Kicking Off the 2025 IndyCar Series Season with FOX Sports Will Buxton and drivers Marcus Ericsson, Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal

BRUCE:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek and SpeedSport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to this special bonus edition of Pit Pass Indy, as we continue our fifth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. This episode is coming to you from St. Petersburg, Florida, site of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the season opening race for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. The long off-season for IndyCar is over and beginning on February 28th, the full field of 27 drivers and cars that are entered for this race will hit the track for practice. On March 1st, there will be another practice session with qualifications to set the starting lineup for this year's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. On Sunday morning, there is the warm-up session with the big race taking the green flag at 12.29 p.m. Eastern Time. The broadcast on Fox Sports begins at 12 noon as a new era begins for IndyCar with its new television partner at Fox. Will Buxton will be the anchor of IndyCar on Fox Sports as the internationally known Formula One journalist is coming to America to become the voice of IndyCar. He will be joined in the booth by longtime color analyst and former drivers James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. Pit Pass Indy had a chance to talk to all three entering the weekend at St. Petersburg. First up is my interview with Will Buxton.

WILL:

I can't wait. I'm absolutely champing at the bit. I've spent the last couple of months thinking about nothing else. I've done about as much research as it's humanly possible to do. My entire library of books behind me is almost exclusively IndyCar books. My daughter actually bought me a a history of the 500 book for my birthday, which is really, really lovely. So I have, I have crammed about as many statistics, watched about as many races as it's humanly possible to do. And now I just, I just want to get that. I just want to get to St. Pete and start calling the action. You know, it's going to be such a, such an enthralling season. There are so many fascinating storylines for us to follow and hopefully a burgeoning growing audience that we can introduce to the fastest racing on earth, what is for me the greatest racing on earth, and bring them along for the ride.

BRUCE:

IndyCar is a uniquely American sport with deep roots in the United States, but it has a heavy influence of international storylines. So how are you able to convey both on the broadcast?

WILL:

Well, that's a great question. I think it's our job to hero the drivers, to tell their stories, to make people care about them, whether they come from the U.S. or they come from outside of the U.S. They all have unique stories to tell. They all have, you know, unique backgrounds as to where they've come from, what their objectives are, and the influences that will be affecting them throughout the season. We also have, as Dave says, 11 incredible teams to tell their stories as well. My overriding hope and what myself, Townsend, and James will be doing this year, you know, we want people to care. We want them to feel an emotional attachment to these drivers, whether it's a love or hate relationship, that when they go to the line, when they roll to green every Sunday, folks sitting at home care deeply and passionately about who they're watching. It's storytelling, you know, and that doesn't matter. what championship you're talking about, what country you're talking to or about. It's storytelling and it's getting people to care about these incredible gladiators, these incredible daredevils who do this amazing thing that I've always wished that I could do, but I've never had the skill set to be able to do. They always say those who can do and those who can't talk about it. So I'm very happy to be talking about it. That's the goal. That's the objective.

BRUCE:

And with your history in Formula One, with your part of the Formula One paddock in many ways, what is the viewpoint of IndyCar by a lot of the people on F1? Because in the United States, we always get the feeling that they don't necessarily give it the credit that many of us do.

WILL:

I think IndyCar is motorsports best kept secret. And that's because nobody in any paddock anywhere in the world will admit what they all know to be the truth, which is that IndyCar is the greatest racing on earth. We all talk about it. It doesn't matter what paddock you're in, whether it's the World Endurance Paddock or Formula E Paddock or the Formula One Paddock. Everyone knows the greatest racing in motorsport is IndyCar. But they can't ever go on the record about it because they'd be down talking their own championship. I think for a lot of F1 drivers, there's a fear associated with IndyCar, and I think that's twofold. One, they see it as quite scary. They see ovals as being quite scary. And two, they don't want to turn up and get shown up. You know, Fernando Alonso, one of the greatest of his generation, one of the greatest of all times, qualified and ran well in his first 500. Second, didn't even qualify. That's a huge embarrassment for any Formula One driver considering leaving Formula One and coming over to America that doesn't quite consider themselves to be at the level of Fernando Alonso. If he can get bumped, any of them can get bumped. So I think there's trepidation on a couple of levels there for them. And it's great when you see drivers that do come over and do want to give it a go and I know talking to Marcus Ericsson, both when he was in Formula One and since then, the one thing that he was most looking forward to was getting to learn how to drive ovals. And he was most excited about taking on the ovals. And obviously that's shown. He's now an Indy 500 winner. Um, but for some of them, when they come across from Europe, we see it, you know, year in year out, when someone comes over from Europe, they don't do ovals the first year. And then they get swept up in the, you know, electrifying nature of, of not just the racing, but the event that is the Indianapolis 500. And by year two, it's, uh, it's absolutely top of their bucket list.

