THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We'll go ahead and get started.
Obviously a very busy weekend ahead, a busy month ahead as well, and it begins with INDY NXT by Firestone and the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix race 1 and 2. It's a doubleheader weekend. Race 1 coming up tomorrow evening at 7:00 eastern time. Race 2 comes up Saturday at 1:00.
Joining us with a look ahead, five drivers, looking forward to a big doubleheader weekend here on the IMS road course.
There aren't too many times where you can compete and race on your home track, let's call it. The gentleman on the far right side will have the opportunity this weekend, Jack William Miller, driving the No. 40 ABEL Miller Vinatieri Motorsports car.
To his right, Hailie Deegan is a rookie in the series and turned her very first laps in an INDY NXT car just last fall right here on the IMS road course. Hailie previously competed Off Road, ARCA, NASCAR Trucks, NASCAR Xfinity Series. She droves the No. 38 HMD Motorsports car.
To her right, Myles Rowe is in his second season with INDY NXT. Started the season with two top fives, currently third in points. He drives the No. 99 ABEL Motorsports for INDYCAR.
Lochie Hughes is another rookie in this series, two races, two podiums so far here in 2025. The Australian is second in points, driving the No. 26 McGinley Clinic USF Pro Championship car for Andretti Global.
And Dennis Hauger, as soon as he arrives here, running a little bit late, he's the points leader after a couple of rounds, two races and two wins. Hauger is the former F3 champion, F2 race winner as well.
We're going to start down on the far end. Jack, your thoughts, open it up, back home again racing here in your hometown of Indianapolis. How excited are you about this opportunity?
JACK MILLER: Oh, man, I've been singing the song the entire week. I'm so excited to get back here. Driving through the tunnel, you just feel it.
It's a nice day. You hear the little cars are out there right now. Nothing beats that.
THE MODERATOR: Have you thought about what it's going to be like, doubleheader weekend obviously? You've been here many, many times.
JACK MILLER: I feel like I've spent more time here than my own bed. I like the doubleheaders here. I think you get used to it. In the smaller series, it's usually like a triple-header.
(NO Zoom audio.)
HAILIE DEEGAN: I was trying to go into it with an open mind and figuring it out as I go. I think, for my goal-wise, just getting better every time I touch the track, trying to get closer and closer. Every race, going to practice closing that gap for how far I'm off. I think that's something I'm really working towards.
The strength side has been a struggle for me. I was able to talk to Jamie quite a bit this week after Barber. Barber was tough, really tough physically. Talked to Jamie, and she gave me like a list of stuff that they did to the car to help her out with that. Hopefully that helps out this weekend.
THE MODERATOR: Jamie Chadwick?
HAILIE DEEGAN: Yes.
THE MODERATOR: If you're going to lean on someone, not bad to have a former race winner involved in INDY NXT to do that.
Myles, welcome back. Third in points right now for you, second year in INDY NXT. What's been the difference between last year and this year so far?
MYLES ROWE: I think mainly like there's a lot of faith behind me this year, and I think that will really show dividends. It will give me more confidence in the car, and just my environment as a whole is really supportive. I think that's really the main difference.
THE MODERATOR: Each week, it seems like you're closer and closer to getting to the podium. How close are you guys, do you think?
MYLES ROWE: We're extremely close. I think, when we really hit the nail on the head, it will be quite clear.
THE MODERATOR: Excellent. Have a great weekend.
Lochie, clearly a strong start to the season for you. How much are you looking forward to a doubleheader weekend, double points weekend? If you can score well tomorrow, chances are you can do it on Saturday as well.
LOCHIE HUGHES: This is probably -- I've actually been quite -- usually before races I get quite nervous before the weekend. This weekend I've been excited. I don't know if that's a good thing. It could end up being horrible.
I'm excited to get going. Having two races, it's going to be cool, being able to learn from the first race and take that into the second race and also just have some momentum behind us.
Obviously being new to the car, it's been hard. The season so far has been so stop/start, stop/start. I'd say, yeah, now just come off Barber and get in a rhythm and be able to just keep learning every day.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks. Have a great weekend. We'll open it up for questions for a little bit knowing we have time constraints.
Q. I apologize, four questions for Hailie. Personally, I was surprised that you made the extreme move from NASCAR business to open-wheel. Can you give some explanation, motivation, why such an extreme move from a late braking car to an early braking car?
HAILIE DEEGAN: For me, I was just kind of looking at the next avenue and what was possible sponsor-wise. Racing is a money game, so it's how much money you can bring to the table.
