NTT INDYCAR SERIES: HY-WEE MILWAUKEE MILE 250, RACE 2

September 1, 2024

Colton Herta

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Colton Herta.

It was a wild race. Your thoughts from your perspective?

COLTON HERTA: No, I think it was from my perspective interesting. A lot of different lanes opened up, just like yesterday. Traffic was tough to get around, so it gave opportunities if you were passing for position for the guy in front of you or behind you. The restarts were a lot of fun also.

THE MODERATOR: There were a lot of passes in yesterday's race, today 763, eclipsing the mark from yesterday. Always some questions about how racy the Mile would be. Turned out to be a pretty good show.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was tough to get the balance right. I think that's why you saw so many passes. When you had the turbulent air, it really upset the cars. It was tough to choose the right line through the corners and not get hurt by that.

It was a lot of fun to race in for both the races.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open up the questions for Colton.

Q. You had a couple of really fierce battles with McLaughlin and Dixon. Are those two drivers that you trust more than you would trust others?

COLTON HERTA: Who was the other guy?

Q. I think Dixon and McLaughlin.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I battled with both of them.

Yeah, no, I got a lot of respect for them. They haven't done anything bad to me in the five years I've been here. That's probably the reason why I could hang out there on the outside and not worry about it.

There was a little bit of touching, but it was fine. There were no problems with it. I knew he was probably going to get around me at some point. I was just kind of hanging on there with the older tires. I wanted to make it as difficult as possible, and I did that. But eventually he got me.

Q. Was the outside more effective?

COLTON HERTA: Yes and no. It depends on car balance and how your car is. I would say yesterday the inside worked a lot better than it did today. But the outside I don't think really changed much.

I think it depended on your balance. Depending on that you could run in different areas upon the track. Some guys could run in other areas so it locked them into one or two lanes. Other guys could run the whole three, four lanes.

It was an interesting race. Lane choice was very important going into the corner. That kind of decided your fate on if you were going to pass or be passed.

Q. Barring the fact that you had a bad pit stop yesterday, which race did you prefer, the evening or afternoon one?

COLTON HERTA: The one that I finished on the podium (smiling).

Q. Were the conditions better today than yesterday?

COLTON HERTA: I don't think it changed too much. It didn't change the racing at all, I don't believe.

Q. The fact that you're finishing the season pretty good, how important is that to you?

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I mean, you want to do good the whole time. It's nice when you can finish strong and have good results.

You just got to keep it going. Obviously we're out of the championship hunt now. If we can get a win or another podium in Nashville, it would be really good for myself and all the guys going into the off-season.

Q. Also with the race being near your hometown, does that help any? Are you still going to be staying out at the bus?

COLTON HERTA: I was thinking about it. I'm going to stay in the bus just because I think it would be weird. I've never in my life stayed at my house before a race. I don't know. Could have no effect, but I don't want to find out.

Q. Or you could get stuck in traffic.

COLTON HERTA: You could do that, too, yeah.

Q. Scott Borchetta today said you have been a big supporter of Nashville. It's not downtown, which people really liked. Do you feel people are aware there's a race and are excited for it?

COLTON HERTA: I hope so. A lot of talk about billboards there. There have been billboards the last few months. There are billboards, yes (smiling).

Q. Pato might even be on one.

COLTON HERTA: I haven't seen him on one. Maybe that's just the few in Mexico (smiling).

I think they do a really good job at promoting. They do a really good job of pooling money together and putting it in the right areas. They're committed to open-wheel racing and INDYCAR as a whole. I think that's kind of what they grew up on. They grew up on going to the Indianapolis 500 and they love INDYCAR racing.

All the drivers have known them for a long time, they've been around the paddock for a long time. I've known them through my dad for a long time. I love what they're doing.

It's hard to say I wasn't a little upset at losing the downtown race. It was really fun. More importantly our cars were really good there.

This is a new challenge. It's exciting. I'm not sure how it's going to race. I hope it races well.

Yeah, as far as promotion, I'm not too worried about that. We'll just have to see if people are interested in driving out there to a racetrack.

THE MODERATOR: Colton, thank you. See you in Lebanon in a couple weeks.