“Hoping to do a little bit better”: When Colton Herta expressed his emotions following a major IndyCar achievement

The Andretti Global driver Colton Herta once spoke about getting his first win at an oval. He got his maiden oval victory in 2024 at the Nashville Superspeedway.

On September 15, 2024, Colton Herta won the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix held at the Nashville Superspeedway. He won the race after overtaking Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward and finished the race 1.8106 seconds ahead.

Herta drives the #26 Andretti Global car powered by Honda. During the post-race interview, the California born driver expressed how it felt about the win. He said:

“I’m so happy. We knew we were going to have a hot rod in the race. It’s been an amazing year. I just saw I finished second in the championship, which is awesome. Hoping to do a little bit better next year.”

The American started the race in 9th place and made his way up the grid. It also marked the first oval victory for the Andretti Global team since Alexander Rossi's win at Pocono Raceway in 2019. Herta climbed from fourth to second place in the drivers' championship that season with a 31 point deficit to the championship winner, Alex Palou.

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Colton Herta gives his verdict about IndyCar's caution delay

The #26 Andretti Global driver Colton Herta recently spoke about IndyCar's delay in throwing in the caution during the incident with Rinus VeeKay. During the race at the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey held at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca track held on July 27, Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood made contact with Dale Coyne Racing's Rinus VeeKay.

This sent the Dale Coyne Racing driver into the runoff area at Turn 2. He sat under the local yellows for some time before the race control threw in a caution.

During the post-race conference, Colton Herta was questioned about his opinion on the delay in throwing in the caution. He said:

"Yeah, they should keep it open as long -- they should keep the pits open as long as they can and allow the leaders to pit at every opportunity. I think it's not fair to be one of the faster ones and qualify well and have your day screwed by a yellow. It's happened to everybody in this series. But when you run up at the front more consistently, it burns you more often. It's something that I think is a real plus from INDYCAR. I think it's fair, and I think it should continue to happen."

Herta qualified in third place, and he put in a lap at the average speed of 101.988 mph. He currently sits in seventh place in the drivers championship with 313 points to his name.