The last time Team Penske driver Will Power was in an Indy car was at an Aeroscreen test session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in early October. He can’t wait to climb into the cockpit at next week’s kickoff to the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season at Circuit of The Americas.

Content Day is set for Monday with testing Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It’s been a long time out of the car, man,” Power told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “I’m really looking forward to feeling the car on the road course with the extra weight from the Aeroscreen and seeing how everything works as far as ventilation. I’m really looking forward to that starting.”

New to INDYCAR in 2020 will be the use of an Aeroscreen that partially encloses the cockpit of the race car. The safety innovation will be used on all cars at every NTT INDYCAR SERIES on-track activity, including the 17 races.

The first race of the season is Sunday, March 15 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the NBC Sports Network. The race at COTA will be the fourth race of the season, set for Sunday, April 26.

Next week’s test will help all teams understand how the extra weight will affect the cars on a long road course.

“The biggest thing is understanding what all that weight will do for the car,” Power said. “We are adding about 50 to 70 pounds, and it will change the characteristic of the car quite a bit, especially on the fast corners. That is definitely a different animal.”

During the offseason, Power has stayed race sharp by karting and working out. He has also been to the General Motors simulator in Huntersville, N.C., three times and plans to make a fourth trip later this week. He lives nearby.

“Now that we have simulators, it doesn’t take that long to get the feel back for the race car,” Power said. “We have the Chevrolet simulator and that is pretty darn good.”

The COTA test will be important because of some changes on the No. 12 Team Verizon Chevrolet pit stand. Team Penske managing director Ron Ruzewski will call Power’s race strategy this season; Ruzewski previously called race strategy for Power at the two Indianapolis races last May.

The man in charge of calling race strategy for the other races was team owner Roger Penske. At the INDYCAR Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, Penske oversaw the race strategy for three-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves.

Penske has stepped away from the timing stand now that he is the owner of INDYCAR and IMS.

Ruzewski, however, is a familiar voice over Power’s radio.

“I’ve had Ron in my ear for a few races, and he is in my ear for practice so the transition will be really good,” Power said. “The fact he is the technical director and an engineer it is easier for Dave Faustino to have a strategist who is also an engineer. They have worked together before. In practice sessions, he discusses engineering changes so that is a good situation.”

Power and his other NTT INDYCAR SERIES competitors are obviously excited to be back in the race car.

“I’ll ease into it and see what we can do,” Power said. “We’ll go through what we need to do in a two-day test. Hopefully, the weather is good with no rain and some good clear days.”