By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Zach Veach put up the numbers at Pocono Raceway.
It started with a session-leading time in practice, as his No. 26 Andretti Autosport entry wrapped the 2.5-mile track better than the rest. The rookie backed up the time with a seventh-place qualifying effort, which tied his career best.
But more than that, the race ended well for the American, who came home sixth after the ABC Supply 500. The result was his best ever on an oval and second best of his Verizon IndyCar Series career.
“I’m very satisfied with how today went,” Veach said. “The car was perfect, I just needed a little more front wing that we couldn’t put in.”
The front-wing issue began when Veach suffered damage to the adjuster during the massive accident in Turn 2 that saw Robert Wickens launch into the catch fence. From there, Veach was unable to adjust the front wing, a small enough malfunction that could’ve cost him a better result.
” That hurt us, we were stuck with that same front-wring angle,” he said. “We started the race a little conservative on front wing and our plan was to keep adding through the race. As soon as I got close to other cars, I really struggled.”
And in a race utterly dominated by teammate Alexander Rossi, who led 450 of 500 miles on the day, Veach found himself off the lead lap in the closing stages. From there, it was a race for a top five against Marco Andretti and Josef Newgarden.
Andretti, specifically, put up quite a battle with Veach for position late.
“Both of us had a little bit of a battle,” he said. “I would make a mistake, he’d get around me, he’d make a mistake, I’d give around him. I wanted to make sure I was the second-to-last-one to make a mistake.”
With only one top-10 finish in the opening 11 races of 2018, Veach was in desperate search for a bump up the ladder as he approached the final weeks of his rookie year.
That bump came back at Toronto when he returned to the top 10 for the first time in eight races and even backed it up with a 10th at Mid-Ohio. Completing a trio of top 10s has put Veach in a fresh mindset for the final three events.
“It’s cool to be running at the same level as [my teammates],” Veach said. “The last half of the season I wanted to consistently be in the top 10. My goal is to hopefully be in the top 10 these next three races, maybe even get a top five or podium. Climb on top of that for next year.”