Andretti-Herta pairing already paying off

The mood in Marco Andretti's pits after his run to seventh place on Sunday reflected a mix of old and new mindsets. The third-generation driver, accustomed to heavy criticism from fans and even his own family, could only see the mistakes he made during the St. Petersburg event.

It has become a predictable routine: After leaping from the car, Andretti rushed to admit his errors and shortcoming to all who would listen as a defense mechanism. Despite starting 15th and improving to seventh, he zeroed in on how he limited the team's chances of a better result.

"Qualifying in the back was my fault; we could have qualified way better than 15th and we had way more pace than that, but there was a cockpit adjustment left that I didn't make" he said.

Sitting a few feet away, Bryan Herta slid over and stepped in to make sure Andretti didn't wander too far down that well-worn path of ignoring the good and internalizing the bad.

"We had a good race, a solid race, we got points," he said, seizing upon the opportunity to recast Andretti's views. "We had a solid car this weekend. Overall, it's good to get the first one done and have a solid finish. Now we can get going."

Herta's title with Andretti's No. 27 Honda program is loosely defined as "race strategist," but the most accurate description would fall somewhere between friend, confidant and life coach. In agreeing to move from the timing stand of his own No. 98 entry driven by Alexander Rossi to help Marco turn his career around, Herta accepted a challenge that will take time to resolve.

Warm, relaxed and always steady, Herta is there to root out years of negativity that have conspired against Andretti's success. Even in simple situations like describing the race, Herta's on a mission to help Andretti find the confidence and focus that has been buried by self-doubt. And just as he's done with his son Colton, who won his first Indy Lights race last weekend, Herta's paternal instincts to elevate and inspire Andretti have already been put to good use by his new driver.

"He's a good communicator and gets his point across without having me waste energy," Andretti said. "He's a weapon for me. He helps me to turn mountains into molehills, and that's what this sport's all about and life is all about."

He probably didn't recognize it at that moment, but Andretti's last sentence sounded exactly like something Herta would say. And that's a good thing.

The new man on the 27's timing stand is Mr. Relentless Positivity, and while many things have been tried over the years to help Marco break out of his gloomy mindset, this approach is definitely new. One race into the relationship, and after Andretti's best start in four years, look for Herta to keep bringing the sunshine to Marco's world. 

"We're just having fun," Herta said while looking in Andretti's direction. "It's a pretty cool thing we get to do here, and then we'll go out there and kick some ass."