2026 Indy NXT

2026 Indy NXT season
Firestone Indy NXT Series
Season
Races17
Start date1 March
End date6 September
Awards

The 2026 Firestone Indy NXT Series is scheduled to be the 40th season of the Indy NXT open wheel auto racing series and the 24th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. This will be the fourth year of the championship running under the Indy NXT moniker following its acquisition by Penske Entertainment, the owner of the IndyCar Series, in 2022.[1]

Teams and drivers

All teams will use Dallara IL-15 cars with an AER produced Mazda sourced 2.0 litre engine and Firestone tires. The following drivers and teams are scheduled to compete in the series.

Team No. Drivers Status Round(s)
Abel Motorsports 12 Max Garcia[2] R All
48 Jordan Missig[3] All
57 Colin Kaminsky[4] All
Abel Motorsports with Force Indy 99 Myles Rowe[5] All
Andretti Global 26 Lochie Hughes[6] All
27 Sebastian Murray[7] All
28 Max Taylor[8] All
29 Josh Pierson[9] All
A. J. Foyt Racing[10] 4 Nicholas Monteiro[11] R All
14 Alessandro de Tullio[12] R All
Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR 20 TBA TBC
21 Nikita Johnson[13] R All
Chip Ganassi Racing[14] 8 James Roe[15] All
9 Bryce Aron[15] All
10 Niels Koolen[15] All
11 Carson Etter[15] R All
Cusick Morgan Motorsports[16][17] 15 Nicolas Stati[18] R All
68 Juan Manuel Correa[19] All
HMD Motorsports[16] 45 Jack Beeton[20] R All
67 Enzo Fittipaldi[21] R All
TBA TBA TBC
TBA TBA TBC
Juncos Hollinger Racing[22] 75 TBA TBC
76 TBA TBC
Icon Status
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year
 RY  Rookie of the Year

Team changes

  • On August 27, 2025, IndyCar team Cusick Motorsports announced it would enter two cars in the Indy NXT series in a technical partnership with HMD Motorsports that would also see the latter team scale back its Indy NXT program to four cars.[16] On September 5, 2025, Cusick Motorsports announced it had rebranded to Cusick Morgan Motorsports after its team director Billy Morgan.[17]
  • On September 8, 2025, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced its return to the Indy NXT series. The team had previously competed in the series until the 2024 season, when it had elected to temporarily step back from competing in Indy NXT to focus on its IndyCar efforts.[22]
  • On October 21, 2025, IndyCar team A. J. Foyt Racing announced it would enter two cars in Indy NXT in a strategic alliance with HMD Motorsports.[10]
  • On October 24, IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing announced it would enter two cars in Indy NXT in a partnership with Cape Motorsports, who ended its association with Andretti Global.[23]

Driver changes

  • On September 15, 2025, Abel Motorsports announced that 2025 USF Pro 2000 champion Max Garcia would graduate to Indy NXT with the team, driving the No. 12 entry for the 2026 season.[2]
  • On September 22, 2025, Cape Motorsports announced Nikita Johnson would join the team for his full-time debut in the 2026 season after previously competing in two rounds with HMD Motorsports in 2025.[13]
  • On September 23, 2025, Andretti Global confirmed that reigning champion Dennis Hauger would move up to the IndyCar series with Dale Coyne Racing.[24]
  • On September 30, 2025, Andretti Global announced that Sebastian Murray would move over from Andretti Cape Indy NXT to the main Andretti team for his second Indy NXT season.[7]
  • On October 14, 2025, Andretti Global announced their third driver in Max Taylor, who joins the team for his full-season debut after entering six events in 2025 driving for HMD Motorsports.[8]
  • On October 15, 2025, Cusick Morgan Motorsports announced that their first Indy NXT driver would be Nicolas Stati, who graduates from the Formula Regional Americas Championship.[18]
  • On October 21, 2025, Abel Motorsports announced that Colin Kaminsky would drive for the team in 2026 on his Indy NXT return after last competing in the series in 2023.[4]
  • On October 21, 2025, Andretti Global announced Josh Pierson as the final driver in its lineup, who will move over from HMD Motorsports for his fourth Indy NXT season.[9]
  • On October 24, 2025, Cusick Morgan Motorsports announced that Juan Manuel Correa would drive for the team in his full-time series debut.[19]
  • On October 29, 2025, HMD Motorsports announced the first driver of their four-car lineup: Jack Beeton will make his Indy NXT debut after previously competing in the Formula Regional European Championship.[20]
  • On October 30, 2025, HMD Motorsport announced that former Formula 2 driver Enzo Fittipaldi would join the team on his Indy NXT debut in 2026.[21]
  • On November 5, 2025, A. J. Foyt Racing announced the first driver of the team's Indy NXT lineup in USF Pro 2000 graduate Alessandro de Tullio.[12]
  • On November 6, 2025, A. J. Foyt Racing confirmed reports that it had signed 2025 Indy NXT runner-up Caio Collet to drive the team's No. 4 IndyCar entry.[25]
  • On November 14, 2025, A. J. Foyt Racing announced the second driver of their Indy NXT lineup would be Nicholas Monteiro, stepping up from USF Pro 2000, where he came tenth in 2025.[11]
  • On December 17, 2025, Chip Ganassi Racing announced their expanded four-car lineup: returnees Bryce Aron and Niels Koolen will be joined by James Roe, who moves over from Andretti Global for his fifth Indy NXT campaign, and Carson Etter, who steps up from USF Pro 2000 after finishing the 2025 season in 17th with Exclusive Autosport.[15]