BRUCE:

And last one for me, your two analysts in the booth have been known to engage in some spirited debate. How much are you encouraging that? And at times, are you going to feel like you're going to have to referee?

WILL:

Oh yeah, I see it as marriage counseling, I think. So listen, they have a tremendous relationship and a tremendous, what I'd term as banter in the booth. It's something that I have listened to, that I have viewed as an IndyCar fan for many years. I'm very mindful of not stepping on that or not taking away from what they have and that very unique relationship that people have come to know and have come to love. So my job will be, I guess, trying to get a word in Edwise.

BRUCE:

Thank you and welcome to IndyCar.

WILL:

Thank you so much.

BRUCE:

And now let's hear from Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe of Fox Sports.

TOWNSEND:

It was, it was fun. You know, this whole Fox thing has just been really amazing. Um, you know, I didn't know what to expect, uh, coming into this deal. I've been a broadcasting, as you know, IndyCar for 13 years. This will be my 14th season, um, covering the sport that I love so much. But it's been unbelievable, not only how thorough they've been in preparation. I mean, Pam Miller's our coordinating producer. She's been 24-7 on this thing for six months. And no stone has been left unturned. So the rehearsal was fun. Will and I know each other for many years, but have never really worked together formally, short of me giving him a ride. in the two-seater at the Speedway spontaneously a few years back. James and I, of course, have been working together a lot the last few years, but it didn't even really feel like rehearsal. It just felt like three guys that sort of know what they're doing that are going to sit down and work together for the first time and it felt like the chemistry was instant. Didn't hurt that, you know, we've all known each other for a while. James and Will have worked together on the F1 side, but just going back to the Fox thing. I'm just so pumped. They have so many bells and whistles, drones and graphics, and just fun, aggressive, edgy stuff that we're bringing right out of the gate at St. Pete. It's going to be a blast. And of course, IndyCar never disappoints. We've got a field that is so deep and competitive just to finish in the top 10 is a massive achievement out of the gate in this series. So I'm fired up, ready to go.

JAMES:

No, look, I think what's been so impressive in the buildup, you know, to this week, and it's amazing that it's finally here when, you know, you think about all the behind the scenes work happening with the Fox crew is there are no bad ideas, right? We are encouraged to throw any and every idea out there. And Pam, who Townsend mentioned, is not afraid of trying anything, of running things up the flagpole. And the number of things that we've gotten approved that I never thought we would get approved, it's shocking and amazing. and very exciting, you know, because to Townsend's point, the product on track never disappoints. And based on everything that we've seen so far, you know, the pressure's now kind of on us to make sure the show lives up to that, because like I said, the racing is so good, but everything that we've seen out of the preparation from the Fox side has been phenomenal, and we just can't wait to get going.

BRUCE:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break. Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Let's continue our driver interviews as IndyCar kicks off the 2025 season. Marcus Ericsson is back for his second season at Andretti Global after enjoying a successful term at Chip Ganassi Racing. While at Ganassi, Ericsson won the 106th Indianapolis 500 in 2022 and hopes to achieve more glory in 2025 with Andretti Global. Ericsson joins me for this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. He's back for a second season at Andretti Global. It's Marcus Ericcson, former winner of the Indianapolis 500. With this team, you could be a contender in the 109th Indianapolis 500. I know your first year with Andretti Global was a little bit not the expectations that you had, so... How do you enter the 2025 season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg?

MARCUS:

What are your thoughts? Yeah, I'm more prepared, more focused, more hungry than ever, to be honest. It's been, like you said, the first year wasn't what we wanted results-wise. I think it had a lot of potential. We were fast on pretty much every type of track. I bring that with me, but of course we need results this year. St. Pete is a great place to start the year on. It's a place where I've won races, where André has won races there. We feel like we should have a strong package there and always a great place to go to. It's a great atmosphere there, it's a great event, so I can't wait to get there.

