SALINAS, Calif — Rinus VeeKay’s new found momentum helped him have a very strong Saturday at Laguna Seca. The Dutch driver was P2 in Saturday morning’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice session and turned that into a solid outing in qualifying later on in the day to set the lineup for the season finale Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network).

It was the fifth practice session in a row that he had turned a Top 10 lap time. After advancing to the second round of qualifying, he sat 8th on the timing chart. As a competitor that qualified in front of him has a grid penalty, VeeKay will start 7th in tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. It is his best non-oval starting position of the 2023 season.

“I would have been more satisfied with a Fast 6 experience,” VeeKay admitted. “We have had really good pace in practice so I would have loved to have done a little bit better. I just couldn’t get it 100% right.

“Starting 7th is decent and I think we are one of the fastest cars out there, especially on old tires. I am confident that we can do well in the race and move up some positions.”

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.

Now, he starts 7th.

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.