“Do not come”: When Colton Herta addressed uninvited party rumors ahead of his home race

Colton Herta was caught in an awkward place during the IndyCar season finale at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in 2023. Before the season began, the Andretti Global driver had moved from California to Nashville, aka Music City, and that weekend was his first 'home race.'

To his surprise, random people were inviting other random people to party at his house on Sunday night, after the race. In an interview in the pit lane during the weekend, a reporter spoke to him about his hometown hosting duties, and asked:

"You live here now. Are you ready to start sharing some hometown hosting duties and with that I keep seeing these (bottles with 'Herta H*edown Nashville 2023 written on them) floating around. So are you ready to be the host?"

Colton Herta was in a playful mood and used a hilarious tactic to warn uninvited guests from showing up at his door. He said:

"I'm gonna buy a taser for Sunday night because people have been inviting everybody to my house and I don't even know about anything that's going on. So do not come to my house on Sunday night, please."

While that weekend could've turned out to be a headache, Colton Herta's neighbors had been very warm to him ever since he moved in. In the lead-up to his first new home race in Nashville, he spoke about his friendly neighborhood, saying (via Race Review Online):

"Well, I live in an older neighborhood. I think, like, the youngest person that lives there is like 45. That’s the youngest. My next-door neighbor is 70. They’re nice people. I don’t know how they found out what I do, but they always come up to me, 'Hey, good luck this weekend.' I haven’t really talked to any of them, so I don’t know how that happens (smiling)"

The race weekend at the Nashville street circuit got off to a great start for Herta, who qualified third. However, on Sunday, a mechanical failure on his No. 26 Honda meant his race ended four laps prematurely, on lap 76.

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Colton Herta's "amazing" win at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in his second year as a home favorite

The 2024 iteration of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was an entirely new ball game. The race shifted from the Nashville Street Circuit to the Nashville Superspeedway, an oval. This was an added challenge for Colton Herta, who had never emerged victorious on an oval in IndyCar.

Though the 24-year-old didn't qualify as well and started 11th on the grid, he routed through the grid and held off Pato O'Ward, who was on the charge in second, to take his breakthrough oval victory. Post-race, he said (via IndyCar):

"It’s amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the year."

With this victory, Colton Herta secured second place in the championship standings with 513 points, his best IndyCar career finish. The Andretti Global driver's target now for 2025 is to win his maiden championship and with that, become eligible to drive for the Cadillac F1 team in 2026, a move that seems highly probable.