For me, I only have X amount of sponsor dollars I can bring, so being somewhere to where I can be on a good team, a competitive team, and not have to be in a bad situation on the NASCAR side and not be in quality equipment because the sponsor money isn't there.
Q. What's your expectation for the whole season this year?
HAILIE DEEGAN: For me, I'm just looking at progressing and getting better. I'm hoping to be in this series for a few years. That would be ideal if I could be.
I think just every time I hit the track getting better, and trying to just improve, improve, improve, and learn as I go, and try to learn as much as I can as quick as I can.
Q. Looking from Europe or Germany, NASCAR races are like mini endurance racing. Did you look into real endurance racing? If so, would endurance be an alternative when you're at NASCAR?
HAILIE DEEGAN: I have done some IMSA racing. I finished on the podium one year in the GT4 class at Daytona. I've done a little bit of it, and I actually really enjoyed it.
For me, I would love to do it on the side, but not full-time, I would say.
Q. Last one, did you look also into open-wheel racing in Europe?
HAILIE DEEGAN: No, I never really kind of thought about any of that.
Q. Jack, you started in the back at Barber but moved your way up, you were on the charge. This seems to be a little bit of a similar field to Barber. Your expectations for this weekend and the two races?
JACK MILLER: I have really high expectations for this weekend. I've done well here before, and I love the track. Hopefully, we won't be starting in the back like at Barber.
Obviously this track is like, I'd say probably our biggest passing track. You can get a lot of straightaways, a lot of push-to-pass. So wherever we start, I think we're going to move up and try to fight for some podiums.
Q. Myles, for you, qualifying at all these road courses is of importance. We see the winner usually come from the first two rows. Sometimes it's the first row for the pole. Do you put an extra emphasis knowing that qualifying works for two races this weekend?
MYLES ROWE: Yeah, qualifying is going to be clearly important, the second fastest lap setting the grid for race 2. So you kind of have to approach that knowing that it's not just one bank, you've got to have that consistency throughout the whole session.
Yeah, like Jack said, it's not too hard to pass here, but still at the same time you can defend pretty well here as well if you know how to.
We're definitely looking forward to maximizing that session and making sure we're in a good spot so we make it a little bit easier for us to get to the checkered flag first.
Q. I know it's been a stop/start because you guys took the semester off nine weeks before the race. Have you felt the momentum of INDYCAR and INDY NXT on FS1? How do you compare that to when you were running trucks on FS1?
HAILIE DEEGAN: Even if you just look at INDY NXT in the past, I feel like not as many people were aware of it as they are now. I think that with FS1 and Fox and the great job they're doing, even during the broadcast of other races with their commercials, it's brought a lot more attention to it.
It's awesome. It's awesome for everybody in the sport. It helps drivers. It helps the series. It helps everybody. I think with everything going on there is really good.
As compared to the NASCAR side, I talk about this a lot with the people around me, when you're so involved, as someone who's like within the racing industry, whatever type the racing you're involved with, you almost don't pay attention as much to what's happening on the outside.
So for me, obviously I still watch the NASCAR races, but like everything that I thought mattered like didn't almost. It almost feels irrelevant now. Like you can't remember who finished fourth in the last Xfinity race, like I couldn't tell you. Certain things like that.
So I think that now with everything that's going on here, I've been so head down focused on this side also, so that probably doesn't help the case either.
Q. That's the same answer Kyle Larson gave three weeks ago when they were here for the test and just kind of tunnel vision. Lochie, for you, Andretti Global is a family. How much are you learning from Kirkwood and Colton and Marcus Ericsson on the INDYCAR side of things?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Obviously so far, not much. I guess more from Kyle, just because he's probably the most recent guy who's sort of been in my shoes, come from all the USF ranks as well. I spoke to Kyle a little bit here and there when I can. Long Beach was obviously a bit better when we weren't obviously busy racing.
It's still so early in the season, it feels like -- yeah, it feels like we haven't done much yet. So looking forward to getting going.
Q. Lochie and Myles, is there anything you're seeing Dennis, what he's able to do with his car, that you guys need to be able to do?
LOCHIE HUGHES: Not really. So far, it's just he's got so much more experience. I've come from USF. He's come from three years of F2. It's a bit of a different place to come from.
Yeah, just he knows what these fast cars are like. He's just got so much experience. Yeah, just trying to learn without making mistakes and doing something stupid. I think, you know, with time I'll be there.
MYLES ROWE: Yeah, I think in my perspective, especially when you're racing so close, everything's about just hooking up the car and your lap and everything at the right time. So we've had some of that in preseason and then practice sessions, and then sometimes when it counts, we haven't.
So it's just about getting it hooked up with your engineer at the right time. That's how I see it.
