ZIONSVILLE, Ind. – Story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman – Motorsports Madness audio – Andretti Autosport photo –

The pieces look to be finally falling into place for 20-year-old Zach Veach, after five years of climbing the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system with Andretti Autosport.

Veach, the fresh faced young gun with the poise of a veteran, says he is “close” to having a full-season ride sewn up in the Verizon IndyCar Series for the 2015 season.

“We’re really, really close to having a full-time IndyCar deal done for 2015,” Veach said to Race Chaser Online during last Monday’s edition of Motorsports Madness. “It’s not signed yet, but we’re in the final stages of it so hopefully we can get that put together and you guys will find us in the fourth car at Andretti Autosport – running the big series.”

The Ohio native, who has relocated to Indiana, was in contention for this season’s Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship all the way to the final weekend of the year – starting strong with two wins in the first three races (St. Petersburg and Barber 1) and keeping his hopes alive with a clutch triumph at Milwaukee – before mechanical troubles at Sonoma took him out of the title hunt.

Despite not coming away with his ultimate goal of a championship, Veach is still grateful for a campaign that produced three wins, nine podiums, 11 top-fives and four poles, placing him third in the points rundown behind eventual champion Gabby Chaves and British rookie Jack Harvey.

“I’m just very thankful,” Veach said of his campaign this year. “I mean, this past season that we had really just showed me [that] how much you work at something, or what you put in, is what you get [back] in return. 2013 wasn’t the year we wanted so we tore everything down and rebuilt it from the ground up and really put together the year that I wanted to have in 2014.”

“For me, it was just so much fun,” Veach added of his battle with Chaves owards the end of the season. “Racing with somebody like Gabby – he was just somebody I could go spend a lot of time with [but still have great battles with on-track]. We didn’t get the title [from him] but to come out third in the championship just 27 points out of first is a really good season for us and we’re just going to keep that momentum rolling forward into next year.”

However, the start of 2015 doesn’t come until March for the IndyCar Series and its feeder divisions – so what has Veach been doing to pass the time?

“Honestly, right now, everyone just wants me to sit on the couch and eat,” Veach laughed. The young gun is working on gaining weight and stamina to be best prepared for the rigors of the DW-12 chassis during practice and race conditions.

“It’s really just about gaining muscle and mass right now,” Veach explained. “It’s all a lot of heavy weight, low rep type things. Since we still have a lot of time before the season starts, we’re just focused on building things up before we really want to tone them down. A lot of calories, though,” he grinned.

Veach said he’s gained about half the weight he needs to in order to be best fit to pilot an Andretti IndyCar for the start of the season.

“I’m at 120 [pounds] right now and they’re wanting me at 130 before I step in the big car so that’s kind of a goal I’ve set for myself too, because I want to have a little bit in reserve for how long these races are. Going from 45 minutes to two and a half hours is going to be quite a change.”

The IndyCar hopeful has also found a new way to satisfy his adrenaline rush during the offseason as well – by learning to fly.

Fly a plane, mind you.

“One of my goals was always…to be a pilot and fly to the close races – Milwaukee and Mid-Ohio,” Veach said, “so now that I’ve moved to Indiana there’s — Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport that’s really close to me and I’ve got a friend, Doug Matthews who races P-51 [Mustangs]. He gave me a scholarship to go and get my pilot’s license so I’ve been working really hard to try and get through that and if I get it done, then we’re talking about him teaching me to solo a P-51.”

“That’ll be fun but that’s also a little later down the road,” Veach smiled. “I’m even getting back into racing RC cars here in the winter time as well and having a lot of fun with that too.”

“Long story short, I’m finding plenty of ways to keep busy while I get ready for this new year, that’s for sure!”

But Veach says at the end of the day, his focus is on the deal that’s nearly in front of him now – and that climbing that last step of the ladder to the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2015 would be a dream realized after years of waiting, frustration and hard work.

“I’m looking at that – and it’s so close,” Veach said. “We hope to know something pretty quick. If that comes together, we’re already trying really hard to [put things together]. That’s really been my main focus for now, is trying to push real hard and get that done. If it happens, it would be a dream come true.”

Veach hopes to be at the IndyCar test in Sebring on Monday, but says that as excited as he is to be getting ready to hopefully make this last leap – Michael Andretti had a plan for him all along.

“[Michael] had this plan from the beginning, that my first year of Indy Lights ‘is going to be your year full of mistakes’, he told me. And then [our] second year, [that we would] try to go for the championship.”

“Everything this year has fallen almost exactly like we had hoped for in that plan, and now he and I are thinking bigger cars and a bigger season next year.”

“[I’m] not exactly the young kid on the block anymore,” added the 20-year-old, who just celebrated a birthday on Tuesday. “But even though it’s taken this long to get here, I’m excited and I can’t wait for March to get here.”

Listen in to an extended cut of our interview with Zach during last Monday night’s episode of Motorsports Madness on the Performance Motorsports Network below!