Maybe there should be a new way to refer to Colton Herta.

“Hungry Herta” feels right.

Across the NTT INDYCAR SERIES landscape, there are few drivers as motivated as the second-generation star, who last year finished one position shy of winning the series championship that has eluded him. Herta is now 0-for-6 in achieving his ultimate series goal, and it eats at him like not even he can describe.

Herta has made it clear: This season, like all those prior, is championship or bust.

“As nice as it was for that being my highest place (finish), yeah, it really does suck to be that close and to not do it,” he said.

Herta enters this season a month shy of turning 25, but it’s easy to forget that his time in this series belies his birthday count. Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding will be the 100th series race of his career, a total that ranks seventh among drivers in this 27-car field. Only Scott Dixon (402), Will Power (302), Graham Rahal (292), Josef Newgarden (215), Alexander Rossi (147) and Conor Daly (115) have more career series starts.

It’s not that time is running out for Herta, but he is the first to admit that he needs to do more and do it soon. It begins with the opportunity at hand.

“(I) need to get that championship,” he said.

Herta will start second in this season-opening race (noon ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), the sixth consecutive year he has qualified in the top four at this 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit. He won the 2021 race from the pole, leading 97 of the 100 laps. He also started on the front row in 2023, and three other times he started on the second row.

Herta was the last series driver to win a street race – the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto held last July. He and teammate Kyle Kirkwood finished 1-2 in convincing fashion, with Herta leading 81 of the 85 laps for his eighth career victory.

Win No. 9 of his career came five races later in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. The victory was Herta’s first on an oval track, and he earned it by driving from the ninth starting position. The oval breakthrough and the fact it was the final race of the 2024 season filled Herta with offseason motivation like no other.

“It fills everybody with confidence,” Herta said of the team. “Maybe not necessarily me because I always knew (winning on an oval) was going to happen eventually. I knew that we could do it. So, it wasn't a surprise to me when we did.

“But we just need to be able to replicate it as much as possible this year.”

Herta and Andretti Global have come charging out of the gate this year. Kirkwood had the fastest lap of Friday’s practice, and Herta (fourth) and Marcus Ericsson (sixth) joined him in the top six. Ericsson paced Saturday morning’s practice. Each of them has a starting spot in the top 10.

Ericsson will start seventh, Kirkwood ninth.

While Herta’s Honda certainly has speed, tire management figures to impact the strategy of each team. The alternate compound that Firestone brought to this race is expected to lose grip at a quicker rate than in the past, forcing decisions on how long to stick with them.

Of course, Herta only knows one speed.

“It’s exciting, and we can’t wait to see how the race will be,” he said. “It’s exciting for qualifying to have a (short-life) tire and to really hang it out there. It’s a hard thing to do, a hard thing to get every corner right for one lap. Inside the cockpit, it’s really a guesstimate like, ‘Oh, I think I can brake here – I think I can roll this much speed (through the corner).’

“It gets a little bit easier through the (qualifying) rounds. But I’m really happy with the way this Gainbridge Honda is performing.”

Herta is off to a good start. Now he has to finish it – the season that is. It begins Sunday.