INDY NXT QUALIFYING REPORT: INDY NXT by Firestone at Milwaukee Mile
Qualifying Results
| INDY NXT by Firestone at Milaukee Mile |
| Lochie Hughes | P8 |
| Seb Murray | P9 |
| Max Taylor | P6 |
| Josh Pierson | P1 |
Qualifying Notes
- INDY NXT by Firestone returned to oval competition this afternoon at The Milwaukee Mile, where Josh Pierson earned his first INDY NXT career pole position in a record-breaking qualifying attempt.
- Pierson’s result marks the Andretti team’s third consecutive pole position at The Milwaukee Mile, following current INDYCAR drivers Louis Foster and Dennis Hauger capturing the pole in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
- Pierson also broke the track record for fastest two-lap average speed set by Hauger last year, recording a lap 0.795 MPH quicker than Hauger’s.
- Today’s qualifying result by Pierson is the 114th pole position for the Andretti Global INDY NXT program.
- The Andretti INDY NXT squad all put forth solid efforts today, and the whole team will take the green flag from inside the top 10 tomorrow, with Max Taylor lining up on the outside of Row 3, while Lochie Hughes and Seb Murray line up eighth and ninth.
- Live coverage of the race will be available on FS1 and FOX One at 11:00 AM ET.
Lochie Hughes
No. 26 Andretti Global Dallara
P8
| 2-Lap Average | 152.263 MPH |
“It’s a bit weird going out straight after someone who’s had a big crash, but we did okay today. The first lap was really good, but the second lap I had to do a massive lift through the exit of Turn 4 coming to the checkered flag. I think I hit a bump and just got a massive amount of understeer, so I had to do a really big lift. Unfortunately, that probably cost me a couple tenths on that last lap. It is what it is. We’ll go racing now.”
Seb Murray
No. 27 Megatron Dallara
P9
| 2-Lap Average | 152.063 MPH |
“There’s a lot of grip out there, to be honest, which is a big difference from practice this morning. The team has done a great job of delivering me a fantastic car for that run. So, massive thank you to them. I was pushing really hard that first lap, and it was pretty sketchy, but the tires started to fall off on the second one. I’m happy with what we did. I feel like we maximized what we could out of it. I think it’s going to be a really close race, to be honest. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. It’s a long race, so it’s going to be exciting.”
Max Taylor
No. 28 Susan G. Komen Dallara
P6
| 2-Lap Average | 152.747 MPH |
“I think there was definitely more in the car. I was flat through Turns 3 and 4, which I was happy about, but I had too much for a lift in Turns 1 and 2. It’s kind of difficult when the guy two cars ahead of you crashes there. I want to touch on that. You’re thinking about crashing a little bit, going into those turns, and it’s hard to kind of disassociate yourself from that. You’re thinking, is there anything on the track? It’s just not ideal, but it’s not bad. I definitely could have been better.”
Josh Pierson
No. 29 Starchive Dallara
P1
| 2-Lap Average | 153.434 MPH |
“Finally, getting the pole is such a relief. For me, I feel like I’ve just been missing it by the smallest margin. So to finally break through means the world to me. I owe it all to this crew and everybody on this No. 29 car. In practice today, we kind of struggled, so we really had to shake things up and try something different in the car, and I’m really happy with where things turned out. I’m super grateful to everybody at Andretti Global. It’s really fun to finally get my first pole.”
Don Lambert
INDY NXT Team Manager
“I’m really happy for Josh today. He has put in the work and finally got a reward! The rest of the guys also did a great job, as all the times on the leaderboard are really close in the top 10. We have big momentum going into the race tomorrow, so we just need to ensure that we execute on tomorrow’s plan.”
