Rinus VeeKay came into last weekend’s BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland with some of his swagger back. The Dutch driver had finished 11th in each of the last two races and in fact, improved from 18th to 14th to 11th to 11th again in the last four overall. That trend upwards continued in last Sunday’s 110 lap race for which VeeKay brought his No. 21 Dallara-Chevrolet home a season-best sixth.

“It was very nice to use our speed to move forward,” VeeKay said. “Kudos to the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet crew! The car felt really good and allowed me to drive aggressively.

“It really suited my driving style and allowed me to pass cars, which you have to be able to do here. We weren’t incredibly lucky today, we got to the front on pace. Everyone has seen it, we’ve had a very tough season. We’ve not been happy with our pace in general so to be able to make this kind of progress before the end of the season is very nice. A great big thank you to Ed Carpenter Racing! And, it’s great to have my best finish of the season so far at the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland!”

It was his 19th career top 10 result in his 62nd career start.

Now, can he keep it going through the 2023 season finale?

“I am excited to go back to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca,” VeeKay said. “It’s going to be very nice to be back in the car, especially coming off a weekend like we did in Portland. I love the track and I am looking forward to experiencing the repave! It’s something no one is really accustomed to yet, so it’s great that we have a day of testing as well. It’s a good time to have another good race and hopefully get a Top 5 – we were pretty close last weekend! Last race of the season, let’s make it a good one!”

VeeKay has two previous NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. In 2022, VeeKay narrowly missed advancing to the second round of qualifying and started 14th. At the conclusion of the first lap, he found himself back in 25th but remained undeterred. He charged back forward and made up eight positions in only 10 laps. Prior to joining the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, VeeKay competed in the 2019 Indy Lights doubleheader (now INDY NXT) at the road course and won both races. 

VeeKay will conclude his fourth season behind the wheel of the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet with this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. He has spent his entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with the team and is ECR’s longest-tenured full-time driver. Earlier this year, he qualified on the front row of the Indianapolis 500 for the third consecutive year and has now competed in over 60 races. Last weekend at Portland International Raceway, VeeKay had his best finish of the 2023 season with a 6th place. He will celebrate his 23rd birthday this coming Monday, September 11.