Zach Veach can smile this week heading to the site of his Verizon IndyCar Series debut.
The driver of the No. 26 Group One Thousand One Honda for Andretti Autosport was thrilled after scoring a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in his fifth series start. He takes the energy from that finish into this week’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, which airs live at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.
"I definitely feel we have a lot of momentum on our side after finishing fourth in Long Beach,” Veach said. “I honestly can’t wait to be back in the car at Barber and to keep improving.”
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The 23-year-old from Stockdale, Ohio started and finished 19th in last year’s race at Barber Motorsports Park as a last-minute replacement for the injured JR Hildebrand at Ed Carpenter Racing. He has a solid Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires record at the track, winning in 2014 scoring two additional podiums (2014 and 2016).
Given his familiarity with it, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender has more confidence coming to the 2.38-mile permanent road course in Birmingham, Alabama, than any circuit he’s been to this season.
“A year ago this weekend, I got the chance to compete in my very first Indy car cace at Barber, so it’s going to be nice to be coming back to a track I have a little more experience at than others on the schedule,” he said.
Heading into the fourth race on the calendar, Veach is eager to improve his qualifying game. His average starting position in three 2018 races is 18th. If he can start farther up the grid, he feels another good result is right around the corner.
“My engineer (Garrett Mothersead) has been calling me more of a racer than a qualifier,” Veach admitted. “We’ve been showing that we’ve had a lot better races than we have in qualifying. I’m hoping we can advance at Barber and have a little bit easier job on Sunday than we have the last couple weekends.”
The five-time Indy Lights race winner drove a smooth and methodical race at Long Beach to position himself in the top five with 10 laps remaining in the 85-lap event on the streets of Long Beach.
Veach fought with former Indy Lights rival Ed Jones and Graham Rahal to cross the line in fourth place. He used his push-to-pass to hold off Rahal and become one of three Andretti Autosport drivers to finish in the top six. While he missed out on a podium, Veach enjoyed the battle with Jones, who placed third.
“It was fun racing with him, it felt like us being back in Indy Lights,” Veach said. “We’ve had a lot of really good battles, so be close in INDYCAR is fun. Either we got a third or a fourth (Sunday), both feel like a victory. I’m just so happy to have the ball rolling.”
With teammates Alexander Rossi winning the Long Beach race and taking the points lead, and Marco Andretti finishing sixth, Andretti Autosport has logged nine top-10s in the opening three races. Veach is just happy to play a role.
“Andretti Autosport is really hitting its stride right now,” he said. “I’m so thankful to be a part of it. I’d like to think that I’ve had some help in that, but I’m just following my teammates. Their feedback has been spot on.”
Verizon IndyCar Series action at Barber Motorsports Park begins with a pair of practice sessions Friday, starting at noon and 3:50 p.m. ET. A third practice begins at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. All weekend practices stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
Verizon P1 Award qualifying airs live at 4 p.m. Saturday on NBCSN. Race coverage commences at 3 p.m. Sunday on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.