After a successful year at A.J. Foyt Racing, Carlos Munoz will return to Andretti Autosport in 2018 to run the Indianapolis 500 in May.

The Columbian took some time to speak about the opportunity, and more recently with POPULAR OPEN WHEEL.

POPULAR OPEN WHEEL: What are your thoughts on the opportunity to run the Indy 500 for Andretti?

CARLOS MUNOZ: I think it’s great to be back with Andretti. It feels like family. I’ve been with them for a long time. So yeah, it’s great to be back with Andretti. They’re going to be real competitive in the 500, having won these past two years. Really happy to be back especially for the 500 and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we have a good car and we can fight again for the victory.

POW: For you, it seems since the beginning you and Indianapolis have just fit together. Any magic secret to the success?

CARLOS: I think it came naturally. I would love to see why. I think it was a combination of all the factors – good teammates, good car, which has given me great confidence.

POW: Is there a possibility to see you in more IndyCar events this year?

CARLOS: As of right now, it’s just the Indy 500. I think maybe we have the possibility to do more races, but I would like to say right now for sure is just he Indy 500 and my focus is on that. I would love to do more races, for sure. That’s my goal – to do more races. I think me, Andretti, my sponsors, and my managers are going to work hard to make something happen, but right now we’re solely focusing on the Indy 500.

POW: What are your reflections looking back on this past season?

CARLOS: This past year was tough. With Foyt, it was a new team, new engineering staff, new package; my engineer came real late to the team so we couldn’t do any pre-season testing. It wasn’t a big year in results, but as a person and a driver, I am way better than I was the beginning of last year. I think it helped me a lot in being in that role at Foyt in the driver being more involved. It helped me a lot. You always have to take a positive from the bad stuff, and I think the positive is I’m a much better driver. At the end, I’m grateful for the opportunity they gave me, but I am happy to be back with Andretti. When I left Andretti, I knew I would be back so I told I would see you again soon. So I knew that and I’m really happy to be back.

POW: How did you initially get involved in racing?

CARLOS: I started go-karting when I was eight in Columbia in go-kart school. My father asked if I wanted to and I said I would love to. I started go-karting in Columbia and then as I grew up, I moved up and then eventually it was okay, I will go to the United States to race there.

POW: What’s your most memorable career moment to date?

CARLOS: There’s been too many, I think. There’s been many of those. I think for sure my first 500 finishing second was one of the nicest, but at the same time, you want to do more. I think also my first victory in Detroit was great, too.

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