Sage Karam reacts with a laugh, of course, at what Chip Ganassi Racing Teams mentors refer to as his “youthful exuberance.”

When you’re 20 years old and living the dream of driving a race car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, life is a thrill ride that just keeps getting better. Humility is a work in progress.

He’s definitely footloose, as is the handling on his fast No. 8 Chevrolet at the moment, and fancy free.

Chip Ganassi Racing Teams managing director Mike Hull and Karam race strategist Scott Harner say it’s too easy to like the talented kid from Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

“Being able to manage and contain youthful aggression is very difficult when you match that with a driver who has enormous natural ability,” Hull said. “It’s easy for us older studs to do that because with guys like Sage we can live our lives in reverse. Great attitude. He just loves life. The sun comes up every morning for him.”

That it most certainly did on May 11, when Karam decided late in the first practice for the 99th Indianapolis 500 to rip off a lap of 225.802 mph to finish No. 1 on the scoring pylon. He tried to be humble about it, saying on social media that it “didn’t mean anything” and the team needed to “work ever harder now.”

But who was he kidding? Seriously?

“Yeah, right,” Harner said, laughing. “That’s coach Dario Franchitti coming through there a little bit.”

When Karam was bringing the car around after finishing P1, Harner radioed, “‘OK, come in here and hit your marks. I know it’s going to be tough for you right now.’”

The kid couldn’t contain his giddiness.

“I had the biggest grin coming down pit lane,” Karam said.

“He’s a pretty humble guy,” Harner said with another laugh.

Work in progress, right?

He saved a picture from social media of his No. 8 being No. 1 on that scoring pylon. Competitors had some fun teasing him about it.

“Marco Andretti comments, ‘Legend,’ ” Karam said. “Marco is the draft king. He’s out there looking for a draft all day long. I don’t care. I was happy with how day one went. Day 1 legend, baby. And I want to be a legend in two weeks. It’s not like Marco’s ever chucked up a fast time in practice, right?”

Nobody is going to stop this guy from having more pep in his step.

“I guess I come in every day and there’s never a frown,” Karam said. “I’m always excited. I’m always trying to bring positive energy to the team. My biggest goal is to be able to contribute in some way positively.

“Being on a team with Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball, veterans surrounding you, sometimes it’s very hard to contribute. But when you can, I think that’s the biggest jump for me this year. That’s to learn as much as I can. Nobody expects the world from me this year. It’s a huge learning curve. But this year I’ve come back to the Speedway with a lot more confidence, I’ve been here before in the car, so this is my learning year and this shows what a good second year can do.”

Karam skipped Senior Prom last year to make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in the Indy 500.

“That was a good call,” he said of finishing ninth. “The Indy 500’s usually not your first IndyCar race. To get that opportunity, at first I was a little scared, a little nervous. Once I started going, I figured, ‘You know, things are going OK. I think I can hang.’ I didn’t expect a top 10. We had a really bad qualifying run and I knew it was going to be tough to get up towards the front. The race car was good. It took me about half the race to really figure out how to pass around here. It’s an art. It really took me a while to get it going.”

Say this for him, though, he learns fast.

“The kid has got a lot of talent, obviously, and he really likes this place, which is the biggest part of it, for sure,” Harner said. “If you’re going to be a successful IndyCar driver, Indy is the big show and you need to be good here. You want a driver who likes to be here and likes to go fast here and the kid likes to go fast.”

On May 12, Karam took pride in running one of the fastest laps without a tow at 224.036 mph. That meant more, he insisted, than previous day's run with the help of drafting off other cars. The car isn’t as “happy” as him just yet. He’s still trying to get a grip on that loose handling, but it’s coming along.

“I know it’s still early, but I’m really, really excited,” he said. “This year, I’m way more prepared as far as my driving and knowing what to expect out there.”