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Marco Andretti made a light-hearted comment after the first day of practice for the 2025 Indianapolis 500. He joked about how hard it was to keep up with the modern IndyCar cockpit. This came as a response to a question about whether he found it difficult to adapt to so many new things and unknowns in such a short amount of time.
Andretti stepped away from full-time IndyCar racing after the 2020 season. He competes only in the Indy 500 with Andretti Global, the team owned by his family. While he no longer races every weekend, he stays active in other series.
In 2024, Andretti raced in 13 ARCA Menards Series events, seven NASCAR Truck Series races, and also competed in SRX, where he won the title in 2022. After getting the feel of the 2025 cars for the first time during Tuesday’s practice session, Marco Andretti joked about there being too many buttons that modern-day IndyCar drivers get to operate inside the car.
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The interview was shared on Instagram by the official IndyCar page.
"Just the buttons!" Andretti joked when asked about the difficulty in adapting to the new car. "These kids, they have too many buttons on these cars. No, I mean, other than that, a flat first lap feels good."
The 2025 Indy 500 practice opened with a rain delay that pushed track time to just after 2:30 p.m. EST. Teams used the shortened window before lightning ended the session about 30 minutes early. Drivers still managed around three hours of running.
Team Penske topped the charts on Day 1. Will Power led the field with a lap of 227.026 mph. Teammate Josef Newgarden was close behind at 226.971 mph. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, the series points leader, was third quickest with a 226.673 mph lap.
Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin completed the top five. The rest of the top ten included Helio Castroneves, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson, and Marco Andretti, who placed tenth.
Marco Andretti is the obvious choice for a fourth driver, says Andretti Global's COO
Marco Andretti will return to the Indianapolis 500 for the 20th time, driving the No. 98 Honda for Andretti Global. He will race alongside the team’s three full-time drivers: Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson. This year’s Indy 500 will be the first to feature IndyCar’s new hybrid engine system.
Andretti Global’s Chief Operating Officer, Rob Edwards, explained, via Racer, why Andretti was the right choice for the team’s fourth entry.
“He has a lot of experience at Indianapolis,” Edwards said. “And I think we all see benefits in running an extra car in Indy and the extra data, information, opportunity to try things, opportunities to work together.”
Edwards also said that Andretti's history with the team makes things easier:
“I think the continuity with Marco, as opposed to introducing someone new in that fourth car, has a lot of benefits,” he added. “So with him, and giving him a good opportunity, and he in working together with the regular three drivers, should help us get the result that we obviously want to get there.”
Marco Andretti has a strong past at Indy. He was the polesitter in 2020 and has finished third three times. His teammate Marcus Ericsson won the race in 2022 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
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