you're not getting away with it that easy.

Um, whatcha drinking?

Uh, amazingly smooth Java house. Black coffee.

Black coffee. Black coffee. Is that how that, how you like

Your coffee diesel, bro.

But you have like Java House has all these Cool.

Yeah, but I don't drink that diesel. Just

Diesel?

Yeah. Just straight diesel. Just black coffee.

Um, you tried them all, all the flavors and all the other No, no.

No. Should you not at least give them a hurel? No, no, no.

No. Okay. Does Java House want you to try 'em? No. They, no.

No. Never asked. No,

Never.

I have a La Alexander, excuse me. A La Alexander.

It's a mix on, um, lavender in my name.

Right, Right. And then there's the, uh,

Rassmuson something or another.

And then the ster, the ed stir, because the most famous drink at Java House is the Ted Stir.

Of course. Right. Owner.

Ted. Ted. So it was actually quite clever

to come up with the Ed stir.

Right. Um, the ed stirs in last, um,

Oh, you've like got the fans are are voting on these, the, the Rossi drinks leading obviously.

Okay. And then the Rassmuson drinks the mocha, the

Lav Alexander.

Yeah. Right. So what is it?

It's a latte of sorts. It's A lavender flavored latte.

Lavender, vanilla. Some sea salt. Yeah.

Did you have any say in this? What's Yep.

But I thought you only drank. I do.

Go try it. It though. See, I

Have to put up with It's pretty Good Freaking Week. You should go try

It.

Unbelievable. How's meeting day? Going fine. Yeah. Yeah.

Are you drinking more coffee now that you're a Yes. Father.

So much more. Especially today. Last night was tough.

A rough night, huh? Rough night. Rough night. Rough night.

Alright. Low. Usually

I cut off my coffee intake around one ish and I'm not gonna stop at all.

Yeah. So we're coming up on two 30.

And you're just full gas. Yeah. High

Octane. Exactly. Full diesel.

Yep. Um, uh, ,

do you really have to cut off coffee at one 30?

Like, or at you struggle the rest of the day? Like, no,

But I Like you not as Well.

I guess when I say cut off coffee, I switch aggressively to diet Coke.

Oh, got it. Right. So I'm not scared of caffeine.

Right. It's more just like, I don't feel like I've,

It's your morning drink.

I don't feel like I have gotten through the morning yet.

Right. Hence why I'm still hammering the coffee.

Got it. Yeah. Got it. Because you've basically just been

out for like almost 24 hours now, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so before that.

But they're a blessing. They're, we love 'em.

They're a blessing. So

before, uh, last night, how has Ben been? No,

Ben's honestly, Ben last night was great.

Uh, kids do these wild things. They grow, they

Do right. Quite

A bit.

And, uh, by growing, they eat Quite a bit. Right? Yeah.

So he's just at that point, I guess today he chose the He's hungry.

Yeah. He's hungry. Hungry kid. Very hungry boy.

He's chip off field block. Yeah.

You does he at limo at the rate, at the obnoxious rate that you do?

Um, he's learning to, right, right.

Um, but you gotta remember their, their stomachs are like the size of a nickel. Right.

I'm just, yeah. I'm seeing like in relative terms

to other, you know, babies. Two weeks

Old probably. Yeah.

He's probably, I mean he's in the 99th percentile of everything.

So rate of consumption wouldn't surprise me.

99 percentile of everything. Yeah. He's

Just a length, head size. So much

Hair. Femur

Probably that they don't measure that, but they should. A lot of, a lot of hair

Guy.

He looks like he just looks like you.

He's just got a pretty cool, he's just got like your exact haircut. Yeah. And haircut.

It's pretty wild. It's pretty wild. It's actually awesome.

'cause like I can just stare at him and time evaporates.

Oh, that's sweet. Yeah.

It's like the sweetest thing you've ever said.

I think I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.

Um, so I guess given that there's a different sleeping plan maybe for the next couple days, oh Yeah.

I'm gonna live here. Got it. Yeah. Mm-hmm . Riding the bus.

Yeah. Good luck, Kelly. Yeah.

See you Monday. She'll be, it'll

Be fine.

She'll be fine. Her mom's in town.

There you go. Yeah. She's got help.

Yeah. Got some help. Um, speaking of help,

you've already had some help on your race start. Yeah, up

Too.

Up too. From not sleeping. That's

Pretty from not, see it was all worth it. Sleep

Is overrated.

It's overrated. Yeah. You picked up two spots. I did.

With a single minute of sleep. Right? Uh, starting 12th.

How do we feel about that? Fine.

How Do we think the car is?

Um, How was Monday? Monday

Was good.

I think Monday was our best day. Which better late.

Well, maybe it's not late, but better late than ever.

Um, we, we were always like on this kind of knife edge, super small window.

Like there'd be moments of like, glory where you thought everything was great and then you'd be miserable and we couldn't really understand why.

And then we made a, a change kind of going into Monday and it kind of just widened that window massively.

And all of a sudden it was like, ah, like the, the heart rate came down a little bit in traffic and you were less tense and it just felt more natural and you weren't thinking about every input.

And it was just, it was nice.

We were terrified of every input.

It wasn't even that it was just like, it was, it was, it was knife edge, it was unpredictable.

It wasn't quite giving you the feedback that you wanted.

And, and we resolved that which was, which was encouraging Because so many people are talking about the hybrid when the added weight and all that.

Making it a little bit more difficult in general, whether it's qualifying runs, race runs, kind of what you have to have the car feeling.

Like are we gonna see as, is it kinda like for the first 10 laps, everybody's kind of good on a new set and then the disparity in, in setups and balances will grow maybe wider than what we've seen in the past? Um,

Potentially.

I think, you know, you've driven here a lot.

Tire dig isn't really a thing unless you miss it. Mm-hmm .

I think that's still the same. Okay.

Um, is it easier to miss it? Potentially.

But like, if you're in the window, it's not gonna be a tire dig race.

You're not gonna be managing tires.

The last five laps of the stint aren't gonna be terrible.

I mean, we've seen it with <inaudible>, we've seen it with other teams.

You, it's very possible in the first stint you could be a little outside the window and vibrate tires and that sort of thing.

So like that potential is still there.

But no, I don't think it's gonna be like a, a massive converged and goers sort of race.

This track's often very temperature sensitive, very condition sensitive.

Uh, you've seen a little bit of everything this, this month.

Uh, race day, cool. Cloudy, probably lower track temps.

Yeah. Is that concerning that it's kind

of a condition you haven't really seen yet?

I mean, maybe carb day's gonna be the closest.

I mean, I don't think so. I mean, if, if it's a condition

that you haven't seen yet, that's the way you want it to go, right?

Yeah. Um, I think we saw last year with the rain delay

conditions that were much cooler than we had seen all month.

And the show we got was Considerably better Than we thought it was gonna be, was phenomenal.

Right? Yeah. And so I think we're gonna see exactly that.

Presumably if the forecast is correct, which at this point it seems like it would be, um, it's gonna be great for, for 500 miles.

Like it's gonna be, it's gonna gonna be a pick them, right?

Because there's gonna be a lot of good cars, cars that, you know, maybe were on that edge of being in the window.

Their window now just got wider.

Um, so instead of it being like, okay, these are the six guys, you really gotta think about, man, I could probably pick 15, 20 cars that are gonna be good and, and have a shot at it With the window sort of widening and the, the disparity maybe between those Okay.

Cars and those good cars shrinking.

Um, I mean, how much harder does that make your job starting from row four?

Um, I don't know.

I I think this race, it is impo what I, I, I kind of came to this conclusion earlier in the week.