BRUCE:

We're here at Sebring Raceway for the IndyCar Spring Training pre-season test. A lot of drivers say they love the test here because it helps replicate what you'll experience at St. Pete. You can't test at St. Pete, obviously, because it's city streets. So how much technology transfer can you get from this track, this test, to your street course package?

MARCUS:

Yeah, it's a bit of a strange place here in Sebring. Sometimes you're super fast here, sometimes you're struggling. It's not always transferring to St. Pete. I think last year we were P1 here and we thought we were really good. We brought that setup to St. Pete and it didn't really work. It's a special place, but I feel like it's an important test to sort of check all your boxes, get into the rhythm again. You know, just feel, you know, ready for St. Pete, because when we get St. Pete, you know, those practice sessions go quickly and then suddenly you're into qualifying in the race. So this test here is very important for everyone in the teams to just get ready for that season opener.

BRUCE:

With IndyCar's limited amount of testing, this is the only two days that everybody gets before the start of the season. What have you been doing in the off-season to stay race-ready?

MARCUS:

I've been pushing really hard. I've been training really hard on my physical status. I've gained, you know, 10, 12 pounds of muscle. Worked really hard with my mental trainer. Worked a lot with the home simulator. I've been driving that almost daily and also worked very much with the team. So it's been an off-season of just analyzing what I can do better and realizing how much I want this and how much I want to succeed. So it's been a lot of hard work put in and excited to show that on track.

BRUCE:

St. Pete has grown to become one of the most popular and anticipated events on the IndyCar schedule. It's a tremendous vibe. It's almost like IndyCar's version of Spring Break. So how perfect is that to start off the season?

MARCUS:

It's fantastic. It's always an amazing atmosphere there. It's packed with fans. The whole city sort of It's part of the atmosphere. It's just really cool to come down there. Usually, the weather is nice and warm. Usually, there are a lot of Swedish fans even coming all over from Sweden flying out for that race, which is fun because it's always a big support for me and Felix. It's a perfect place to start an IndyCar season. I always love my time there.

BRUCE:

How surprised were you when you got the news that Jay Fry was no longer the president of IndyCar?

MARCUS:

I was quite surprised to be honest. I didn't really see it coming. I think Jay has done a tremendous job for the sport, for IndyCar. I have huge respect for him as a person. He was always very approachable and like I said, he did a lot for the sport. At the same time, I trust the owners. I believe they know what they're doing and what's best for the sport. So, you know, sad to see Jay go, but very excited about the future. And obviously Doug coming in, he's a great person. I know him well from Indie and what he's done there at IMS. So he will be a great person to lead us into this season and the next seasons after that.

BRUCE:

And also Mark Sibyl is now in charge of competition and logistics, but he's not a stranger to the IndyCar paddock because he was the chief of staff under Jay Fry. So in a lot of ways you have to feel fairly confident in what he's able to bring to the series.

MARCUS:

No, for sure. It's a lot of good, clever people in the organization, so no worries there. And like I said, I trust the owners, they know what they're doing, and I'm sure we're going to be in for an extremely strong season here as a sport.

BRUCE:

I don't know if you watched the 67th Daytona 500, but one of your buddies, Elio Castroneves, was in his first NASCAR Cup Series race. Hate to say it, but he spent most of the week being a pinball. Got taken out after 72 laps in the race. When a racer in IndyCar sees that type of racing where there were so many crashes that were not of any driver's control, they just happened to be caught up in a big pack, what goes through your mind about that?

MARCUS:

Yeah, it's a bit tough watching that race because, you know, it's obviously such an iconic and big race, but the way it plays out with so many big wrecks and, you know, so much... I wouldn't say luck, but it's a lot about being in the right place at the right time. So, yeah, it's definitely a unique event like that, but me, you know, being from Europe, I'm not too much expertise on that area, but tough for the guys to get taken out there for no fault of their own.

BRUCE:

And also, how unusual is it to be over here at Andretti Global and not see Michael Andretti anymore?

MARCUS:

Yeah, for sure. It's going to be a big difference for us. We love Michael and what he's done here for the team and the organization, so it's going to be different to not have him around in the same way. But again, what Dan and his group has got visioned and what they're trying to do, I think it's very exciting and really excited to be part of that.

