After being out of the NTT IndyCar Series as a full-time driver in 2019, Kimball is back for the full, albeit abbreviated, slate in 2020. Kimball, 35, ran a partial schedule last year with Carlin, one that saw him race in just seven of the 17 events. In fact, from the start of the year until August, he had made just three total starts.

Now, he’s back. This time with a new team. Kimball, joined AJ Foyt Racing this past offseason replacing Matheus Leist in the No. 4 Chevrolet. This will be his 10th season as a whole in Indy Car competition but just his third team.

“Well, I think I have a little bit more practice than I would like,” Kimball said of being out of the car for a long duration of time. “I’m not sure that you ever get used to being out of the car when other cars are running.”

Kimball, competed with Chip Ganassi Racing from 2011 through 2017, then moved over to Carlin during the last couple of years. Now, he has a full time shot again with hopes of staying around longer.

Saturday night, will be his first start with the team in the Genesys 300 (8 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network). After the eight races of the year were moved in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Motor Speedway will serve as the season opener. It’s a race that’s going to be very treacherous. This will mark the first time most of these drivers have driven with the Aeroscreen on an oval. While the new safety device was widely welcomed in the paddock, there’s still a lot of unknowns for it as well.

First, how is the air flow going to work inside of the cockpit? The temperatures are going to be in the 90’s at race time. Secondly, what about a glare? The start of the race is at 7:05 locally, which means the sun wouldn’t have set yet. In turn, the glare in Turns 3 and 4 could be difficult with the new screen. Then, you have the vision problems it could cause. Oh yeah, these guys haven’t been in a race car since February.

“It’s critical,” Kimball said of the first and only practice session on Saturday in Texas. “We haven’t run this car with an Aeroscreen on an oval yet. I haven’t driven an AJ Foyt Racing car on an oval. For me, every lap we can turn in practice, as Larry (Foyt) said, the preparation is critical. The work I’ve been doing with the engineering staff and the mechanics to make sure that everything is buttoned up and ready to go, we’ve talked about communications, we’ve talked about responsibilities, we’ve talked about role. We had a pre-race meeting on Monday where we talked about how the day was going to flow because when we step off that plane or walk through that health screening Saturday morning at the racetrack, it’s going to feel like warp speed until the checkered flag flies and then some. So we have to be ready to be — to take advantage of that track time and every moment we have at the racetrack.

“But at the same time, having said that, I have every confidence in our ability to go out and get a great result. I feel really good about the engineering staff, my lead engineer Mike, my performance engineer Dwight, my data engineer C.J. and Larry on the stand. I have no questions about that. From my crew chief Thomas through the whole crew, all of my pit stop guys, the little interaction I’ve had, the little time at the racetrack, the feeling I get and the atmosphere within this team is rock solid, and I can’t wait to get on track and have that atmosphere turn into results.”

The advantage that they will have though is Kimball is experienced. Texas, isn’t new to him. In fact, it’s a place Kimball feels owes him a shot at a win on Saturday night.

“I feel like we have unfinished business there, definitely, having sat on pole in 2017 and not seeing that checkered flag that day, whatever position we finished,” Kimball continued. “I do remember that feeling and what it was like to lead the field to green, and this year the goal is not to lead the field to green but lead the field to checkered.”

Kimball, has been quietly good at Texas too. In his last six starts on the 1.5-mile track, he has four top 10 results. Now, he has Tony Kanaan as a teammate again there, which Kimball says is huge. See, Kimball and Kanaan were teammates at Chip Ganassi Racing from 2014 through 2017. Now, they’re teamed up again at Foyt.

“It’s fantastic. Tony has so much experience, and I feel honored to be a part of his last lap in INDYCAR at AJ Foyt Racing. We’re friends off the track. We train together. He’s gotten me addicted to riding a bicycle on a computer game, but also our wives are friends, and I think our families when we can get together and the kids can play, I think they’re going to interact really well.

“I’m excited for his daughter Nina to spend some time with our daughter. So that relationship is there. That friendship is there. And the experience — I mean, he’s taught me things and I’ve learned a lot from him about how to restart on ovals and what you can and what you should and shouldn’t do and what he still does. So that experience is invaluable to me to continue to learn and get better, and like I said, I just feel really honored to be his teammate during his last lap, especially when we get back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500.”

Larry Foyt agrees. He says their advantage is having two seasoned veterans to have in a odd situation like they’re in on Saturday.

“Well, going into this race it’s huge,” Foyt said. “Like you say, especially with the one-day show everything is accelerated, and going to a big track like Texas, having a guy like Charlie sit on the pole there, knows his way around there, and obviously TK is very good there, as well. It’s a little bit of peace of mind for sure. Anything can happen, but the engineering group has been working really well together. We’re really hopeful we’re going to unload and get these guys some good cars out of the box. That’s the plan.”

Foyt and Kimball haven’t won races since 2013 — Long Beach for Foyt and Mid-Ohio for Kimball. Kanaan, hasn’t won a race since Fontana in 2014. Maybe, this can be the race winning combinations this weekend.