INDYCAR: Veach makes strong case for seat

An impressive IndyCar test followed by a victory in the Indy Lights season finale was the way Zach Veach's 2016 season ended last week in California and the best possible audition for a job in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

"I just wanted to go out there and win just to show that we are ready to move up to the Verizon IndyCar Series," Veach told RACER after finishing fourth in the Lights championship and collecting his third win of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "As soon as the checkered flag waved, we went into full-gear mode to try to get into the Verizon IndyCar Series. Coming in the final weekend, the championship was already out of my mind at that point.

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"We had some misfortune that took that chance away, but it wasn't going to stop me from driving my heart out to get wins. I just wanted to go out and show where my performance level is at after three years of training in Indy Lights. We got a win and finished on the podium in the other race."

The diminutive 21-year-old topped the rookies in their test day at Sonoma Raceway last Thursday driving Josef Newgarden's car and went quicker than 2015 Lights champ Spencer Pigot in Ed Carpenter's Chevrolet.

"On Thursday, getting to watch him up close, he was tremendously helpful to us to prepare for Sonoma," Newgarden said. "It was great for Zach to get in and show his value. He did everything that you could do to show you're an asset to an IndyCar team. He didn't miss a beat, handled everything that was thrown at him, took everything he learned, and applied it to go quicker, which is an important skill set."

Veach knows it's going to take money to get a seat in IndyCar, but his late-season performance might have secured him a discount.

"There are opportunities out there," he continued. "I'm lucky to have had some conversations with IndyCar teams about working together next year, and I've been talking to sponsors about coming on board. I'm not saying I have sponsorship already, or I have something I can lean on to move up, but if certain puzzle pieces fall the right way I can pull a couple things together.

"Right now, honestly, I have nothing, but I have opportunities to make it into something. I'm just going to have to keep working on it and try to be smart how I do it. In the meantime, I can't act like I have something. I have to continue to keep going out and approaching teams, trying to work with them or just approaching other sources to try to get funding as well."

Following a three-win campaign in 2014, Veach missed the entire 2015 season with a wrist injury, so this year was all about getting back in the groove.

"You know, to be able to try and go to IndyCar in 2015 and have to sit on the sidelines with a broken wrist, I was really worried I wasn't going to ever get an opportunity in a racecar again. So to be able to come out this year and show what we did I'm just very thankful to prove what I proved in 2014 and mainly prove it to myself that it wasn't a fluke.

"Belardi Auto Racing took a chance on me because I didn't have the funding for a full season of Indy Lights. They made things possible for me to be able to be driving this year and it almost brings me to tears with how happy I am with the past couple of weeks."

Listed at 5-foot-7 with a slight build, Veach doesn't look intimidating in any way, shape or form. But he's plenty ferocious when the visor goes down.

"I've always been the underdog, but I'm staying positive about the chance of getting something together," he said. "I think we've proved ourselves and now it's about finding the budget."

It also doesn't hurt to have the endorsement of the top American in the championship.

"He did an amazing job and I though he was awesome behind the wheel," Newgarden added. "He showed he brings value to our organization, which is an important thing."