Um, and I did something that I haven't really done, but I've, this whole kind of couple months leading up to this, I've watched a lot of five hundreds back and all of 'em, I've been able to be like, all right, that I would've done a little bit differently if I was that person or in my shoes.

I would've done that a little bit differently as Alex to affect the end result.

And then I watched last year's and I watched what Patto did, and like I wouldn't, there's no notes.

Yeah. A hundred and he still didn't win. Yeah. Right.

So like, I don't know that anyone has any concept or clue of like, what does it mean now that these conditions are this and where you're starting from and you've got Penskes on the back row and all of these sort of things.

Like who knows who's gonna win this race?

Like it's, and that's the the beauty of it, right?

So you can, you can still go and be the best car and execute on pit lane and have the best strategy and all these sort of things.

You can still not win. So I can't answer that question.

I'm just gonna go out and enjoy it.

And, and hopefully it's your day.

Is it, is it, can you back it up to the point where it's like, by lap one 50 we need to be here? No, it's just

Absolutely not.

You just roll it ice. 'cause look, I mean, look at 2016,

like, there's no scenario where I should have won that race in terms of Like, yeah.

Lap one 50 people weren't like, oh, watch the 98. Right. Like

That Don't sleep on the 98. What

A strategy move they made.

Right? Like it's, and that's, um, that's indie

and that's why we love it and hate it.

Um, so yeah, I mean, I think in, in reality, like logically do you want to be, of course you wanna be in the top three cars coming outta the final stint.

You want to be in the top two cars with four to go. Yes.

But like, does that mean that that's gonna be the situation that presents itself?

No. All right. Well that's why we love it.

We don't hate it. We just love it.

He loves and hates it. When

You were doing it, you Hated it.

Oh, I had my moments. Yes. I had my, I really had my

Own.

I can think of one in particular. One in particular

Is great, but at least two actually . Yeah.

Well that was practice. Best Luck.

I, my hands are full Of diesel. Yeah. Yeah. Good.

Good job. Joined now by Felix Rosenquist,

who is fresh off a trip from New York or to New York.

You just went to go hang out. You like catch a show.

You like the food? What's,

Uh, it was a short trip.

Uh, it feels like we weren't even there.

Uh, we went to, uh, visit Sirius xms headquarters. Right.

Uh, we did some, uh, radio shows, um, had some pizza.

Oh, like proper New York? Yeah.

Like buy the slice pizza. Buy the

Slice .

Nice. Was it like a foot long kind

Of thing?

Yes, pretty much. Did you do the fold? I did. Okay.

Yeah, they really liked that. They were like, whole thing.

They, this is a proper New Yorker, , New Yorker, new Yorker.

Uh, and then we had dinner and then we went back and now we're in Indiana.

What is your favorite Sirius XM channel to listen to?

Uh, turbo or Octane. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Actually the ones I've been on my car, they're like directly.

Is that because like, did you like sit down with the SXM marketing people?

They're like, this is my jam. Yes. No pun intended.

Like, let's go with these kind of bands. Is

That, well, I think kind of what happened was, uh, before St.

Pete's we talked about having an artist and then I never really heard anything.

And, and Tim Meyer, uh, the son of the owner of the team, uh, or part owner, he, uh, he called me and was like, Hey, Shinedown is gonna be on the car.

And I was like, dude, like I, I like Shinedown.

He was like, really? And uh,

and I think he thought it was just cool that I liked them, right.

And I knew like the names of the guys and, uh, and all that stuff.

And, uh, after that he was like, like, we should do more of this, uh, like fro music.

And I was like, dude, you should try to get Creed for the 500 that would be a hit.

And he's like, I'll, I'll get you Creed on the car, I'll, you know, and it was kind of a joke, right?

And we talked about it in St. Pete.

And then, uh, then he called me two weeks later.

I was like, Hey, guess what's happening, ? I'm like, no way.

I, I still can't believe it's happening, to be honest.

It's so cool. It's so cool. Because

They're gonna be here.

They, they I think actually tomorrow. Yeah.

And, uh, and the fans here Love it, man.

Every time we roll out the car, it's like, yeah. You know, like,

How many like, ridiculous ways have people tried to fit like Creed lyrics into talking to you? Oh,

It's, it's a lot. It's

A lot.

It's a lot. It's a lot. But they've had this, like,

this resurgence lately, right?

They have, they were obviously big when they were originally big.

And then, you know, music evolves, things this ebbs and flows.

But then, I don't know what caused these sudden, like, I don't know, Resurgence of all things Creed.

I don't know. But I love it. I'm,

I feel like I'm coming here for it feel like, you know, when you have like a stock that has been down for a long time.

Yeah. And then you go up and you're like, I was right. .

That's how I feel with Creed.

'cause I've always stood by them. Right.

And I know Rossi also, like, we always vibed about, about Creed when we were teammates.

And uh, look at us now. Look at you now.

You can't find a seat at a Creed concert now. Yeah.

They're like sold out everywhere.

So I'm, I'm super proud to have them with me.

Have you ever seen them in concert?

I haven't. No. I

Bet you could probably go see them now though.

I, I Hope so. Probably

Have a way there. I think it's gonna happen.

Yeah. Let me know Rossi and I'll tag along.

Yeah, we'll be your, we'll be your plus two 'cause we'd love to see that, um, the actor coming on our podcast, believe it or not.

I heard of that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

We're very excited about this. The whole

Gang.

I think so. Nice. I think so.

Um, whose idea was it to get the speaker that sits inside the Buckeye on the car and Blast Creed?

Every time it goes down Gasoline alley coming to the pit lane, It was, uh, one of my mechanics, hunter.

He, uh, he just kind of had this speaker at the shop and randomly just kind of fit perfectly there.

And it's like, oh, look at that.

And everyone thought we had this like, custom made speaker design just for this collab.

Should have gone with that. I

Know.

Uh, but it's, yeah. It, it was just that.

And um, also turned out to be a hit for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, what is, okay, so you, you asked for Creed, you got Creed, they just provided Shine Down, which you already liked.

You've had many other artists collabs on the car so far.

Now that you've gotten one of the Holy Grails, what's next?

Like, where do you go from there?

If they said, okay, we got you Creed, who's next on the list?

Um, I think like corn would be pretty cool.

Okay. All right. They also had a bit

of a resurgence. Are,

Are they coming back too?

I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was one of the, I,

I haven't listened to 'em in a while, but they were super big.

Yeah. Yeah. But I was like 13.

I was gonna say, like, I wasn't think in high school a bit older than you, so that, that makes sense. Yeah. Like

Back in my rebel era.

Yeah. Yeah. You see ,

I see you like going through a hard rock phase.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Did you have like piercings

that we don't know about or No, no.

Like wall chains or anything?

It was just a music. Okay. Yeah.

I, I I look the same. Okay.

You're still good. Wholesome fro. Yes,

Very Wholesome, but God. Got

it. .

Alright, let's talk, let's talk race cars.

Uh, you had a, a great run over the weekend, um, in the Firestone Fast six, which is somewhere you've been before here.

Uh, is that a, is that something you guys were expecting or was that kind of a, a pleasant surprise come qualifying day?

I think it's always, uh, a bit of both to be honest.

I mean, you've been here many times and the car rolled really good last year.

We were quick. I think we were the best Honda

in qualifying last year.

Uh, we were ninth or something.

So we, we were kind of bummed where our engine blew up, obviously last year.

And we thought we had a, you know, really, really good package.

Uh, and we've been waiting for a long time to get a, get a chance to go again.

And, and once the car was quick again, it was kind of more like a relief I guess.

'cause you never know here, man, this place is like weird.

Even if you do everything right and all the preps are right and everything technically should be right, uh, it could be wrong as well.

So, uh, but yeah, it's been super fast all month.

Um, it's, it's rolling. Good. Uh, we were close.

I would say to the poll, it, it looked really good for a while and then it seemed like four of the six guys in the past six kind of went the wrong direction.

But it, we all thought it was right.

And uh, yeah, we had a little shocker pull there with Schwartzman and Prema.

I thought that was pretty cool though.

Uh, that was, that was a hell of a story.

So, uh, but yeah, no, it's, it's been looking good, man. You

Say four of the six went one way, meaning two of the six went the other that was on, what was that like a downforce level?

Was that a trim that you guys took a little more off going for it and they either stayed or added?

Yeah. Uh, we, we trimmed quite a bit than I think three

of the others also did, which is pretty typical for Fast six and Right.

And if you go back two years ago when I was in the Fast six, I kind of had exact the same lead up.

I had, I was quickest in the Fast 12, but then I went to Conservative way and I stayed exactly the same.

And after that I regretted it so much 'cause it was a pretty easy run.

I was like, ah, I should have trained more.

And so this year I was like, we're not gonna be conservative.

We're going all in for this fast six, we're going for the pole.

And it felt good.

Like I was hitting the limiter down the front stretch.

I think I hit two 40. I,

I think also we had a fastest top speed, but as soon as I turned it was just kind of like my rev lights just like, Hmm.

Disappeared from the dash and never came back.

So, um, yeah, that happens sometimes.

But it was, uh, yeah, it was a long and demanding qualifying for everyone more than what I can remember.

I feel like a lot of people have been saying that too.

Well the, a lot of people are saying that just the runs in general are so difficult this year.

'cause the car is more tricky to drive, especially on the limit like that.

So when that's the case, when you, when you come to a, not necessarily a year, but a, a generation of car, a uh, you know, a configuration of car that is so sketchy, for lack of a better term in qualifying, do you like this, uh, qualifying format that forces the drivers that do well to kind of keep going and doing more and more runs even though they're kind of sketchy?

Uh, I know I would like it. I would love it as a fan.

You know, fans want to see people take risks over and over again.

And this is like the perfect formula for it.

So I, I think it's great for the show.

Do I love the stress and anxiety and chaos that comes with it?

I mean, looking back at it, I, I would say it was a cool thing.

Like all the engineers, all the mechanics and me, like, we're constantly, every time the, the weather changed like one Fahrenheit, we would go, oh, we, we need to have this on the car.

We need to take this outta the car.

We need this COP and technically this COP should be to do like last year.

Like, it's just a constant like calculation.

It's like launching a rocket to space.

I'm not, I'm not kidding. It's super complex

and you kind of have to be in the middle of all that and take decisions as well.

Um, and yeah, it, it, it's just super stressful.

But it's, it's a cool concept.

I think you could feel the energy in that last run. Yeah.

And I was in the car when Schwartzman run and I couldn't see the screen.

Normally you, you can see the screen there where you're rolling down the lane and when when you get to third in line you can't see it anymore.

And I could just hear the people like cheering on. I was like, oh, this is

Must Be a good run.

It must be a pretty good run.

And uh, yeah, it wasn't enough, but, uh, it was, it was a cool day for sure.

I was, I was tired afterwards, really tired.

When you are talking about how all these decisions are being made kind of dynamically, right?

Once the car's in line, the setup for the most part is decided on.

You guys have have gone on with that.

But as the wind changes in line, as the temperature changes in line, do you like being very active in those conversations with the engineers?

Or at that point you're like, let me just drive, you guys know the numbers, you've got the charts and the graphs and we've, we've talked to get all that information, you know, sorted and filled out in the chart.

Up to this point now I just wanna focus on driving the car, or do you like knowing every little detail that's being adjusted before you go?

Uh, I, I think leading up to at least a fast 12, I'm very involved.

'cause it's just a me thing here at the speed where I just always want to know like the COP at the center of pressure, which is like how much air balance you have.

Um, I just need to know everything.

'cause it's like I'm always bogging my engineer like, what is this?

What is that? What, what? Like

where are we now with this temperature?

And it's just for me to, to find more confidence to when I'm out there, I just kind of trust the car.

Right? Uh,

and he kind of does the same with the mechanics, you know, he just keeps going on and on and make sure everything is right.

Uh, but once we got to the fast six, I, I told him like, dude, like you just put on whatever you need here, uh, on the car, I'm just gonna focus.

I'm just gonna go flat. And there you go.

So the fast six, I feel like you just, everything changes a little bit.

I mean, because of that, like, you talk about just having to trust the car and you trust your engineer in that.

I mean, how important for you is that relationship with your, your race engineer?

It is huge. Um,

I think on a road course it's a little bit different where you can sort of adapt to things and you can trust the engineer more in a way.

It's also more dynamic in, in, in terms of, you know, your braking and you're turning left and right and accelerating.

Like here, everything is just so fine tuned and I feel like you need to be part of that.

Uh, it, it just, it also builds that relationship a lot.

And, and you, you engineer actually learns a lot about his driver during the month of May.

You, he kind of sees you go through all the emotions and everything and, and you know, Ross that I work with now, he's, he's new for me this year.

I've had actually had I think seven or eight engineers in IndyCar.

So I've kind of used to work with, with new guys.

But you know, we, we need to kind of get to know each other.

And this is a big part of that.

When we come back next year, I think he's already gonna know kind of what I want.

So I think it's a, it's a big part of it and it's important.

Well, look, you got a great card underneath you.

You've had a great qualifying effort and I wish you all the best for a great Indie 500, my friend. Thank

You very much.

It's so hard not dropping a creed line, but I'm not gonna do it.

I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it

With arms.

We open.

Okay. We are here with the,

the busiest man in the month of May.

Kyle Larson trying to do the double for the second time here with Hendrick.

And of course McLaren on the IndyCar side. Uh, welcome.

Thanks for coming here. Mm-hmm .

Um, so coming into your second month of May, you know, how, how much more prepared do you feel having had one stab at not just Indy, but doing the whole month? Doing the whole double?

Yeah, I think, um, I think it's been a little bit smoother kind of this year.

Like knowing what to expect, knowing that the days are, you know, although they're, they're long, they're, you know, you might not be in the car for all of it.

Stuff like that. I felt like last year when I wasn't in the

car, I was like, man, I need to be out there.

I haven't, you know, I need, there's so much I need to learn.

Where this year it's like, you know, there's enough time so you Can't drive for 40 hours .

Yeah. So I think, I think, uh, that's been nice.

Um, but then also like our car has been a little bit different this year.

We've had to work, I feel like more to get to this point where we're now comfortable with the balance.

Um, but all that's been fun.

So it's been different, but, you know, nothing, nothing too crazy, You know, for you, you're not coming in with years and years of IndyCar experience.

You're not coming in with, you know, this the season up to this point.

The hybrid's obviously been a big talking point for a lot of the old timers and how it's changed the balance and not even necessarily talking about how to use it, but even just how the weight's changed the car.

Mm-hmm . Have you noticed

as big a difference as some of these other guys have?

Well, um, the only thing I would say is that, yeah, my balance, it just kind of, I feel like, well, it was harder to get back comfortable obviously at the open test.

I, I felt like I had a lot of under steer and then ended up, you know, hitting the wall and um, so then I was nervous coming here for this one 'cause I was like, man, maybe that hybrid does, you know, do a lot.

But felt like we had our balance in a better spot unloading when we came here for the month of May, or you know, these two weeks.

But, uh, still I feel like when we go to race trim, I feel like I start out with some under steer and then now I like progress to getting a little free as the run goes.

Where last year I just kind of had under steer and, and had it the whole run.

