INDYCAR MEDIA DAY

February 18, 2014

Marco Andretti

THE MODERATOR:  We'll start with Marco Andretti. 
Tell us a little bit about what you hope to accomplish in 2014 after a season that really probably did not meet your expectations. 
MARCO ANDRETTI:  Yeah, I mean, I think '13 was a good start to the direction I wanted to go.  We confirmed a lot of my work is in the right direction anyway.  We just need to keep plugging away with that, and we have. 
I think I made gains since.  I'm more confident going into '14 than I was '13.  That's a good start. 
From there, we need to do similar things.  I was pleased with my consistency.  But some of my best results of last year were on the street courses, which is where I was struggling. 
But I think this year the goal has to be to capitalize where we're dominant because I think that's what really took us out of the championship the second half of the year last year. 
I think the races we know we can win we just have to win.  If we're able to do that, string a few together, I think we can be champions. 
THE MODERATOR:  Questions for Marco. 

Q.  What were the travel issues today?
MARCO ANDRETTI:  Just five inches of snow this morning.  Newark was a mess.  It's only 75 miles from my house.  I gave it two and a half hours and still missed the first flight.  Jumped on one an hour and a half later. 

Q.  At Barber last year you said you put a lot of focus into your road and street courses.  You put all that work in.  Do you feel today heading into this season you're a more complete driver?
MARCO ANDRETTI:  Yeah, I think so actually.  I think last year was really about confirming it.  But last year, I'm still not where I want to be on the road and street courses.  I think what's really been hurting me, what I've really been working on is qualifying, making Sundays easier on myself.  There were a lot of races last year we had to come from the middle through the back of the pack.  Nowadays it's how we're measured, is qualifying. 
Back in the day, dad used to not even focus on qualifying, hardly even care about it.  Everybody in the field knew he was coming halfway through the race.  It's a lot harder to achieve that nowadays with the competition, the spec cars.  Everything is so close.  It's hard to start in the back in March to win a race.  But I need to start further forward. 
My race craft is there, stuff like that.  It's been more difficult coming from the back.  I want to be in the Fast Sixes all year. 

Q.  St. Petersburg you finished third, then strung together five consecutive top 10s.  Then things went down. 
MARCO ANDRETTI:  We need to be in the top six, top five, for sure.  On the ovals you can make stuff happen.  On the road and street courses, it's tough.  The Long Beach one was a penalty.  We still need to improve qualifying.  

Q.  (No microphone.)
MARCO ANDRETTI:  Going into last year, obviously there were a lot more unknowns, where we were going to be strong and stuff.  I have built up confidence to go back to a lot of places. 
St. Pete is one of them.  Long Beach is one of them.  I race strong there.  We need to put together an unscathed qualifying session to start towards the front. 
Long Beach I think is attainable, as well.  Really any oval, I don't think I qualified off the front row last year.  So we were really dominant on the ovals. 
As long as we can improve that 20% on road and streets, win the races that we know we can win, then we'll be where we need to be. 

Q.  Hinchcliffe was in here earlier and mentioned how last year winning at St. Petersburg helped show he's not a joker, more of a serious driver.  What do you think that did for his career?
MARCO ANDRETTI:  It's huge.  It's always great to come out of the gate like that for sure. 
I don't think he was lacking confidence before that win.  I'm sure it helps.  Every driver who drives against him knows he's all down to business by the time the visor shuts. 

Q.  What is it like to work for your dad?
MARCO ANDRETTI:  Pluses and minuses.  It can be a hindrance sometimes perception-wise for sure.  People thinking that's my only option.  To me, I've been dealing with that sort of thing ever since I stepped into the sport. 
To be in the position I'm in now, really any IndyCar driver, you need to be lucky at some point, you know what I mean?  But from there, definitely big shoes to fill.  The positives are that he's been a driver before, so he knows what we go through.  He knows when to step in, when not to.  That helps. 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you very much.