BRUCE:

Marcus Ericcson, good luck at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Good luck in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season here at Andretti Global. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you. Christian Lungard has moved over to Arrow McLaren after breaking into the NTT IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Erickson scored his first IndyCar win on the streets of Toronto in 2023. At Arrow McLaren, Lungard hopes to achieve more wins and contend for the championship, as he tells me in this exclusive PitPass Indy interview. A new look, new colors, new car, new engine manufacturer, and a new team for our next guest. It's Christian Lungard, who is now at Aero McLaren. Christian, you got all the parts and pieces here to have a successful season. So how excited are you heading into the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series? Pretty stoked.

CHRISTIAN:

It's great. I think it's very great just to be back on track and seeing that number seven Velo Aero McLaren Chevrolet on track. It's a different feel from what I'm used to, but then yet very similar. And obviously it takes some getting used to, but I think a lot of it, in a sense, is muscle memory and kind of getting going. There is definitely habits, I think, that needs to be addressed and changed. But other than that, you know, getting on track again and just getting rolling is very pleasant.

BRUCE:

We're doing this interview at Sebring Raceway leading into the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the season opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg, February 28th to March 2nd. How valuable is the test at Sebring because I understand from a lot of the engineers and drivers there's a lot of turns here and surface areas that are very similar to what you encounter at St. Pete.

CHRISTIAN:

Yeah, I mean, it's the... Sebring is the go-to place for street circuits testing. I don't really know where else you would go. I mean, you could go to some city and shut it down, but I don't think that's going to help you very much, and it's going to be really expensive, but I think it's... The test at Sebring is really the most valuable day we get because it's the only day we get. So it's valuable in that sense. Obviously, I don't think any other driver on the grid would disagree with me if I said we would like to have some more testing. And it's close to the season as well, which is both nice and a little bit of a pain because You wait this long, then you get in the car and you have so many things that you need to address. And obviously, I'm in the category of having changed teams. There's a lot of stuff that I need to catch up on and make sure that I'm ready whenever I'm out there. And there's new drivers in the series as well. It's just not a lot of testing. I'm super stoked for the season to finally start.

BRUCE:

Nothing replicates seat time. So how do you prepare during the off-season with the limited amount of testing that you have?

CHRISTIAN:

I mean, in my situation, luckily I've been in the series for three years. I know all tracks. I know how to drive the car. But it's really just getting up to speed with working with the new personnel, getting to learn how we all interact, which language we each speak, to be on the same page and understand each other in certain situations. And at the end of the day, the only real way you can do that is by doing reps of it. And to do that, we need more track time, which we don't have. So it's been a lot of meetings and trying to understand each other and just a bunch of conversations in the end about random stuff, a lot of work. But I think we've gotten to a point now where I feel like we're all pretty confident. And I'm not here to waste time. I'm here to be competitive from day one. Practice one in Sebring and in St. Pete.

BRUCE:

How do you get race fit? Because really the only way you can prepare yourself for racing is to drive race cars.

CHRISTIAN:

Yeah, I mean, this is a conversation that I think is raised every year. In any racing series that you do, you can only do as much in the gym as you want, but as soon as you get out there, it's still gonna hurt. But no, I mean, I feel physically fit, I feel mentally very fit. It's just nice to finally be going again.

BRUCE:

How does it feel to not be the youngest driver on your IndyCar team now because you actually have a driver that's your teammate who is younger, Nolan Siegel?

CHRISTIAN:

I'm pretty sure he's probably the youngest in the field, right? Oh, definitely. And it's very weird to think about Pato is now the oldest in the team. You know, a couple of years ago, we saw this young star and now he's the oldest in the team. I think it's great, obviously seeing what he can do this afternoon, learn from what Pato and I have been doing this morning and build more on the package that we have.

BRUCE:

Not only is Pato young and talented, he's also a TV star now with all the commercials that he did for Fox. It was on the Super Bowl, the most watched sporting event of the year. How cool was that to see all those IndyCar commercials on Fox's coverage of Super Bowl 49? It's awesome.

CHRISTIAN:

I think it shows how much Fox wants it and I think it shows the determination from Fox to come in and I'm gonna call it drop that bomb straight away you know before the season's even started and it's thrown an enormous amount of focus on IndyCar going into this season so They're here to do the job right, and I think all of us are very happy with that. And I think it's just cool to see Paddo, you know, knowing the character he is, knowing him personally, and then seeing him on a commercial for the Super Bowl is pretty cool.

BRUCE:

And to be part of McLaren. They experienced success last year in Formula One by winning the Constructors' Championship. The IndyCar team paddled one three races. What is it just like being a member of McLaren now?