So, um, I'm guessing that's from the hybrid, but I also don't have a lot of experience as you know.

So I don't know. Like it's all, it's always new to me.

Yeah. It's almost an advantage in some ways though

'cause you're not, not so used to the car feeling one way Yeah.

That you can maybe get a little more comfortable Yeah.

With what other guys are uncomfortable with.

Yeah. Maybe I'd like to think ,

I dunno.

Let's go with that. Yeah. You had a,

you had a really good interview after one of your runs on, on Saturday, uh, qualifying Day when they were asking if you were gonna go back out and you were kinda like, bar me doesn't really want to because it's super sketchy.

Yeah. Coming from a guy that's

raced all the things that you have.

That was, that was really poignant for me to kind of hear that.

So just kind of talk about for you what a qualifying run here is like and why it's kind of so sketchy.

Well, I think, you know, you guys, I would blame it on .

I feel like you guys do such a good job in the booth of like, make, like you, you scare us when we're watching tv.

Like, or at least me, like, We're building up the drama.

It does, man. It does.

So then like, you know, I have my moment where I crash and on Fast Friday and I'm like, man, I haven't made a qualifying run yet.

Uh, then I, you know, got done with that first one.

I was like, okay, whew. Made it through there.

But we were really slow and I was like, okay, like yeah, we have to go again.

Then, then we went out and, you know, I don't know what we ended up like 16th at the time we were out and I was like, okay, good.

Like we could be good here.

And they're like, yeah, we'll, we'll get ready to go again.

I'm like, okay, , you know, but you're not gonna Say no, but you're also Not to push for it.

Yeah. Just because you just know, like to find speed,

at least in my head I'm like, okay, well they're just probably gonna pull some down force off, you know, it's gonna, you know, the risk is gonna go higher and I don't really feel like crashing.

You know, I've had two pretty calm crashes in an Indy car.

I don't really feel like going over on my head .

Um, so yeah, when the, we, we were on pit road ready to go and the, you know, the time ran out and I was like, I'm fine with that.

You know, I'll, I'll start 21st. So . Yeah.

But yeah, it's, uh, it's just, yeah, I think it's more mentally, you know, once you get out there, it's not so bad, but it's like the unknown of what it's gonna feel like before you go out kind of is sketchy.

Yeah. It's part of the weird part about qualifying day,

Right?

Yeah. And it's four laps too. Yeah.

It's not just one like you're like, okay, I can sack up for one lap.

Right, right. But four is, uh, is tougher. It's

Amazing how much the car changes over those four laps. Yeah, well

It doesn't really, or at least mine didn't.

Like the second one, I didn't touch anything. Right.

You know, my balance really didn't change.

I got a little free in to turn to my last lap, but, you know, I also was going, you know, a couple mile an hours slower than people.

So maybe if I was going faster it would change more.

But, um, my, my car, the second run was decent on the, On the quality runs.

Now there's so much going on for the driver.

You know, you having to shift if it's, there's a wind, you've gone down the high bridge, you're adjusting the tools for the balance, but then you're also maybe doing the fast jacker on the weight jacker.

Did you kind of get up to speed on all that stuff?

Or did you sort of take some of it and just say, I'm not even gonna bother with it 'cause it's, it's too much going on? Well,

No, I, so that was our plan on Fast Friday.

Um, was the kind of, so like backing up to the open test, we had the fast jacker and the, the process of it was a little different than last year.

Last year at the time, you know, last year I would hold the button, right.

Um, at the open test.

I guess IndyCar wasn't allowing that, so you had to like hit one button, then hit another button to, you know, disengage it or whatever, and I forgot to disengage and that's when I went in and smacked the fence.

Right. So then I'm like, <inaudible>, you know,

so then we come back for, you know, fast Friday and we're like, all right, you know, let's just get a run in the first time.

And then my first run I spin out and I crashed.

So then, uh, so now I'm going into qualifying day.

I hadn't completed a lap yet and like, you know, I have to do all this extra stuff now.

So it, uh, it went smooth.

You know, I, you know, I watched a lot of film and just try to like, visualize the laps I guess, and what you were doing and what to look at.

And I thought it went smoother than it went smoother than I thought it could have after not having for sure finished a run yet.

So yeah, it was fine.

But, uh, it is, it is a lot to think about, you know, you gotta, you know, between the boost and, and flipping the switches, like it's all minor stuff, but like, when you don't do it all the time, for me it's, it's kind of a lot. So

Yeah, there's even guys that do do it all the time.

Yeah. That still forget 'cause there's so much going

On.

Yeah. And then try, if your balance is off, trying

to keep up with, you know, weight jackers and bar and stuff, it would be a lot. Yeah.

So you had the, the moment in the open test went forwards moment Fast Friday went backwards.

Is there, is there almost something to be gained from that because now you've got a better sense of kinda what the limit is on both ends of the car?

Absolutely, and I think, I feel like when I'm at the care center doing interviews and I'm like, man, that was, you know, it's a good crash.

Like, I sound like an idiot, you know, or crazy or whatever, but I totally get it.

But yeah, I think, you know, for me, like I wasn't upset, you know, after spinning out, you know, I, like you said, I, I hit it with the right front at the open test, knew what that felt like after hitting a wall.

And then, you know, I, I now know after spinning like what I felt before I spun.

So it's like when you get to both ends of the spectrum on that, it's, it just opens your, your window of feel a lot.

So I was honestly excited, happy like that.

I lived through it and now I know the balance or the feel.

So, um, obviously you don't want to crash into equipment, but for somebody like me who likes to be on the edge of control and when you step over it, it like you can dial it back a little bit and then be better.

Now in race trim, you know, you've talked in the past about how in everything else that you race pretty much, there's not as much to do, it's not many tools that you can play with, right?

Mm-hmm . So now that you've been more in race trim,

are you getting more comfortable trying those tools, remembering that they're there, trying to use them proactively and kind of manage it over stint?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Last year I was

so I think just scared of, you know, my balance was comfortable last year and, and I would think I was just scared of like, I didn't know how sensitive everything was gonna be.

Yeah. So I really didn't, yeah, I didn't want to,

I didn't want to crash, you know?

Yeah. Last year, not that I wanna crash this year ,

but, um, you know, I didn't feel like I was quite good enough to compete, you know, for the win or anything like that last year.

So this year I was like, okay, you know, I need to get more familiar with my tools in the car.

And, um, so yes, I, I feel like I'm very comfortable with it, you know, now I'm like gotten to the point where I can like move the bar in the short shoot and, and all that's fine.

So I feel like the tools I've, I've felt the change too in it, you know, I think, uh, which is good.

So I feel like I've kind of gotten to a happy point with moving all that stuff and yeah, I feel more prepared for the race probably in that sense.

So I, I imagine goal number one for the weekend is kind of complete all 1100 miles and then obviously as high up as you possibly can.

Um, incredible just effort to do it, man.

I mean, I know how exhausted most people are after getting the 500, the thought of then going and driving 600 miles and the stock car's crazy.

But now that you've done it and you're about to do it again, I want you to name one IndyCar driver you think would have the best shot at doing the same thing, doing the double and then one stock car driver.

You think that could do the same thing?

Well, I, for sure, I would love to see like Joseph Newgarden do it because he would be in a Penske car in both, you know, you, you need to be in a good car, especially in Charlotte, I feel like, I feel like here, you know, you can, you can execute your way to the front and get good finishes that way.

Um, where in NASCAR you have to have the equipment.

So I feel like if Joseph physically probably the most physically fit guy, you know, in racing , um, you know, and being in like the best equipment in both series mm-hmm .

I think he could do a super good job.

And he's probably a better oval racer than anybody in the field and, and arguably a better oval racer than he might even be on a road course.

