IndyCar: Content Day 2 – Morning Overview

The NTT IndyCar Series and its drivers assembled in Indianapolis Wednesday for their annual preseason media presentations (called Content Days) to introduce the returning drivers, the new drivers, and some exciting new sponsors.

Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing #77

Sting Ray Robb will start with his third team in the last three seasons. However, the American will be returning to his USF Pro 2000 Championship-winning team, which gives him some comfort and confidence.

“I began driving for Ricardo 2019 was my first year with them. ”

“It’s a little bit of a return back home. I spent three years with those guys in the same shop. We won a championship together back in the USF Pro 2000 days, and hopefully we can get back on some of that winning form again.”

“It’s a good program. I think they’ve done a good job to kind of contain the group that they have and have some continuity going next season, which I think is a big part of it. Not relearning over the off-season is a good thing.”

“When the Juncos opportunity came about we got the deal done with them pretty quickly to try to solidify a seat, and also because Ricardo was very excited. I’ve been in that garage before, for three years, like I said, so working again with Ricardo, he and I actually weren’t on the best terms after our last breakup, if you will, so we kind of had to solidify a good relationship again, acknowledge where we both went wrong, and it was good.”

“I think this is a good spot for me to be in. There is a lot to learn from each place for sure, and I think that each program has been very different from the other and so I can kind of see the patterns that I like, the trends that I like, and also who those people are. Who are the key people that I really lead to lean on.”

“Each team has their core, and so being able to identify that core because I’ve been with three different teams, it is challenging going into a new season with a new team, but at the same time I’ve been able to see that kind of grow throughout other seasons.”

“I’m hoping this is going to be a good spot for me to stay for a while and have some continuity going into future seasons. Yes, I’m excited for this year to be with the team I’m with.”

 

Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, #33

Ed Carpenter                           Photo by Lucille Dust/AR1

Ed Carpenter will be in his 23rd year of career and will be running his 22nd Indy 500 this coming May.   The significant change for the American driver/owner is that the Indy 500 will be his only race this season.

” I think as I get older and the team matures and has challenges and opportunities, it was getting harder and harder for me to keep my focus and time everywhere it needed to be all the time.”

“Much like when I made the decision to not run the full season and step away from road courses”

“I think Christian, when he got in the car to finish the last year on the ovals, he did a good job and did what I thought he was going to do and ultimately did a better job than I did.”

“I’ve always said I’ll put the team first. I think I bring the most value to Indianapolis at this point, so that’s where I’m going to focus my energies as a driver.”

The owner was then asked why Rinus VeeKay was not renewed for the 2025 season.

“Everything we do is a team decision and there’s a lot of conversations and a lot of thought, debate process that goes into it. Ted was a part of the team at that point, so he was for sure a part of the conversation. But it wasn’t solely one person’s call.”

“To go back to the beginning of the question, I have nothing but respect and appreciation for the years we had with Rinus. I still consider him a really good friend and a really talented driver that I hope will find a spot in the sport. He deserves to be here.”

“But for us, like you said, he had been with us five years, our longest tenured driver ever at ECR, and it’s never easy to make those decisions, but we just felt like it was time to move in a different direction.”

“It could have easily been Rinus and Alex instead of Christian, but we made the decision that we thought was best for our team. I’m not going to go into all the details of why and how we got to that exact decision, but I think the important thing is, in my eyes, we had five really good years together, and I have nothing but appreciation and respect for Rinus, and hopefully we’ll be competing against him.”

 

Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #24

Jack Harvey has made the decision to run only the Indy 500 this season with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.  It will be the Brit’s 8th race at the infamous track.

“It really all came back down to a couple of conversations that I had with our primary sponsor, Invest, you know, just kind of throughout the year when we were starting to prepare for 2025. The decision to go racing for me isn’t entirely mine.”

“I have to be collaborative with people I’m working with, what are your objectives, what are your goals, and how can we basically bring these together so that everybody is happy. Not doing the 500 last year, at the start of the season we were just grateful to be racing. I think that gratitude has always got to be a primary feeling and one that you keep very high up your list all the time and very at surface.”

