Indy NXT’s revival delivers a seven-way title fight and a stronger IndyCar pipeline

A rejuvenated Indy NXT championship is producing close racing, emerging talent and renewed manufacturer support, while NASCAR faces uncomfortable scrutiny following the sudden death of one of its most successful modern drivers

Myles Rowe leads a tightly packed Indy NXT field through a circuit corner

Of Jamaican heritage, Myles Rowe took pole and a win at Indy NXT’s Round 8 at WWT Raceway

AARON SKILLMAN

John Oreovicz
June 29, 2026

Even in the heydays of Formula Atlantic with Gilles Villeneuve in the late 1970s and his son Jacques in the early ’90s, the American open-wheel ladder system never generated the kind of interest and attention that NASCAR derives from its second and third-tier O’Reilly Auto and Truck Series. Indy Lights was added in the mid-80s and it eventually replaced the fondly remembered Atlantic championship as the top tier.

Recently rebranded Indy NXT (think ‘next’), Lights/NXT has produced a steady stream of IndyCar greats over the years, including Greg Moore, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden and, more recently, Pato O’Ward and Kyle Kirkwood. Indy Lights went through a rough period, bottoming out in 2018 when sub-10-car fields were the norm. But Penske Entertainment took over management and promotion of the series in late 2021, relaunched it as Indy NXT for ’23, and things are looking decidedly up. NXT has assembled a robust 24-car field and a vigorous battle for the championship has broken out, with six victors in the first eight races and no fewer than seven potential title winners.

A competitive field and a solid helping of bad luck have resulted in Alessandro de Tullio converting five poles into just one victory. Eighteen-year-old Floridian Nikita Johnson and Enzo Fittipaldi, 24, grandson of Formula 1 and IndyCar great Emerson Fittipaldi, each captured a pair of wins and were separated by just two points at the top of the standings as Motor Sport went to press. Right with them was the year’s surprise to date – unheralded 20-year-old Pole Tymek Kucharczyk.

Long-time NXT frontrunner Andretti Global’s drivers Max Taylor and Lochie Hughes have also shown race-winning speed and remain in the championship hunt. Meanwhile, the most impressive single performance of the season came from Myles Rowe, who lost pole position at WWT Raceway to a violation but drove from the back of the field to easily win the 75-lapper. Rowe, 25, and in his third year in NXT, has earned three career wins, all on ovals. He hopes to join Willy T Ribbs and George Mack as only the third full-time African-American driver in IndyCar history.

“The year’s surprise to date in NXT is 20-year-old Pole Tymek Kucharczyk”

During the nadir years, it was easy to tune out Indy NXT. But it’s clear the feeder series is making a comeback and it’s an entertaining watch every week. Several IndyCar teams including ECR, Foyt and Ganassi have joined Andretti in fielding or supporting NXT cars, and HMD Motorsports and Abel Motorsports have established themselves with winning full-time efforts and hope to emulate Juncos Hollinger Racing by eventually stepping up to the top level.

As with the parent series, Indy NXT’s spec Dallara chassis and Mazda-based 2-litre turbo engine package that came on board in 2015 are getting a bit long in the tooth. But the cars remain visually and aurally appealing, and it’s perhaps no coincidence the styling resembles the final generation of Formula Atlantic cars that carried the likes of AJ Allmendinger, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal onwards to greater things.

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The rest of the ladder below NXT, from USF Juniors through USF2000 and USF Pro 2000, is also at a positive point. Oliver Wheldon, 15-year-old son of the late Dan Wheldon, is considered a top prospect in USF2000; he scored a pair of podium finishes at Indianapolis after missing the season-opening weekend in his hometown of St Petersburg due to not meeting the series age requirement. Current IndyCar star Kirkwood became the first driver to claim championships in the top three tiers between 2018 and ’21.

Apologies for devoting column space in memoriam two months in a row, but the passing of NASCAR star Kyle Busch at 41 can’t go unmentioned. It was swift and stunning. Seven days after he won a Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, it was announced that Busch would miss NASCAR’s marquee Coca-Cola 600 due to a significant undisclosed medical issue. Less than 24 hours later he was dead, pneumonia advancing into fatal sepsis.

Twelve days prior to his death, during the Cup Series event at Watkins Glen, Busch asked for post-race assistance from Bill Heisel, a physician assistant who serves as the unofficial NASCAR paddock doctor. Busch still had a notable cough at Dover, where he won the Truck race on Friday and finished 17th in the Cup All-Star Race on Sunday.

Busch wasn’t going to let a pesky respiratory problem keep him out of the car – until it did. The two-time Cup champion won a NASCAR-record 234 races across its three National series. Aside from being an incredible driver, he was a showman who embraced his role as stock car racing’s villain and wasn’t afraid to spar with opponents – verbally or on track.

The Cup wins started to dry up (his 63rd and last came in June 2023), but Busch eventually won his haters over and will go down as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. Left unanswered is why his severe pneumonia was not diagnosed earlier, or why he was allowed to continue to compete if his condition was known. NASCAR lags decades behind Formula 1 and IndyCar racing in having a centralised team of medical specialists and a dedicated mobile medical centre, relying instead on a network of local doctors and hospitals. Much has been modernised about NASCAR in the last 20 years, and it’s high time for change in this important area.

Based in Indianapolis, John Oreovicz has been covering US racing for 33 years. He is the author of Indy Split (2021) and Class of ’99 (2025)

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