So I think it'd be, and it would be huge.

I mean, already a two time for sure, potentially three time guy do it would be amazing. Mm-hmm . And

Then how about from the stock car side? Sorry,

Yeah.

And then stock car side, um, I don't know.

I mean, again, like you'd want somebody that can get in a good, good car.

So again, like a Penske guy, you know, a Blaney or somebody would do a really good job.

I would just love to see somebody get to do it in a great car.

Right. Um, and Penske's got the best stuff here, so Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. But I don't know. Kyle Busch would be a guy.

He's just a bigger guy.

Let's just say you're putting any, any one of them is gonna be in the Penske.

Yeah. So just pick a driver

that could go into a Penske. Okay.

And a Penske car. Um, Kyle.

Kyle, um, I think like Chris Reddick, Reddick would be, Reddick would, Reddick would probably be the best because he's just the craziest .

So, um, I think Reddick would be, Reddick would do amazing here.

Okay. I think so. And on a road course

I would love to see him on a road course.

Yeah. He is like, he's strong and fit and,

and really probably the, I would say first or second best on road courses in a NextGen car.

So he would do a good job. There

You go.

All right. Well hey, look, we wish you the best in the 1100.

Yeah. Thanks. And, uh, fingers crossed all goes as

Well.

Thank you. Cheers.

Here with Elio cast, Neve, Elio, it's media day.

You've done this like 118 times or whatever, .

This is the quietest media day.

Every driver that's come in here has been like, oh yeah, this is my last thing and I'm done.

And it's like 11 o'clock. How, what is ? What

Is happening? .

I don't know what they're doing. Mine,

mine is only beginning, I tell you. Okay. All, so you're

The, you're in a proper media day.

Oh my God. It's uh, 2, 1 30, I would say. So it's been,

I nearly came outta retirement because they're like, oh yeah, you're done by like noon.

This is awesome. Like these used to go

Into, I think these kids are being spoiled right now.

Lemme tell. I completely agree. I dunno. I

Think that's the problem is they're making you do more 'cause you're used to doing more So you don't know any different. They

Send me to one of those, um, uh, you know, houses that they kind of like judge who's going.

Yeah. Yep. And they send me like

35, 40 minutes from here.

I'm like, whoa, wait, Don't they normally just go to like Speedway? I, I thought I was like,

What?

What happened in five minutes?

It's right there. I was like

A hundred home Because of me.

Or somebody lives probably down there and saw a house like with it.

But, you know, at the end of the day, it's been great.

It's been fun. Uh, this hybrid's being a little bit tricky.

Mm, no question about it.

Um, to find out, one of the things that I'm having a hard time is to find the COP, whether it's too much, whether it's too little.

I'm like, guys, can't you just put two turns of front wing and, and, and make that, I don't know if it's because the weight mm-hmm .

It's been so volatile, but it's been very, uh, strange, uh, in those, those areas.

Uh, I actually had a great practice on Monday.

I felt very, very strong and, uh, I said, okay, please don't touch it.

Don't clean it. Leave as dirty as it is. I don't wanna know.

And then we found out there was a, a wing from wing that was kind of like broken.

Okay.

And it's the best. The car felt. It was good.

It was good. , You go off the

carb days, it be terrible.

It's gonna be trying to kill you's so loose. What? The

Broken wing Bag.

What, what going on? That's too funny. It is.

So, so for the hybrid, you know, there's, there's kind of two elements, right?

There's the added weight, which changes the weight distribution and the handling, and then there's the actual use of the, of the system.

Correct. Which one

for you has kind of been more of a challenge?

Is it getting used to the figuring, the handling out with the weight or figuring out how to optimize having this, this system that you can use for extra power?

It's more the handling the balance to find out, you know, because obviously the, the hybrid, just when you're behind someone in your region, and then instead of push the brakes, let's put this way, it just push the region.

To be honest, for me it's like getting, getting confused because I'm copying the Felix's steering wheel.

Okay. 'cause obviously he's there, so like, you know,

I'll go with somebody, but he goes in the opposite.

So instead of re uh, uh, deploy here, he goes, deploy left and re Jane.

So in your mind you're thinking you should be like, maybe because I'm right-handed, so go right and then left.

So sometimes I get confused what you wanna have, See, you gotta, I'm gonna pass this guy And it happens.

Let me tell you, it happens. But, uh, in the end of the day,

uh, I don't think the hybrid will be, uh, would be that problem.

It helps, especially if your balance is good then in great shape.

Okay. So you think it's, you think it's

a valuable tool for the rest?

Oh, no question. Yes. Okay. Yeah, it's not, okay.

See, I'm just, I'm running through this in my head. Left.

Makes sense to me so that you can still upshift. Yeah.

That's why he did. Okay. All right. All correct.

All right. , because I like, I was like, hang on,

that what would be natural.

Okay, now, right, right.

Um, you do, you still get the same feeling coming through the tunnel and, and the month of May still feels the same for you now, not just because you know you've had No, no, you're right.

But also you got a new role, right?

You are a, you are an owner in the team. Mm-hmm .

So does it still, when you, when May 1st clicks on the calendar and you drive through the tunnel for the first time, do you still feel like you did back in 2001?

I tell you what the feeling, I believe you were always gonna be, that you might feel that till this day, right?

Mm-hmm . Even that you're not in the race car.

The feeling is, is always there.

But for me, the motivation is the difference, right?

Um, man, I stayed the other day until, uh, the day the, the time they're allowed to be there because they have a curfews.

And that day particular was 10 o'clock.

I was 10 o'clock with my engineer figuring it out, little details and, and stuff like that.

Um, it's still, I miss that.

That for me is the, what I wanna do.

I wanna give those guys, especially my group that is come one, some of their sports cars, some of their freelancers.

I wanna, I wanna give them that special feeling that we had in 2021, right?

So, so yeah, I, um, I am very much excited this race, like it was my first run.

And looking forward to it.

You talk about that motivation for you.

Is the motivation just winning indie because it's indie?

Or is it because five is on the table?

Well, Would you still feel this way if you were the same age, had the same number of five hundreds behind you, but you'd only want it once and you weren't going for history?

Is it about winning the race or is it about winning your fifth?

It's a combination of things. Okay.

Obviously number five, to do something that nobody ever did in this planet.

Yes. It does motivate you to go out there

and, and push yourself.

And, uh, and, but that's not the only reason because, but the win is the reason.

'cause I'm not here to score points, right. ,

It doesn't matter. Right?

If I finish second or last, it's the same thing, right?

So the reason we wanna do it is to, uh, to, uh, make sure that we get that win and, um, that's why we're going for it.

So you could only have one ring, one baby Borg at home, and at 50 years old, you'd still want to be here going for win number two. . I didn't get it. What do you mean?

I'm saying if you hadn't won, if you weren't going fact, oh, okay.

You'd only won one. You'd still think you'd want

to be here going for another.

Absolutely. This is, this place is magical. Is

There any other racing you still wanna do, or is this everything?

No, this is everything. This is it. That's it.

In fact, I am doing the stock car in Brazil. Oh, you are?

Yes. So going to different style.

So this is something different that I ever done in my life.

Uh, but, uh, I definitely, uh, this place, in fact, they're racing this weekend, so I wouldn't trade a bit for, um, anything in the world.

This is my, the month of May, my birthday.

I cannot be in the best place to spend my birthday here and be here for the, for another race in this incredible place.

How are you enjoying the team ownership, team management role?

It's interesting. Um, um, obviously Mark, uh,

Jim Meyer is, is incredible, but Mike Shank is, uh, he's the operating guy, the, the majority owner.

And he knows what he wants. He has his own style.