CHRISTIAN:

I think it's a new step. It's a step forward in my career, and obviously that was the point. But how to say this correctly without sounding rough, it's, you know... I feel like giving Pato some competition, right? And the other way around. I feel like it's very... The last three years have been a little straightforward for me, and it's been... I'm going to the weekend, kind of knowing what I've got, and just continuing doing what I was doing, where now I feel like... I'm up against a three-time winner in the same season. Team's very competitive and it's... There's a certain amount of pressure in that sense. But it's a challenge that I'm up for and it's the right step for me to evolve as a driver myself too.

BRUCE:

Off the track, what's the camaraderie like between you and your two new teammates?

CHRISTIAN:

It's good. He's... Obviously, this guy to our right, Pato, is... I think we've just mentioned that he's a character himself. He's a great guy. Nolan as well. Nolan is an upcoming star. I think he's being under-watched a little bit. He's got a tremendous amount of talent and potential, and he's going to be one of the winning drivers in the series in the near future.

BRUCE:

And finally, how surprised were you when you got the news that Jay Fry is no longer with IndyCar and Doug Bowles will be taking over as president?

CHRISTIAN:

I mean, I think all of us had heard rumors, obviously nothing concrete, but I think what shocked everybody the most was the timing of it. It's an odd timing in my opinion.

BRUCE:

Christian Lungard, you've always been very friendly to the show. Good luck in 2025. Congratulations on the new ride with Errol McLaren. Thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you. We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break. Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. We wrap up today's Pit Pass Indy with our old friend Graham Rahal, who scored his first career IndyCar victory when he won the 2008 St. Pete race in his first ever start. Nearly 20 years later, Rahal returns to the site of that first win. He may be older and wiser, but Rahal remains hungry to win more races in 2025. Here is my exclusive interview with Graham Rahal for Pit Pass Indy. Back for another season of NTT IndyCar Series Racing, it's Graham Rayhall. Graham, we're getting ready for the Firestone Grand Prix, St. Petersburg. Very popular race, but before we get to St. Pete, we're testing here at Sebring Raceway. How valuable is this test with the start of the season so close?

GRAHAM:

Well, it's valuable, but it's also the only thing that we've got, as you know, Bruce. I mean, this is the one test that we get before the year. I know that some guys have been doing some, you know, various testing and stuff out there, but, you know, for us, for me, this is the one and only. So, critical days, you know, half of a day on Monday, half of a day on Tuesday, but critical to try to find some good things.

BRUCE:

A little bit of a different lineup over here at Ray Hall Lederman-Lanigan Racing. What are some of the changes on your team and just also across the entire team?

GRAHAM:

A lot of new faces, but I'm really positive about the group that we got. I feel like we had a great group of mechanics on this team. I think the engineering squad, I'm very excited to work with Yves. I feel like he's an extremely, you know, smart and successful guy in this sport, and I think he's going to be tremendous for us. But yeah, I mean, aside from that, you know, there's a lot of same things that we're trying to put together and improve upon, you know, work on Indy very hard and make sure that the performance of the 500 is significantly better than what everybody's seen for the last bunch of years. So let's see what we get.

BRUCE:

Not only is Graham Rahal a very talented IndyCar series driver, he's a huge sports fan. So how cool was it to watch the Super Bowl and see IndyCar commercials featuring IndyCar drivers during the Super Bowl?

GRAHAM:

It's not just that though. I mean, you know, all year they've been you know, college football, getting them engaged in big noon kickoff as much as they did. Obviously, Daytona 500 everywhere, Super Bowl commercials, which is amazing. I mean, look, what Fox is doing is unprecedented. I mean, I know there's a lot of people upset when we left NBC, but I haven't heard a word from them since that that announcement went out. And, you know, and we're thankful for what they did. But I think we can all agree that what Fox has been doing is a big, big, big deal. And I think it's going to help us in the long run significantly.

BRUCE:

well when you think a hundred and twenty million people watch the super bowl and during the commercial breaks there's joseph newgarden or there's alex polo or paddle award that's really you can't buy that type of promotion it's big it's big a lot of viewership a lot of eyeballs and a lot of people almost more engaged in the commercials than they are in uh... in the game itself so uh...

GRAHAM:

No, it was definitely a tremendous thing for the sport and, you know, let's see what it returns. I mean, you know, my hopes are obviously that it equals, you know, viewers on the race weekends and gets people engaged and locked in all year.