“That being said, when you are there in May and you’re on the starting grid but you’re not driving, not just for me but also for our partners and our sponsors, that was a bit of — that was a bad moment, really. It was a great moment but it was a bad moment that we weren’t going to be actually in the race.”

“I think it really just hit home to everybody how important doing Indy was. We’d had a few different conversations with people, and the reality was what budgets are now being required for the seats that were available at the time wasn’t going to be something that was achievable for us, and instead of trying to do another program that was a little bit pulled from numerous places to try and come together, I think we all collectively just felt that if there was a seat open at Dreyer, it was going to be the one that we pushed the hardest for because of that singular effort and focus that they’re renowned for having at Indy.”

Autoracing1 asked Harvey about the rumor that he was going to be a pit reporter at the races.  After confirming that it was a rumor, we asked if he had interest in the job.

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty vocal about it I think a couple times that I think that’s a very — I think what FOX are doing right now is very cool. I came in yesterday to see part of content day before we got here, and I think it looks absolutely fantastic. I’ve said that I’d like to do it. Whether it comes together is not really in my hands.”

“Yeah, I think it would be fun. Ultimately it comes back to this. In my heart first and foremost I’m a race fan, and I absolutely love living in America. I love the INDYCAR paddock. If I could drive, then obviously that would be my very primary desire, but if this was a way to still be in this environment and in this industry and in this community, then I wouldn’t see it as a plan B or a — maybe a sidestep, but I would see it as something I would throw myself into and try and do the very best that I could because I love being here and everyone has made me feel very welcome the whole time, and I think I could contribute something kind of insightful to it.”

“But if it comes together, that would be fantastic, and if not, then I hope it’s a really fantastic presentation because this series deserves to have the eyeballs on it. It’s the best series in the world. It’s definitely the most competitive series in the world.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #23

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner, will be working on  his 18th Indy 500 entry with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports for this May.

“When I first came in with them in ’22, it was just kind of getting to know each other, and limited running. We only had that one open test last year. We only had the one open test, as well. It was rained out for the most part, and we had a lot of rain during last year’s — the week.”

“I always call it the month, but it was the week of the 500 prior to practice and all of that, so we were limited on practice.”

“But yeah, I’m tight with the team, really tight with the team and tight with the crew. It’s a really good environment in that regard.”

“The biggest challenge we have is coming together basically one time all year. You can practice all you want, talk about hypotheticals in the race and how we’re going to deal with this and that.”

“Until you get in the race, in a racing environment, racing situation and you have all these people in the stand and all the strategy that’s going on and the spotters and the driver and all that interconnected, to fire on all cylinders that one day when you have all these other teams that have been racing and they’re kind of in their flow, that’s the most difficult part about doing the one-off.”

The American was asked about pit announcing for the series.

“I’d certainly love to do some — to some extent, some broadcasting work, and I’ve done just a little bit here and there, like we mentioned before on James’ podcast when I was on there, it was Long Beach, Indy, Detroit, I did some pit reporter stuff. I did some booth stuff at Long Beach.”

“Yeah, I really enjoyed it. It comes naturally for me having raced these cars for 20 plus years. Having the freshest perspective on the current car is also something that I can contribute with.”

 

Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, #21

Christian Rasmussen will be beginning his second season with Ed Carpenter Racing.  At the end of last season, the rookie was given the opportunity to race on the oval at Milwaukee and Nashville.

” A lot of cool things are happening within the ECR organization, so it’s super cool to have been a part of during the winter and seeing the change kind of happen.”

“I think we have a super exciting year ahead of us.”

“I’ve always felt fairly comfortable around the oval, whether if that was USF2000, Indy Pro or INDY NXT, and surprisingly, as well, in INDYCAR. I felt pretty comfortable right away.”

