now to where we should be . Things would be a lot different if we were sixth or seventh in the points if we got the finish that I think we deserved there .”
Andretti arrived in 2006 with so much promise . Then 19 , he lost the Indy 500 by 15 feet to Sam Hornish Jr . on a front-straight , slingshot pass in the final 100 yards . Andretti later won at Sonoma Raceway to become the youngest series winner ( since surpassed by Rahal ) and was the Verizon IndyCar Series rookie of the year .
His only other win in 169 starts came at Iowa Speedway in 2011 . But he ’ s usually been in the hunt — he finished a career-best fifth in series championship in 2013 . This season is the first time he ’ s not had a single top-five finish .
“ It ’ s just one of those things , we just need to get that one result and once we do it will start coming back ,” he said . “ My qualifying has been just dreadful , which is making my Sundays worse . I ’ ve had to come up through the back row three times this year , two of them we ’ ve turned into top 10s .
“ If we ’ re starting in the top 10 , we ’ re going to have different results . Qualifying is huge and just getting the most from the car , not overdriving , because that ’ s what happens . You get more frustrated , you drive past what the tires are going to give you , now you have two problems instead of one .
“ When you see guys go rattle off a couple of wins , they probably didn ’ t do much different . It ’ s just that stuff started clicking . I ’ m going to stay at it . I ’ m not going to quit because people think I should .”
He realizes the remainder of a lost season is still important . The sooner he figures out the problems , the better Andretti can be in the future .
“ I ’ m just not going to write this year off ,” he said . “ Maybe for a championship write it off , but I
need to approach every event like a championship in itself and try to maximize every session and just get better and get the momentum going because we ’ re not just going to come off a horrible year and win a championship . Having said that , ( points leader Simon ) Pagenaud is on his way to doing that ( this year ).
“ You can look like you ’ re far off in this sport and you ’ re not . Once you find that one little thing , it will put you right back in .”
Andretti and Krupa are waiting for the 2017 series schedule to be announced before they set a wedding date .
“ I have everything I ’ ve ever wanted off the track ,” he said . “ It ’ s just that I find it ’ s almost hard to enjoy everything because of the results . My life revolves around results . Once we get one or two of those , I think we ’ ll be right back on track .
“ It has to come naturally and the only way that ’ s going to come is with results . She knows . You can ’ t hide it any other way . You ’ re not happy when it ’ s not going good .”
Andretti heads next to his home race , the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway . Practice and qualifying take place Aug . 20 , with coverage for the 200-lap race beginning at 3 p . m . ET Aug . 21 on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network .