Schedule

The schedule was released on September 25.[26]

Icon Legend
 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road course
 S  Street circuit
Rd. Date Race name Track Location
1 March 1 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg  S  Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida
2 March 15 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Arlington  S  Streets of Arlington Arlington, Texas
3 March 28 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama  R  Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama
4 March 29
5 May 8 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Indianapolis  R  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Speedway, Indiana
6 May 9
7 May 31 Indy NXT by Firestone Detroit Grand Prix  S  Streets of Detroit Detroit, Michigan
8 June 7 Indy NXT by Firestone at World Wide Technology Raceway  O  World Wide Technology Raceway Madison, Illinois
9 June 20 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Road America  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
10 June 21
11 July 4 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio
12 July 5
13 July 19 Indy NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix  O  Nashville Superspeedway Lebanon, Tennessee
14 August 9 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
15 August 30 Indy NXT by Firestone at the Milwaukee Mile  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin
16 September 5 Indy NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey  R  WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California
17 September 6

Calendar changes

  • Indy NXT will see the debut of the Grand Prix of Arlington. This will be Indy NXT's first race in the state of Texas since it held two races at Circuit of the Americas in 2019.
  • Barber Motorsports Park, Road America and Mid-Ohio will hold double-headers for the first time since 2021.
  • The Nashville round will no longer be the season finale and will instead be round 13, held on July 19, while the Monterey round will move from mid-July to the season finale, held on September 5 and 6.
  • Indy NXT will not return to Iowa Speedway.

Championship standings

Scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th   11th   12th   13th   14th   15th   16th   17th   18th   19th   20th   21st 
Points 50 40 35 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9
  • The fastest driver in each qualifying session will be awarded one additional point.
  • Every driver who led at least one lap will be awarded a bonus point, the driver who led the most laps will get two points.

Entrants will score points in the same way drivers score points, including bonus points for pole position and laps led.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Indy Lights rebranded for 2023 as "INDY NXT by Firestone"". MSN. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Donahue, Jacob (September 15, 2025). "Max Garcia and ABEL Motorsports to Contest Rookie Season in INDY NXT by Firestone". Abel Motorsports. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  3. ^ "Jordan Missig Returning to ABEL Motorsports in 2026". www.foxsports.com. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Colin Kaminsky To Return to INDY NXT with ABEL in 2026". Indy NXT. October 21, 2025. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  5. ^ Wood, Ida (September 5, 2025). "Myles Rowe commits to third Indy Nxt season and second with Abel". Formula Scout. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  6. ^ "Lochie Hughes Staying With Andretti Global in 2026". Indy NXT. October 7, 2025. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Seb Murray To Join Andretti Global for 2026 Season". Indy NXT. September 30, 2025. Retrieved September 30, 2025.
  8. ^ a b gabbyhamill (October 14, 2025). "Andretti INDY NXT Welcomes Max Taylor to 2026 Driver Lineup". Andretti Global. Retrieved October 14, 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Josh Pierson Completes Andretti INDY NXT Lineup for 2026". Indy NXT. October 21, 2025. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (October 21, 2025). "AJ Foyt Racing partners with HMD for Indy NXT return | RACER". racer.com. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (November 14, 2025). "Monteiro joins Foyt Indy NXT team | RACER". racer.com. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Alessandro De Tullio To Compete In 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone Season with AJ Foyt Racing". ajfoytracing. November 5, 2025. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Nikita Johnson To Drive for Cape Motorsports in 2026 Season". IndyCar.com. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  14. ^ "Ganassi expanding Indy NXT program to four cars". RACER. October 7, 2025. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
  15. ^ a b c d e "Chip Ganassi Racing Signs James Roe, Carson Etter to Join Bryce Aron, Niels Koolen in INDY NXT". chipganassiracing.com. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  16. ^ a b c "Cusick Team Joins Series in 2026 in Technical Alliance with HMD". Indy NXT. August 27, 2025. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Cusick Team Rebrands to Cusick Morgan Motorsports". Indy NXT. September 4, 2025. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
  18. ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (October 15, 2025). "Stati joins Cusick Morgan HMD | RACER". racer.com. Retrieved October 15, 2025.
  19. ^ a b "Juan Manuel Correa Signs With Cusick Morgan for 2026". IndyCar.com. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  20. ^ a b "Jack Beeton To Drive for HMD Motorsports in 2026 Rookie Season". Indy NXT. October 29, 2025. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
  21. ^ a b "HMD Motorsports Signs Enzo Fittipaldi for 2026 Season". Indy NXT. October 30, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
  22. ^ a b "Juncos Hollinger Racing Returning to INDY NXT in 2026". Indy NXT. September 8, 2025. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  23. ^ "ECR Partners With Cape To Join INDY NXT by Firestone in 2026". IndyCar.com. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  24. ^ "Coyne Hires Dennis Hauger for 2026, Enters Partnership with Andretti". IndyCar.com. September 23, 2025. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  25. ^ Horner, Scott. "Rookie joins A.J. Foyt Racing's 2026 IndyCar Series lineup to replace David Malukas". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
  26. ^ "INDYCAR Announces 17-Race 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone Schedule". IndyCar.com. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
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