In the frenetic late offseason pace of travel, public obligations, physical conditioning and meetings, James Hinchcliffe -- whose upbeat rapid-fire speech matches the busyness -- handles it all with wit and a humble understanding of place and time.

The Toronto native enters his second season with Andretti Autosport (and third overall in the IZOD IndyCar Series), seeking to mine double-digit championship points at the outset of the busy 19-race season that kicks off March 22-24 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (noon ET, NBC Sports Network).

Things are noticeably different though this March. Calmer, more organized, clearer, which goes a long way in massaging a professional race car driver’s preseason psyche.

FYI: Timing & Scoring on indycar.com from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (ET) March 12-13.  

“The winter of 2012, the preseason of 2012 there were so many unknowns with the car and for me with the team, engines, everything,” Hinchcliffe said. “Now there are so many of those that are known quantities, and the things that we’re looking over and fighting over now are the small details. We’ve got so many resources to attack those, where last year we were dealing with the big, massive issues.

“It’s 95 percent sorted so we can now focus on that 5 percent, whereas last year we were 30 percent sorted.”

Hinchcliffe, driving the Chevrolet-powered No. 27 Team GoDaddy.com car, will continue to work on that 5 percent (for some others, it’s probably more) during the first Open Test of the year March 12-13 at Barber Motorsports Park. Twenty-six driver-car combinations are expected to participate.

Track time is multi-faceted as drivers, teams and manufacturers prepare for the season opener plus the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama two weeks later on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn Barber circuit. Barber Motorsports Park season pass holders will have special access to view the test on the afternoon of March 12. Season passes can be purchased at www.barbermotorsports.com.

During both days, IZOD IndyCar Series teams will have the opportunity to practice standing starts, which will be featured during Race 1 of the doubleheader events at Toronto and Houston.  The pit box at pit out will be set up with a monitoring and lighting system, allowing drivers to practice the standing start launch.

“Now it’s all on the table; everybody is going to be there on the same track, same days and we’ll see how everybody stacks up,” Hinchcliffe said.

Hinchcliffe, the 2011 series Rookie of the Year with Newman/Haas Racing, posted five top-five finishes and eight finishes in the top 10 in 15 races last season. Third at Long Beach and Milwaukee registered as season bests, while he qualified on the front row at Barber and Indianapolis.

Hinchcliffe is confident of additional high finishes, including his first victory, this season. But, at least publicly, he says he won’t press for results.

“There are so many things in this sport that are out of your control, setting specific goals like number of wins is very difficult,” he said. “It might sound cliché, but as long as I feel we’ve done the best job that we can and do it week and week out – sometimes hopefully it will be enough to win, some weeks it will be a podium and some weeks it with be an eighth – as long as we feel we’ve done the best we could on those eighth-place weekends, we’ll go home, learn something, figure it out and come back stronger next weekend."

Reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti also return to the team, which will be augmented by five-year veteran E.J. Viso. The chemistry between the drivers was beneficial in developing the chassis-engine package, and Hinchcliffe envisions the camaraderie continuing.

“Especially last year when we were dealing with the new car, guys working together the results that produces are just so much greater than guys fighting within a team,” he said. “If we all work to make the car better, all of us will be higher up the grid. We’ll battle each other on the track, but the more we work together off the track the further up the grid those battles will be happening.”