But it's great that, uh, when we actually sit down and talk about what can we do, this situation with Andretti, uh, sorry, we were with Andretti and then went to Nessi.

That situation happens and we're discussing sitting down.

I was like, I said, come on man.

We have great conversations.

So to make the team better, and I tell you what, it was a great decision between both of us, all of us, because as you're seen, the, uh, Felix and Marcus are doing really well in the, in the season.

So it is different.

I, I, I start getting joy a little bit more.

I don't wanna be like my buddy Tony can To, To talk to everyone, make the decisions to everyone.

I definitely not, because I'm glad Mike is in the, uh, have that role.

But, um, uh, it, it's great to be part of something that when you make, make sense and you say something, it works.

You're like, yes, let's keep it doing it. When

You're, when you're chatting to Felix and Marcus this month, are you talking to them as a teammate or are you talking to them kind of in your sort of mentor role that you do for the other 16 races? Yeah. What's the

Conversation like?

It's interesting, uh, with Felix, he is already on his own, but, uh, with Marcus special, what happen with him and the qualifying, you know, uh, in the morning of practice, I'm like, relax.

It happens to me too.

So not in those particular situations, but I know exactly what you're going through.

Let me guide you to through this.

Just take your time, relax.

Don't go flat out like Mark Andre on the first lap.

That's not, that's not gonna happen. You know?

He is the only one that can go and do that. Not just take.

So it is nice to be able to, um, um, you know, give a little bit of a, uh, uh, guidance to someone that, uh, I understand, you know?

So for me it's, it's been great for to doing that.

Is there anything else on the list?

Uh, you've done the driving thing, you're now in the team ownership thing.

What else does Elliot caves have on the, on the bucket list to check off? Oh my

God, man, the only thing I haven't done yet that I really would like to have an invitation, but I know it's gonna be really hard.

It's probably Lama Okay.

Lama is the one that, uh, would be a lot of fun, but if I don't do it, it's okay.

Are you gonna try Daytona again?

Daytona Four, five. Oh, 500, sorry.

Oh, I wanna day 224 because I still, I still three in a row and nobody can beat that.

But, um, Daytona 500 was really fun.

I would love to it, you know, because now I know what to expect and, uh, if I have the invitation, for sure, I would.

So this is such a cliche question.

You've probably been asked it a hundred times about what the fifth would mean to you, but have you, I wanna go a little bit different, a little bit more fun.

Have you thought of, you got, you've got your signature trademark Spider-Man move.

When you win, is there something special?

Is there like an extra level you can take it to?

If you set the record straight and set history by getting five, I think the celebration will be the same.

I hope the, I hope the afterwards will be better.

You know, I hope I have , you know, the roundabout that they have around there?

Yeah. I always dreamed to have a statue .

Oh, okay. You want, all right. You want a bro?

He wants a bronze statue at the roundabout at 16th and Georgetown, The fans. You got

It.

I got it. All right. All right. That

Would be special.

You take care of the winning the fifth.

I'll make some calls about the statue. How about that?

That's a deal. All right. Good luck this weekend, man.

Thank you. God.

Marcus, I gotta tell you, this time of year in the Midwest, I really just, I feel my allergies really always just like, you know, flaring up.

I Do you have any idea what I could do to combat those Alle Allegra syrups and brain interference and you stay non-drowsy and sharp.

Good for commentating? Yes. And driving race

Cars.

Amazing. I'll make sure to have lots of Allegra

before the big race.

So that way that sounds like a good idea.

Am clear of mind and clear of sinus.

Perfect. Perfect.

Um, , that was, that was the most natural plug, I think, for a sponsor I've ever heard or been a part of. That's fun. Perfect.

Beautiful. Uh, do you like your new car colors?

I love it. I think it looks really cool and it stands out.

Mm-hmm . That's what I really like about it, you know, it's,

uh, obviously Devlin.

He tried to copy us a little bit or that way around.

I don't know which, who did who? We'll say that. We'll

Say that he copied you.

Yeah. Uh, yeah, it does look really cool. I think.

I think the spotters probably like it For sure. Yeah.

Easy to spot for. There's a lot of blue

and white cars this year, I feel like. Yes.

Way too many. It's very frustrating.

Yeah. It must be confusing for you guys.

It's very confusing. There Is Reena snow,

David. There is. Yeah, exactly,

Brian. Exactly,

Exactly.

Um, although what is all, what is a little annoying I have to say, is that, uh, Kirk Kirkwood also got a new livery. Um,

Looks like my lost your, It looks exactly like your old car.

There's a number of times in practice.

I was calling him as you was like, I mean, it was probably the first three days I was calling the 20. I

Even see him out on track and thinking, that's my car.

That's no wait, that's not my car. Yeah.

Uh, how has your month been in general?

It's been really good. I think, uh,

we've been taking it step by step.

We've been playing it patience, like, patience has been the key word.

And that's something that been successful, successful for me here in the past.

And I think that was one of the things we did or I did wrong last year.

We got a bit frustrated.

We didn't really have the speed we wanted, and then I tried to over push it a bit and you make a small mistake and you ruin your whole month.

So this year it's been a different approach.

I feel like we are taking it step by step, getting better.

We had a very solid qualifying weekend, uh, which put us in a really good spot for the race.

So yeah, I've been really, really happy so far.

Would you say that you were surprised to get into the top 12 in qualifying?

Or is that kind of about where you figured your speed was? Uh,

I, I don't know who I spoke to.

I spoke to someone before the qualifying and I'm like, I think we're a eight to 12 kind of car. Yeah,

It was Kevin, you're talking Kevin.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I'm like, I,

I think eight to 12 kind of car.

And then yeah, we end up, uh, uh, what, 11th and, and on Saturday and, and ninth in total.

So it's, um, that was the feeling where our speed was for qualifying, but I feel like we are stronger in race trim.

So for me, watching throughout practice, 'cause we watched every minute , um, on your team, it looked like Kirkwood's car was probably the quickest and outright pace, but then as we got closer to qualifying, it's like the car just sort of lost a bit of speed.

So rela 'cause relative to you, it's, it shifted.

So was that you guys maybe finding a bit more on the 28th, do you think it was more of the 27 kind of losing and you were sort of where you were expecting to be?

Which direction was it going, you think? Uh,

Yeah, it was surprising to see Carl struggling so much over a qualifying weekend because like I said, he looked really strong, uh, in, in practice.

So that's a bit of a head scratcher for all of us.

Why he 27 car is, is lost performance.

Uh, he seemed better though.

Monday practice, I think he'll be back and be strong in the race.

Obviously Colton had his own, uh, dramas there with that big, big wreck, so that, uh, puts you back.

Um, but yeah, for us, if you look at our car, I think we, we found something on Fast Friday, uh, that helped the feeling of the car.

So I felt more comfortable and you know, that, like on this place, it's like, yeah, you look for speed for speed for speed, but if you are feeling comfortable and confident in what the car is doing, you'll find that extra bit from, from just driving.

So that was a big thing for me on Friday that I think, uh, felt like it's translated to also our race car on, on Monday.

So that makes me very encouraged, you know, leading into the race.

So race trim, you feel even better than you did in Qua?

Yeah, that was a thing. Like we started off really good,

like in the open test, the first couple days of practice here, we were really happy.

And then we did some things with the car, which put it a bit in the wrong direction, and then we sort of reset it on Monday and put that, put us back to a really happy place where I feel like super confident in, in what the car is doing.

So we've got Carb Day and then Saturday, whatever that's called, legends Day, , I knew there's a name to it.

Uh, then race day coming up of the, of the days leading up of the days we have left in the month, what's, which one are you looking forward to the most?

Uh, I mean, can I say all of them? ?