Q. For Hailie, can you give any more specifics on what Jamie suggested for you? Did she give any kind of suggestions just as far as racing in this series in general?
HAILIE DEEGAN: Yeah, kind of the conversation after Barber that I had with her was kind of the struggles I was having, not being able to carry as much speed in the center of the corner as I wanted to under the corners that were high-load corners, especially Barber has a lot of those types of corners.
After talking with her, she gave me a few things. We're going to try them out and see. Hopefully that helps quite a bit.
Q. Did you know her before?
HAILIE DEEGAN: My first ever INDY NXT race I came to last year, I got to meet her and everything. She's very friendly, which is awesome. I definitely felt comfortable to reach out to her. I knew that she was going to give me an honest answer.
THE MODERATOR: Also joined by Dennis Hauger. Congratulations, we're glad you're here. We're going to make you do push-ups with any more waiting time for you.
Two wins, two races for you with Andretti Global. Your thoughts on the start to 2025, Dennis.
DENNIS HAUGER: First, sorry for being late. I was watching some data with my engineer, and I lost some time.
It's been a great start to the season for us. Feeling natural with the team and with the car and everything. I think we're still just building up the progress -- new tracks, new cars, new tires. It's all about building our confidence.
I think we've done a good job with that so far in the preseason in the first couple of races. Hopefully we can keep it up for the rest of the season.
THE MODERATOR: I know, Hailie, we were talking about this. Your first ever test in the INDY NXT car was here last fall, which again may seem like a lifetime ago by now. How much do you think you've progressed since then up until now?
DENNIS HAUGER: Definitely a lot, I think, just getting the confidence. It's really just knowing what you need from the car to go quicker. I think that's been a key point for us.
Yeah, it's been about just getting experience test by test, and I think, when we got to the first race weekend, we sort of knew what we had and what we needed to go fast. So just trying to keep that mindset going forward. It's been working well so far. Hopefully, we can have a good week in there as well.
Q. Hi, guys. My question is for Dennis. Dennis, hi, how are you, first of all?
THE MODERATOR: He's late, that's how he is. That's fine.
Q. You've mentioned before that you are during the last couple of months, you are gaining that confidence with the car, with everything new. Coming from Europe, how important has it been the fact that you are in Andretti and very important United States team in order to achieve this confidence with the car with the team?
DENNIS HAUGER: It's been great. It's such a historic team and a professional team. So coming over here and seeing how they work, it's been a learning experience for all of us, I mean for both me and Lochie, being new to this series as well and to the team.
Yeah, it's been great. I think they've made sure the rookies have been up to speed quickly, and we've really worked hard off track to be prepared for it. I think a big thanks to that is the team.
It's been great. Really enjoyed it so far, and obviously looking forward to the rest of the season.
Q. And in what things do you see that you can still improve in the INDY NXT car?
DENNIS HAUGER: I don't want to say exactly what, but I feel like there's still room for improvement in terms of just a mindset around a few, couple things both for qualifying and race. It's just a bit different than what I'm used to. I think some things have been good for me in terms of experience to be good at straightaway, but still some things that I can learn from the series and the team to really put everything together on the race weekend.
Yeah, just making progress. I think that's the most important thing.
Q. Lochie, just mentioned you did Formula 2.
LOCHIE HUGHES: Not me.
Q. Sorry, that was a misunderstanding.
LOCHIE HUGHES: No. I said to Bob's question Dennis did F2. No, I wish.
Q. Then just a question for Jack. Your father raced here years ago. Could he prepare you for coming to Indianapolis? Did he share some advice or even share some secrets, what's important to race here?
JACK MILLER: Obviously he helps me with some driving stuff. Growing up, he was always there to help me. But I think a lot of what he helps me with is just navigating the racing world itself. As everyone here knows, it's a very complicated thing to do.
So having someone who's been there, he's had the highs, he's had the lows, just always having him in my corner and telling me about everything has definitely been a big plus.
Then, I mean, he raised me in the greatest state in the United States in the greatest area, so I can thank him for that. I've grown up out here at the speedway, and I've spent so many days here with him too, and he's showed me all the little secrets of everything.
I have to thank him for that. He's an awesome guy.
Q. (No microphone)?
JACK MILLER: I'd like to say so. It's not very often that you see people who their parent raced in the Indy 500. It's a very small group of people that have ever raced in the 500. So I'm very thankful for that.
It's cool being here in Indy because kind of anyone in racing or even racing fans know him from back having the Crest car. They're always telling me stories, and I think it's helped me get a boost with just the people already knowing who I am through my dad.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports