Herta takes IndyCar pole in St. Pete

This new IndyCar season, so full of promise as fans return to races and with a field from first to last that’s tighter than ever, took a familiar turn when the Herta kid put it on the pole at St. Petersburg.

It was Colton Herta, the 21-year-old second-generation driver, who edged out his rivals for the top starting spot in Sunday’s race on the 1.8-mile downtown temporary course that runs along Tampa

Bay.

Herta is a legitimate title contender and part of a youth wave leading a changing of the guard in IndyCar. And yet this polewinning run came 16 years after his father, Bryan, won the pole at St. Petersburg. Colton Herta now has five career poles, four at the same tracks where Bryan also won poles: St. Pete, Laguna Seca, Portland and Mid-Ohio.

“It’s cool to kind of carry on the legacy as best I can, more importantly getting the job done for myself and my team,” he said.

Team owner Michael Andretti this year moved Bryan Herta to the No. 26 Honda as the race strategist for his son for the first time in IndyCar. The pairing of fathers and sons has not often worked at this level — it failed most recently with both Michael and Marco Andretti, as well as Bobby and Graham Rahal — but the Hertas are giving it a go.

“I’m excited obviously for my dad to be on the car. That was the first pole he shared with me,” Colton Herta said. “He was super excited about it.”

The two don’t have much race work together yet. The run Saturday helped Herta bounce back from a disappointing IndyCar opener when Herta was enveloped in a first-lap crash last weekend in Alabama.

His pole-winning run put Herta at the front of a field separated by just 0.17955 seconds from first to 24th in qualifying.

“Such a hypercompetitive field we have this year,” Herta said. “Extremely competitive.”

Jack Harvey qualified second for Michael Shank Racing and was followed by Josef Newgarden, who triggered the first-lap crash at Barber Motorsport Park that wrecked Herta last week.

XFINITY SERIES

Jeb Burton raced to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory when rain halted the action with 23 laps left at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Burton passed cousin Harrison Burton on the inside on Lap 82 and stayed up front before a seven-car wreck forced a caution and heavy rain sent the cars to pit road.

It was the third straight win at Talladega for Kaulig Racing, with teammate Justin Haley sweeping the two 2020 races.

Series points leader Austin Cindric was second after starting in the pole position, followed by Burton’s teammate, AJ Allmendinger.