Uh, sure. If you explain

Why mean, no.

Okay. So, so race day, of course, like it's right,

it's the best day of the year.

It's like, uh, always incredible.

And, uh, being a past winner, it's even more special if that's possible.

I dunno if that's possible. Uh,

but it, with that said though, like carb day is so much fun.

It's such a bus here on the, on the IMS during carb day.

So it's almost always so much fun.

And then I personally love the parade.

I think it's so cold to got to go down downtown, see all the people, come out and celebrate the race, celebrate the drivers, and it's just such a cool buildup to the race.

So yeah, race, it takes the price, but the other two days are, are, are pretty darn cool as well.

We're gonna, you know, we're gonna get through the 500 and I'm, it's gonna go great.

I can already tell. And we're gonna go straight to Detroit

as we always do, which is, you know what it is.

And we've got a bunch of races over the next, you know, few months.

And then we get to the end of the season in Nashville in, in, uh, in August.

And you're gonna, you know, be celebrating your championship and you know, the, in the great run that you've had.

And then you have your, the work doesn't stop, uh, for you, you don't get to like immediately slip into vacation mode when the season ends, do you?

Uh, Not exactly, But also not really.

I mean, yeah, not really. Like, yeah, we have a wedding

or I , we have a wedding. Yeah, it's great.

Someone else involved?

I have a wedding with my wife to be, uh, we are technically already married. This is

Confusing.

Yeah, we we're getting married in, in Italy. You

Got a wedding coming Out?

Yeah. Yeah. And we are very excited about that.

I'm very excited that Ira is taking the sort of planning part of it.

So she's doing the heavy lifting there and I can focus on winning races.

Um, but yeah, that's gonna be amazing.

Lake Como in September. It doesn't get much better than

That.

Does not. Where in the planning stages are you?

Is it like mostly done at this point?

Everything's pretty buttoned up.

I think what we did quite well actually was that we planned and did a lot of things in the winter mm-hmm .

Because I said like, when I get into my season, my head is gonna be like race season.

So we did a lot of things in, in the winter time.

And then now when we're in race season, I always do like the final decisions and everything, but all the like, big things, it's already been like, taken care of. So

Basically you just now get told where to be, what time, what to wear, and everything else is pretty sorted.

Exactly that, which is perfect for me. love that

did, did did you get a lot of say in certain things or did you even, did you even try?

I mean, I tried for a while and then I realized that maybe it's better not to try.

So , this sounds very similar to Paolo talking about building his house. Yeah,

Yeah. It's like, yeah,

You have to be clever about what, you know, you gotta pick your Battles. Exactly. There you go. Pick

Your battles.

There you go. What's one thing

that you were like dead set on having?

Like, what was one thing that had to be part of your wedding event?

Uh, that's a good one. Um hmm.

What was the one thing?

I don't know, man, I can't, I'm blanking now. I dunno.

So Iris, exactly, it was not one thing is all I the iris was the bride.

That was the one thing that was, that was the Outside of that Italy.

Was Italy your idea? Was that

Her idea?

No, that was together. We were talking about,

because she had Greek, uh, roots.

So we were looking at Greece and then we didn't really find like, you know, you wanna find somewhere where like this is the place, right?

Yeah. I didn't really get that.

And then we started to look at Italy in Lake Coma and it was like, both of us, like, this is like, it's good Enough for George Clooney, I mean. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. I guess I guess it'll do.

So, so yeah, that, uh, yeah.

And then we went down there to sort of look at the location and it was just like, outta this world.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's so beautiful. It's so pretty.

It's like, yeah, it doesn't get better than that.

So we, yeah, that definitely was, was both of us. It felt that

Big wedding, small wedding, it's pretty Big.

Yeah. Like a hundred and something.

A bit over a hundred people. Okay. That's pretty

Big.

Yeah, it's a decent size. Yeah. I mean,

For Europe, I was gonna say that's kind of like the Modest Europe for Sweden.

Yeah, for Sweden. That's a big wedding right here in the US

it's probably like, oh, that's small wedding, Whatever.

It's the Chinese. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you're in the, if you're only barely in the triple digits, you're doing, you're doing pretty well.

Uh, do you have honeymoon plans or, Uh, we we're working on that.

Uh, that's, uh, we are talking about Japan.

We really would like to go, like Iris never been there.

Mm-hmm . I loved Japan.

I used to live there for a year back in the day.

And, um, so that's definitely on the list, but we haven't booked anything yet.

Sounds like you should probably win this race. Yeah, that

Would help the, the prize money.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That, that would definitely

Help it be a much nicer honeymoon.

Yeah. Or at least much longer honeymoon. Exactly.

If, uh, if you walk away with a Borg Warner Trophy and then, uh, you know, nice prize money check, that would help a lot.

Little, little extra motivation for Sunday . Cool, buddy. Best of

Luck.

All right. Thanks, man.

Are you a bus prank kind of guy? No.

No. I mean, I've been part of it, yes.

But I'm not really like, are we?

Oh yeah, we were just going, we're straight. Let's, all right, let's do it.

Bus prank. You're not a bus prank kind of guy? Not really.

Is that because you're not like that? Kind of,

I just don't have time to do it.

Oh, okay. It's just a, A like, I'm here to work.

It's a time management thing. Like,

This is my job. Right. E car driving.

Interesting. Yep. Interesting.

I thought I wasn't sure if you were gonna say like, you just don't have that kind of menacing mind to think of them, or you'd be worried about retaliation.

It's just I don't have the time.

Mostly I don't have the time. Hmm.

Okay. Have you like ever dreamed, like, not

of actually pulling it up, like if, is there any good ideas that have come to mind that you don't have the time to pull off, but Can't say?

Oh, just in case one day you've got some free time and Yeah.

And in case somebody actually comes after me one day, I've got some backup ideas.

Oh, okay. So you've just got one in

the back pocket as like, uh, Retaliation.

Yeah. It's, it's more retaliation than anything.

Interesting. So, um, what's the best bus lot prank

that you've ever witnessed?

I mean, I wasn't a part of it. Yeah.

But definitely the orbies one that into Connor's hot tub.

Nothing's happened this year, but I'm disappointed you young kids are not really keeping up the tradition. We're up. We're growing up.

Well, there's enough Colton's growing up.

I should say. That's true. That's true. He is kind.

And Alex, he's usually, yeah, Alex has a dad now.

And I feel like, I feel like Connor's usually the target though. That's the problem.

He's just too easy.

He is. He's a very easy target. Yeah. All right.

Uh, let's talk Indy, um, throughout practice runs in pra runs in, uh, race, trim, single car stuff.

You guys look pretty solid. Mm. Going qualifying.

Will you surprised at the pace or lack thereof?

I had you as a top 12 guy, Man. So negative right off.

I'm, I'm I sorry. I saw you as a top 12 guy. I

Had money on The top 12 guy.

Thank you. You saw yourself as a top 12 guy.

I know. It sucked. Stop telling me . No, it

Was terrible.

What did you do wrong? Why did you fail me?

Why were you awful? Um,

No, it, you're right.

It was not what we anticipated at all.

Um, and we don't have answers for why, because we roll into Friday, we do our first run and we're like, Jeremy Mills.

My engineer's like bouncing on the stand, like, this is gonna be fun.

Like, we're gonna go for the pool.

And everyone in our engineering's excited.

And then every run that we did from there just went downhill.

And that rolled all the way into Saturday. And, uh, so even

Throughout Friday it got slower and slower.

It got slower. Our first run on Friday was our fastest run

by a big margin.

Mm-hmm . And then it got slower from there.

And then we roll back out on Monday.

We did find something on Sunday.