“You’re always building as a race car driver. You’re always trying to get better. I think overall I was in a decent spot. I was comfortable and we were decently quick, as well, so I think we’re just going to focus on getting the car out, getting the cars as fast as we can, and that’s pretty much it. Go for some cool passes.”

“It was a good opportunity for me to practice and get a feel for what the ovals outside of the 500 feels like because the 500 is kind of a different beast compared to all the other speedways.”

“Yeah, it was good. It was good to kind of figure out what I need to do better, what I did well, and then kind of take that experience into 2025 so that we can be even better.”

 

Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing #78

Conor Daly starts his 12th season in the NTT INDYCAR Series and with a full-time ride for the 2025 season.   The American drove five races for Juncos Hollinger last season, filling in for Agustin Canapino.

“There’s a couple little personnel movements, and we have different suit colors, so that’s new. But, it’s just been a lot of working on putting the best possible organization together as a group. We want to be successful together. We want to focus on actually preparing now instead of just jumping in and going.”

“With preparation comes much more success we hope and believe, so yeah, it should be fun.”

“I can make a new seat, my first new seat since 2020, which is ridiculous. My seat has been painful to be in for the last however many years. But guess what, it costs money to make a seat, and none of these teams that I’m going to jump in for one race are going to spend money to get me a seat.”

“I can do something like that, which is very helpful. I can have my own steering wheel grips. That’s very nice. All those small things are — again, all of the people that are winning and contending, you have to have all those things because this is the most competitive championship right now, and it’s like, everything has to be perfect. Everything has to be right.”

“It’s just doing all those things feels right. And just getting a little desk in the office. I’m going to get my own desk in the engineering office. I want to have a computer so I can finally be fully integrated in the team systems. All of those things are what you are supposed to do as a racing driver at the highest level.”

“That’s going to be nice to be a part of. I get to work with my engineer that I’ve worked with for however many races we did last year, and I think he’s a really good young guy, and that team over there is a good group of people.”

“It’s just all the things that you want to have as you move forward, and yeah, we just kind of see how it plays out really.”

 

Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske #3

Scott Mclaughlin will be starting his fifth season with Team Penske after coming in third place in the 2024 Championship.

“It’s very important to set foundations, and obviously we’ve worked together this is my fifth year full time with these guys. We’ve had our ups and downs for sure, but I think that’s just normal for guys that are really competing at the highest level, and I feel like we’ve all got a chance to win a race week in, week out.”

“But it’s certainly brought out the best in me. They’re the best teammates I’ve ever had in that regard.”

“But yeah, you’d be surprised how good we work — for how competitive it is behind closed doors like in the truck and stuff, we’re very open book and everyone sees everything, and I think that’s why we see ourselves pushing each other even harder.”

“The championship has been a goal of mine even before I was at Team Penske. For me, I always want to beat my teammates because you don’t want to be — you have all the equal machinery, and that’s just a common ground for any race driver.”

“But at the same time, it was a bummer for Will last season. I shouldn’t have probably passed him at the end. He had a pretty — misfortune in the last few races. But that is the sport we’re in.”

“But yeah, I was really proud of our stretch, our homerun, run to home I guess you could in the last couple years have been great. I’ve just got to get off to a better start, and I know that. But I’ve got all the ingredients that I need to not only be the best Penske driver again but also potentially take that next step, which everyone knows is what I want.”

“Yeah, working really hard in the off-season, but surprisingly having the baby and stuff, it’s been great to get away from it all, as well, and just focus on something other than racing for once.”

The Kiwi was asked his new daughter.

“She’s a superstar, little Lucy. Yeah, she started sleeping through the nights, which is good. So we put her down and we’ve got a pretty good rhythm the last three — I’ll probably jinx it now. We put her down around — I’m going to say it, but we have the four B’s, right. It’s bath, food, book, bed. We got told that, and it’s a no-brainer. She goes down at like 9:00 and she wakes up at 8:00 or 7:30.”

Lucille Dust reporting live from Indianapolis