Marco Andretti walked into the scrum of reporters during the Verizon IndyCar Series’ annual media day in Indianapolis earlier this month and was asked to break down his 2016 season.

Andretti’s four-word answer spoke volumes.

“Do I have to?” Andretti said.

No one, it seems, wants to turn the page more quickly on the 2016 season than Andretti. It was that kind of a season for the 29-year-old son of racing legend Michael Andretti.

Marco Andretti put up the least flattering numbers of his 11-year IndyCar career -- zero wins, zero podiums for the first time since 2009 and just three top-10 finishes with a best of eighth in the season-ending race at Sonoma. And there was that 16th place in the standings -- his worst season finish of his career.

“Honestly, my character is built,” Andretti said. “I don’t need any more character building.

“I've had bad seasons before, but last year was a season that I needed to be my best -- and it was my worst. I think a lot of that was caused by my approach, where I felt it needed to be my best, was a lot of my problem. I was in a good position to win the Indy 500 last year, and we had a mistake happen and I let that ruin the rest of my season.”

He’s not the first Andretti to face Waterloo at Indianapolis. Father Michael Andretti was 0-for-16 at the Brickyard in his career that included a second, two thirds and five top-five finishes there.

Marco Andretti wants to bring the smile back to his IndyCar game this season. LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

A year ago, Andretti was running just outside the top 10 and had the pace to contend at Indianapolis before an error in the pits -- wrong tires were put on the first wheels during a late-race stop -- ended his latest effort.

“I let Indianapolis ruin the rest of my season mentally,” he said. “I drove extremely frustrated. You're never going to be fast that way. I wasn't having fun. I wasn't smiling. I sort of let it spiral out of control.

“The biggest thing for me going forward is to stop thinking about the past -- the coulda, woulda, shouldas -- because you can't fix those anyway.”

Marco is back at Andretti Autosport in the No. 27 Honda, alongside past champion Ryan-Hunter Reay and new teammate Takuma Sato. Alexander Rossi, who won at Indy as a rookie last year, returns with Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian in a sister effort.

Expect Andretti to tackle the season with a different mindset.

“I think my problem last year was that I was too focused,” he said. “Sounds funny, but I questioned everything I did, and that's a problem. I think having a clear mind is how you go fast.

“I think when you’re a rookie, there's a clear mind because you're just driving a race car. My dad pointed out, ‘As a rookie you beat Dario (Franchitti), you beat TK (Tony Kanaan). You were just driving the car. Last year, when the hard times happened, you started questioning things. You started asking, am I training too much, not training enough?

“I think that's what takes you out of it. You're out of it as soon as you start questioning yourself.”

And don’t forget to smile.

“It's not like I need to try harder or focus harder,” he said. “Nah. It's just driving the race car, smiling more. Obviously, that’s hard to do when your struggling, but you're not going to go fast when you’re not.

“It's a tough thing that I'm up against. I definitely have my back against the wall, and I know that. I’m going to make people not on my bandwagon regret it. That's my goal.”

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