Andretti INDY NXT Eager to Build on Championship Momentum for 2025 Season
Rounding out the Andretti Global family of race team’s season launches, Andretti INDY NXT brought the team’s vision for 2025 to life today following successful season kick-offs for the Andretti INDYCAR and Andretti Formula E outfits. Still riding high after closing out a triumphant 2024 season that saw Andretti INDY NXT capture its sixth INDY NXT by Firestone Series Championship, the off-season has allowed the team to reflect on how to keep last year’s momentum going into the 2025 season, especially with new variables at play, including a fresh driver lineup.
The excitement surrounding the INDY NXT Series is at an all-time high, with talented drivers from all over the world coming together to compete with a common objective in mind: moving up to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES one day like many of the current INDYCAR drivers did before them. Now, with INDYCAR and INDY NXT recently joining the FOX Sports family, fans are going to be able to keep up with everything 2025 has in store for Andretti INDY NXT live on cable for the first time. Young talent is exuding from this year’s INDY NXT paddock, and fans are not going to want to miss out on following the INDY NXT drivers’ journeys as they fight their way up to the top rung of the competitive, American open-wheel racing ladder.
Winning Moments: From Podiums to Championships
Last season will surely go down in history as one of the most successful years for Andretti INDY NXT, as the 2024 season saw a plethora of podium celebrations from the team, continuing their 20-podium streak, which stretches all the way back to the 2023 INDY NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix. Every podium this past season was memorable in its own right, but some stuck out more than others.
First, Jamie Chadwick made history at Road America when she became the first woman in INDY NXT history to win a race on a road course. She is also just the third woman to win in the Series, with the last win over a decade ago by Pippa Mann in September of 2010 at Kentucky Speedway. Chadwick dominated the entire race weekend, after securing her first career pole position in the qualifying session, leading all 20 laps to victory and clocking the fastest leader lap of the race. Following the completion of the 2024 INDY NXT season, Chadwick went on to test for Andretti INDYCAR at the physically demanding Barber Motorsports Park, becoming the first female INDY NXT race winner in over a decade (Mann, 2011) to receive an NTT INDYCAR SERIES test.
The team continued to see podium success as it transitioned to ovals in the latter half of the season at Iowa Speedway. The team captured a podium sweep that weekend with Louis Foster, James Roe and Salvador de Alba representing the Andretti team. Additionally, this event marked Andretti Cape’s first podium finish in the team’s history, captured by de Alba who moved up seven positions from where he started in a thrilling battle to take home not only the team’s first INDY NXT podium, but his first as well.
At the forefront of the team’s overall success in 2024, Louis Foster experienced a stellar year of racing that led him to becoming the most recent INDY NXT by Firestone Champion. The Brit wrapped up the season with eight wins and 12 podiums, all allowing him to clinch the Championship title at the season’s penultimate race at the Milwaukee Mile. Additionally, his total career wins (10) tie him with Tommy Byrne, Alex Lloyd, Paul Tracy and current Andretti INDYCAR driver Kyle Kirkwood for second in most INDY NXT wins of all time. This marked Andretti INDY NXT’s sixth Championship title, the last one being from Kyle Kirkwood in 2021. With six Championships and 90 wins collected since the team started in 2005, the Andretti INDY NXT team has become the winningest team across all of the series that Andretti Global competes in. Following years of success across the program, Andretti INDY NXT, and now Andretti Cape INDY NXT, continue to focus on providing talented young drivers with valuable and competitive open-wheel racing experience that they will all carry with them into the next steps of their careers.
Dedication to driver development
The Andretti INDY NXT program has proved over years of high-caliber racing that it is a premier, competitive team with the ultimate goal of training and equipping young drivers with the skills they need to make it to the top rung of the American open-wheel racing ladder: the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
For instance, most recently, Andretti Global announced that eight-year-old Zayne Burgess will join its ambitious Driver Development program designed to support young talents with the aim of leading them to pinnacle levels of motorsport. With Andretti and Gainbridge’s support, the young driver will compete in mini kart racing and make his European debut later this year. Additionally, Andretti and Gainbridge are providing support for Sebastian (16) and Oliver Wheldon (13) as they work their way up the open-wheel racing system. Although they are both just beginning their own racing careers, the brothers already boast impressive stats as Sebastian recently finished second in the YACademy Winter Series for USF Juniors with one race win and three additional podium finishes and Oliver became the 2024 Skip Barber Race Series champion.
The Andretti INDY NXT program has notably fostered the careers of three out of four current Andretti INDYCAR drivers: Colton Herta, Kyle Kirkwood and Marco Andretti. With the team’s guidance and resources, the three drivers excelled in the development series, paving a direct path for them to continue on upwards to the INDYCAR SERIES, especially Kyle Kirkwood, who won the INDY NXT Championship for the Andretti team in 2021. Other notable Andretti INDY NXT graduates include Pato O’Ward and Christian Rasmussen.