BRUCE:

Well, they were probably more engaged on the commercials than the game itself because it ended up being a bit of a blowout. Were you really surprised by that?

GRAHAM:

Yes and no. Yes and no. I feel like I thought the Eagles would win because I feel like the Chiefs kind of scraped through all year but you know it was like The way that they did it, I mean, was fascinating. I mean, just annihilated them. I mean, just completely, completely took the energy out of the sails of the Chiefs and they just never had anything to fight with.

BRUCE:

Some big changes at IndyCar. Last week they announced that Jay Fry was no longer with the series, gonna be replaced by Doug Bowles. I know that you and Jay Fry were become pretty good friends. Yeah. So what was your reaction to it? And how do you really assess that change?

GRAHAM:

Well, first off, I'll start by saying this. I think Doug Bowles is a great man. I think he's I think he's a great guy for the job. Um, you know, but I, but I, I, you know, I, I feel, I feel very strongly about Jay as a human being and Danielle and, uh, you know, the whole family. I've got a lot of love for the fries and, and I believe that they're all stars. I believe that Jay did a lot of great things in this sport. I, he handled himself with, with, uh, with class and integrity. And, uh, you know, if you told you, if he told you he was going to do something, he flat out did it. and uh... in racing i think we can all agree that's not common and uh... so i really uh... uh... you know i i think it was a bummer to see him uh... see him go but luck you know you turn the page and uh... you know we'll see what what how doug can do with that i i know he's got a lot to juggle i mean trying to promote and be the president speedway all while running in the car uh... let let's be very clear that's not an easy task whatsoever and so uh... The man's got a lot of energy, so maybe he can make it happen.

BRUCE:

When Jay Fry took over after the 2015 season, I guess it would be fair to say that the paddock was not in really good shape. There was a lot of turmoil. The competitive era of the Arrow kits didn't quite yield the results that maybe they were intended to do. But Jay was able to get everybody on the same page, and how important was that at that particular time?

GRAHAM:

Yeah, and a lot of listening to the fans, too, and simplifying the car design, making the cars much, much more attractive than the crazy aero kits that we had going and all that stuff. So I think Jay's a star, and I'm sure we'll see him around the sport more, or at least I hope we do.

BRUCE:

Speaking of car design, IndyCar is in the early stages of trying to design a new car. What are your thoughts on that? What would you like to see done with a new car?

GRAHAM:

Yeah, well, I mean, I think, you know, to kind of go off of, you know, Jay's lines about, you know, sexy, you know, fast, authentic, noisy, all those things I think are critical. But, you know, I mean, I'm sure they're going to design a good-looking car, or at least I hope. The most important thing is to try to integrate a lot of the safety componentry that's been adapted over the years, you know, to the car from the get-go so that we you know, so that we don't have to keep adding and adding weight like we have over the last bunch of years. But, yeah, I mean, let's see what happens. I know the fans are excited for a new car. And I can tell you that as a driver, or all of the drivers are excited because we've been driving the same thing for a long time now. It'd be nice to have something that's a little fresh.

BRUCE:

That aside, with the change in management, your outlook for the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season, every race will be on Fox, great lineup of teams, drivers, cars. So how excited are you entering 2025 and what can we expect?

GRAHAM:

Oh, I'm excited, man. I'm very excited. I'm excited for the fans, I'm excited for the sport, and I'm excited for our sponsors and our team, and I'm hopeful that we can have a great year.

BRUCE:

And also, how excited are you to return to St. Petersburg? Because it's turned out to be one of the best events on this schedule.

GRAHAM:

Great race. I mean, a great race. Great event. Awesome place to go. Awesome place. Family loves it. My girls love it. We enjoy going there. It's a great way to kick off the year. So can't come soon enough, man.

BRUCE:

Well, Graham Rahal, we can all echo that sentiment that the season can't come soon enough. Good luck in 2025. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy. Thank you. And that puts checkered flag on this edition of pit pass indy. We want to thank our guests, the three men in the fox sports booth calling indy car action beginning this season, Will Buxton, Townsend Bell, and James Hinchcliffe. Also, Marcus Ericcson of Andretti Global, Christian Lungard of Errol McLaren, and Graham Rahal of Rahal Entering Atlantic and Racing for joining us on today's podcast. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy your path to victory lane in IndyCar. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team, executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.