Since we didn't drive, we had a chance to go over our car and just make sure everything was right.

And we did find something. If it's actually that, who knows?

Um, I know Elio, he probably said the same thing.

Um, 'cause I was talking to 'em earlier and it sounds like a lot of people just like rolled out of practice thinking they're gonna be way better than they actually were.

Yeah. On Saturday. And it's a, it's a little confusing.

It's a little bit of a head scratcher, but nonetheless, we rolled back out there on Monday.

Everything was good. We were really fast

and we're passing a lot of cars.

So, um, hopefully it doesn't matter where we start.

So race car feels good, feels great. Confident that you can

Move up a hundred percent.

How hard is it to move up, starting from the mid twenties to try to get your way to the top? I

Don't know.

That's a good question. It's been hard the past couple years

for me, but Joseph made it look really easy two years ago.

Colton's made it look really easy the past couple years.

So hopefully we're one of those if I feel more confident in my car than I ever have.

Um, to be honest, like we've really not done much to the car and we've started with a really, really good setup.

Um, and the things that we have done, they actually turned out, or most of 'em have turned out to be very big positives.

And then we've kind just left the car for the past like week and it's been really, really solid.

And I don't see why we won't be good in the race right now.

I've, I've never had this kind of confidence in a car going into a race.

Usually it's like you're still tuning on it and you're like tuning for conditions on Monday and Friday, leaning into the race, and you're like kind of scared with what you have for the race.

And it kind of is been all right for us.

But this is the first time that I've been like, don't touch the car.

It is great. Let's roll it back

in the trailer every time we run. So

Are you almost like kind of upset that we still have carb day because like you would, you would rather just go in it?

Yeah, no. Once you got as good,

Honestly, I was, after our first day in the car back, um, really like back in April, like I was like, we could roll into the race right now.

I'd be very happy. Really?

So it, it is a rare feeling to have that and yeah, every every session that we do is more time for the people that are not happy with the car.

Right. To get better to, to get better.

So in some ways, yes. It's, it's just fun to drive though.

This place is just like, when you have a good car, it's just so much fun to just go out there and pass people.

Like, you don't care when you get to drive.

I'd rather like, I just wanna drive the car. So Yeah. Yeah.

Um, in a selfish way. Yes.

And, and and, and then in a selfish way that you wanna drive.

Yes. More track times good.

But yeah, the trick is just not over-engineering yourself and getting yourself into a position where it, you make a Change.

We haven't done anything. You're

Gonna go.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, conditions wise, we've talked

with a bunch of the guys, you know, we've seen everything this month.

You know, we've had some rain delays, but we've seen high winds, we've seen high track temps, like record breaking track temps.

Yeah. And then we're gonna go into the race it looks like

with cloud cover kind of cool conditions, maybe a little bit different than what we've had.

I'm not quite sure. Sure. Weather,

Let's go what Car day be.

But like, if we go into a day that's 60 degrees and cloudy, are you confident that this is a very temperature sensitive environment?

Right? Yep. These cars are very sensitive to track temp,

air, temp, wind speed, wind direction, all that stuff.

If we go into Sunday with something that we haven't really seen yet, are you still confident that the package you've got has been pretty versatile for the rest of the week?

Yeah, without a doubt. Um,

it's the same position for everybody, right.

And I think we've done a really good job of kind of predicting what things are gonna happen based on temperature.

And, uh, we've been good in, in all the conditions that we've seen, whether it's wind, whether it's no wind, whether it's heat, whether it's coolness.

Um, we've had everything thrown at us or thrown at us this month.

So we're prepared for, for just about anything.

I'd say, um, with it being cooler, you can expect better racing without a doubt.

I mean, you know, that everybody knows that like, conditions are cooler, you make more grip.

I'm happy about, it's gonna make my job feel, it'll make your job great.

Right? Like, you won't just have a parade out

there if it's really hot, you might.

Um, so it's gonna be good for the fans, it's gonna be good for us.

It's gonna make our cars feel like absolute race cars.

Right. Um, which is fun,

but it also kind of brings everyone closer together, which I think we had an, we feel like we have an advantage in race tram, and you almost want it to be tough conditions because then your advantage might show a little bit more.

So selfishly, I wish it was a little bit worse, even though you'd not like that, but Yeah.

But, um, you know, it's, it's gonna feel amazing out there, like having all the downforce and the conditions are gonna be so perfect, uh, for racing that it's gonna make for a great show.

So this is your fourth 500?

This is my fourth 500. Four 500.

Um, what, like take the race, take race day outta outta the equation.

What's your favorite part of the month of May as a driver thing you get to do?

Favorite day? What's the, what's the best part of May

that's not race day for you?

I don't know. Uh, , I have no idea. .

I qualifyings Cool, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Like Saturday is super cool because it's like, it's more stressful than the races because like you're just on your abso or you're at the absolute limit.

And my engineer loves to scare the crap outta me constantly , um, and just gimme a car that should not be going around a racetrack at that downforce level and, uh, tell me to stay flat.

And if I don't, then me, me, and he's a Big guy I wouldn't wanna fight. Yeah,

No.

He is. Uh, yes. And, um, you know, it makes

for an enjoyable day when you get through it.

We've, we've gotten through it the past three years clean, um, which is great.

Maybe not the best qualifying position that we've liked to have in all three of 'em, but, um, it just like gives you so much excitement and so much adrenaline that it makes her really enjoy anything.

We don't, like this day, this is media day, not the, not the best day if I'm being honest.

Although I've, I've been hearing it's like way shorter than it has been in the past.

Is it? I don't know.

You guys are all too new. Are you're all too new. Yeah.

It used to be a whole day FENOs Tim texting me.

It used to be a whole Yeah. Yeah.

Been a Tim's texting me. Yep.

Rude. Yeah, we're on air. Okay.

Favorite part of race day?

Um, of The pre-race, like all of Yeah.

Leading up to it. Right. Um, I mean,

obviously being in the car is gonna be what I, what I say is the best.

Um, and this might come, maybe come across weird.

Maybe people don't appreciate it. I I mean, people

Do.

I promise you somebody won't. Y

Yeah.

That's how there's always somebody that doesn't, doesn't like me for some reason, um, taps before the race.

Nice. It is, um, one of the most amazing things

that you'll ever experience having 350,000 people here and being absolutely silent where you can hear a pin drop mm-hmm .

Um, I, there's something so special for, to that moment that like, you don't get a feeling of that anywhere else in the world, and you don't notice how special it is unless you've been here and you've witnessed it, right?

Yeah. So that for me is one of my favorite parts.

Just the feeling it gives you. Right.

Um, and it's so special and, and it makes you realize why this event's happening.

Right. Right. It's for Memorial Day, it's

for Memorial Day weekend, and, um, there's a big bigger picture here.

Yeah. Very cool. I, I agree.

I think that's, I think that's beautiful.

That's my last 500.

That was probably the moment I remember the most on the, on the grid was, was taps.

Yep. Awesome. Well, hey, look forward to Taps,

but look forward to the, the 200 laps after that.

Exactly. And hopefully it goes very well. And best of luck.

Yep. Thank you. Of course. Three under the bus there, Tim.

Sorry.

This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.

Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast network.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five star rating and leave a review.

Subscribe today, wherever you stream your podcasts.

We are at Ask Offtrack on Twitter and Instagram.

And if you wanna follow us on Twitter, we're at Hinch Town and at Alexander Rossi.

If you wanna follow them, though, we have no idea why you would.

He's at the Tim Durham on Twitter.

Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for exclusive video content.

Off Track is produced by Tim Durham, and by that we mean fi.

Driver Interviews 2025 Part 1

Chrysler New Yorker

About this episode

Original notes