The positive effects of the ladder program extend across the INDYCAR paddock with 14 of the 2024 season’s, full-time INDYCAR drivers being INDY NXT graduates, including most recent, back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner, Josef Newgarden.
The faces of 2025
This season’s Andretti and Andretti Cape INDY NXT lineup will see a majority of newcomers as well as a couple familiar faces.
Leading the Andretti INDY NXT program as Team Manager is motorsports veteran, Don Lambert. Lambert joined Andretti after six years serving as Team Manager for Bryan Herta Autosport. With over 35 years of experience in the motorsport industry on his resume, Lambert has secured numerous team accomplishments including the prestigious Clint Brawner Award (2010), an INDYCAR Championship (1992), four INDY NXT Championships (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024) and two Indianapolis 500 victories (2011, 2016). Coming off of a Championship winning INDY NXT season, Lambert is hoping to keep that momentum going with the team into 2025.
Kicking off the Andretti INDY NXT lineup in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship Dallara is rookie Lochie Hughes. The 22-year-old Australian native is the current USF Pro 2000 Champion, dominating the 2024 season in the development series just a rung below INDY NXT on the ladder system up to INDYCAR. Next up making his INDY NXT debut this season in the No. 28 Rental Group Dallara is Norwegian driver Dennis Hauger. Hauger is joining the team after recently spending three seasons in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, securing five wins and 13 podiums since he started in 2022. The 21-year-old also served as a Red Bull Junior Driver for six years and was named a Red Bull Reserve Driver for the 2022 and 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship seasons.
The Andretti INDY NXT team is also excited to welcome back a couple of familiar faces to the lineup in 2025: Salvador de Alba and James Roe. Following a successful year with the Andretti Cape team that saw Salvador de Alba round out his rookie year with two podiums and nine top-10 finishes, the 25-year-old Mexican driver will transition over to the Andretti INDY NXT team to pilot the No. 27 Grupo Indi Dallara. De Alba has seen success across multiple series with driver’s championship titles in the NASCAR Peak Mexico Series (2021, 2023) and Super Copa GTM (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). He made his open-wheel racing debut in USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tires in 2022 and placed third in the development series’ Driver Championship in 2023. Lastly, rounding out the Andretti INDY NXT lineup is James Roe, who will return to the team for his third full season in INDY NXT after wrapping up 2024 with seven top-10 finishes, five top-five finishes, two podiums and one pole position. Roe’s primary sponsor Topcon announced that they will be returning for a third consecutive year supporting his entry as he pilots the No. 29 Topcon Dallara.
Following a year of success and learning, Andretti Cape INDY NXT is excited to come back to the INDY NXT paddock for year two of its technical alliance with Andretti Global. This new alliance formed in 2024 saw Andretti Global provide Cape Motorsports with engineering and operational support on their entries as they launched their INDY NXT team. Going into their sophomore INDY NXT season, the team will run two entries piloted by 17-year-old rookie Seb Murray and 20-year-old Ricardo Escotto. The young team is hoping to capitalize on their relationship with Andretti Global to bring strong competition into their second INDY NXT season.
INDY NXT on FOX Sports
With the past two INDY NXT seasons seeing the highest entry lists in over a decade, the Series is in an exciting period of growth and thrilling competition. Now more than ever, it will be easy for fans to tune into the INDY NXT action with a new, multi-year FOX Sports TV contract that will see INDY NXT races now airing on the network’s FS1 and FS2 cable channels. Previously, all INDY NXT races were available via streaming platform, so moving the program over to cable where they will have live coverage is a huge victory in increased exposure for the development series. This will introduce INDY NXT to a larger audience and could potentially help build upon the already rapidly growing series. With the FOX Sports TV contract with INDY NXT kicking off this year, it’s an exciting time to follow the Series and watch the future stars of INDYCAR make their mark on the American open-wheel racing scene.
Looking forward to 2025 and beyond
With a skillful roster of six full-time drivers, both the Andretti INDY NXT and Andretti Cape INDY NXT programs are eager to get the 2025 season started. Coming off an outstandingly successful season in 2024, the team’s energy, focus and excitement is palpable. In addition to the young, talented driver lineup that Andretti INDY NXT and Andretti Cape INDY NXT has this year, the teams are comprised of highly qualified, experienced engineers, mechanics, crew members and leadership who all share a similar mission through the work that they do: To foster the next generation of INDYCAR drivers. So, fans are not going to want to miss out on all the on-track action as Andretti INDY NXT kicks off the season on the Streets of St. Pete on February 28-March 2.
