INDIANAPOLIS — Marcus Armstrong may enter the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season as the reigning Rookie of the Year, but an underrated aspect of being so is also the fact that he accomplished that feat in competing on a part-time basis.

By not racing on any of the five oval events, Armstrong is considered a rookie for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500. That’s why he was 1 of 3 drivers in attendance on Wednesday to take part in the Rookie Orientation program from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I think I enjoyed it a whole lot more than I expected,” Armstrong said after turning a top speed on the day of 219.252 mph. “Not saying that I didn’t expect to enjoy it, but I think the intensity of it is it’s pretty special.”

While this wasn’t the first time that the New Zealand native has been on an oval, it was just his second. The other being a few weeks ago when he conducted a test at the Texas Motor Speedway.

“The tiny, tiny details of this place and Texas has, you know, given me so much enjoyment and since I first drove it,” Armstrong continued. “I’ve been pretty fascinated by watching old videos. Just because now I sort of know what to expect in a way so I’ve enjoyed it. A lot.”

One thing he didn’t necessarily enjoy was how difficult it was to drive this car at slower speed. That’s because when you’re doing the first couple of phases, it’s actually quite hard to drive a car slow that’s not supposed to be going at those slower laps.

Phase 1 is 10 laps of 205-210 mph. Phase 2 is 15 laps of 210-215 mph. The final phase is 15 laps over 215 mph.

Armstrong found out exactly what others felt about building up to speed around here.

“I thought it was actually quite difficult in the early phase.,” he said. “Because having to predict the lap speed is not easy, especially when I didn’t really have a reference of what’s fast or slow. So I thought it was actually difficult to stay at that pace initially.”

However, once the training wheels came off, the comfort became even higher.

“As we progressively got faster, yeah, I had good confidence right from the beginning,” he says. “So obviously a very good car, an we had tons of stability in the car. And it gave me a lot of confidence. And I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the split at the other day.

“I felt pretty comfortable straightaway. I would say here as soon as I could like phase three, for example. As soon as I could go flat. I was flat and it wasn’t necessarily difficult. And I had a ton of confidence as well but that’s also because of how rock solid this car is around here.”

The next time he’s on track here, the speeds will be even quicker. That’s a feat that’s not as daunting as it sounds for Armstrong as his trap speeds were in the mid 220 mph range on Wednesday and will be pushing 240 mph next May.

“Honestly, it’s just it’s my job to drive a car as fast as it can go,” he said. “And you know today was reasonably easy. Let’s say it was flat out. The conditions are suitable. We weren’t taking any risks on error level or anything. But when the time comes and when we’re looking for, you know, the ultimate lap time, I’m ready for it. And I’m just going to maximize what I have.”