IndyCar: Colton Herta looking to translate great speed into great results

By Asher Fair | Jun 7, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 06: Colton Herta of the United States, driver of the #88 GESS Capstone Honda (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

Colton Herta is looking to finally translate his great speed into another great result in his rookie IndyCar season after a disappointing six-race stretch.

Since Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta opened up the 2019 IndyCar season with an eighth place finish in the race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida with an eighth place finish and then went on to win the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas to become the youngest race winner in IndyCar history at the age of 18, things have not gone well for him.

The now 19-year-old Valencia, California native proceeded to go on a four-race streak during which he finished no higher than 23rd place and his average finishing position was 25.75, the worst average finishing position for any driver in a four-race span since the 2011 season.

He then finished in 12th in the season’s next two races, giving him an average finishing position of 21.17 in the six races that have been contested since he earned the first victory of his career.

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But these poor results that have dropped Herta from second to 15th place in the championship standings have not been because of a lack of speed.

Through the season’s first eight races, Herta’s average starting position is 6.50, which is the fourth best starting position among those of the sport’s 19 full-time drivers.

Only championship contenders Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport and Will Power of Team Penske have been faster than Herta in qualifying so far this season.

He has not started a race in lower than 11th place, which is the best worst starting position among those of the full-time drivers, and he is currently on a four-race streak of top five starts.

But his average finishing position is 17.00, which is the absolute worst average finishing position among those of the sport’s full-time drivers.

The difference between Herta’s starting position and finishing position is a disappointing -10.50 so far this season. The next lowest difference between this two positions is only -3.875, which belongs to Power (5.875 average starting position and 9.75 average finishing position).

Realistically, with the speed that he has shown at each track, Herta could have won every race on the schedule so far this season.

He is due for a great result, and nobody is in need of one more than he is. He showed that he still has great speed by topping the speed chart in the second and final practice session for tomorrow night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, the DXC Technology 600, by recording a blistering top lap time of 23.3040 seconds (222.451 miles per hour) around the the four-turn, 1.44-mile (2.317-kilometer) high-banked oval in Fort Worth, Texas.

Herta’s top lap speed was nearly 1.5 miles per hour faster than that of second place driver Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (220.974 miles per hour, 23.4598 seconds), so he should be a contender to get the one-car Harding Steinbrenner Racing team back to victory lane once again this weekend.

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When will Colton Herta finally break through with his first great result, perhaps even his first victory, since he earned the first victory of his IndyCar career back in late March in the race at Circuit of the Americas?

Tomorrow night’s race, the DXC Technology 600, is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Texas Motor Speedway beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET, and it is scheduled to get underway at 8:40 p.m. ET. Qualifying for this race is scheduled to begin tonight at 6:45 p.m. ET, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network and NBC Sports Gold from 6:30 p.m. ET to 8:00 p.m. ET.