Colton Herta gives well-rounded verdict on NASCAR-like schedule for IndyCar

Colton Herta recently shared his feelings about IndyCar adopting a packed race calendar like NASCAR. The American open-wheel series currently has only 17 races a year, seven fewer than F1, which has 24 this year. Combine both, and that is how many races the NASCAR Cup Series has - 41, including the playoffs.

In the build-up to the Sonsio Grand Prix, which is the final IndyCar race before the grand Indy 500, Herta expressed his yearning to have more race weekends.

"Yeah, I love it. If it was up to me, I would love the NASCAR schedule for us to be able to race every weekend," the Andretti Global driver said via Autoweek.

However, he was aware of the substantial pressure that such a packed schedule would bring upon the rest of the team, who toil behind the scenes before he represents their collective efforts on the racetrack.

"But I think the job that the drivers have and the job that the truckees and mechanics, and engineers have is vastly different. They just wouldn't have the time for it in a series. It’s about to get crazy for them, but for me, it’s a welcoming thing. The more races that we can do, the happier I’ll be," Herta added.

Colton Herta has gotten off to a decent start in 2025. He has three Top 10 finishes in four races. But for someone who finished runner-up in the championship last year, he has a long way to go to repeat the feat.

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Colton Herta falls victim to another failed Andretti Global pit stop at Barber

Colton Herta during a pit stop at the NTT IndyCar Series Sonsio Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Colton Herta's 2025 IndyCar season began with an ominous note at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He was in contention for a win after starting P2, but a botched pit stop from his No. 26 Andretti Global squad pushed him all the way down to a P16 finish.

He shared a hard-hitting message on his team radio after the race, politely but assertively asking the team not to let him down in the same way again. Unfortunately, the team had more pit stop trouble at the Children's of Alabama Grand Prix at Barber this past weekend.

Herta could've managed a podium finish, but the slow pit stop made him lose precious seconds and three places when he came out of the pits. He eventually finished in P7.

The races where his No. 26 squad made no pit stop errors, Colton Herta finished in P4 (Thermal Club Grand Prix) and P7 (Long Beach Grand Prix). He is in eighth place in the standings after four races.

The California native needs to do much better than this to stand a chance of finishing in the Top 5 in the standings at the end of the season. Only then would he become eligible for an FIA super license and the 2026 Cadillac F1 seat, for which he is the top contender.