indy nxt 2023 season preview
Welcome to Middle of the Grid’s Indy NXT silly season spectacular, where we’ll sum up some superstar signings, scour the scuttlebutt to suss out the show ups from the show outs, sample the upcoming schedule, sail into the sad sagas of sub-par prizes and sketchy re-brands, and satiate any skeptics still suspicious of this sub-genre of sporting superiority by succinctly separating the silly from the season.
We didn’t have any photos of wrestlers racing cars, so here’s the hypothetical yellow flag they would have caused.
The first thing we need to talk about is the elephant in the ring; Penske Entertainment’s decision to rebrand Indy Lights as Indy NXT (pronounced ‘next’ I’m told). As much fun as it would be to see Bron Breakker or Gigi Dollin banging wheels going into turn one at St. Pete, or figure out what a steel cage race would look like, the Indy NXT moniker has nothing to do with pro-wrestling juggernaut WWE and their NXT developmental brand – nor should it be confused for Nitro Rallycross’s NRX NEXT series (unless you ask the Megennis brothers). Though not explicitly stated in any official releases from Indycar president Jay Frye or Penske Entertainment, it’s understood that the decision to rebrand was based largely on creating a new identity for the recently reacquired feeder series.
Penske took over operational control of Indy Lights from Andersen Promotions in 2021, bringing the series back in-house after previous Indycar management offloaded the property in 2013. Dan Andersen and his organization continue to manage the former Road to Indy ladder, undergoing their own rebranding to the USF Pro Championships presented by Cooper Tires. Despite the name and ownership changes, the series’ ladder system will remain unchanged – young drivers will still compete and graduate through Andersen’s USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 to Indycar’s Indy NXT, then to the NTT Indycar Series with each year’s champion awarded a scholarship to move up to the next series. The USF Pro Championships will also still compete at Indycar events, sharing the safety team services of AMR but utilizing separate timing and scoring systems.
On the technical side Indy NXT will carry over the same race cars used by Indy Lights; spec Dallara IL-15 chassis equipped with an FIA-style halo and powered by a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine routed through a six-speed semi-automatic sequential gearbox. The cars are also equipped with a driver-activated push-to-pass system that temporarily adds another 50 horsepower through additional turbo pressure, bringing the total maximum output to 500 ponies. The cars weigh in at just over 1,400 pounds and will be shod in Firestone tires for 2023, a switch from the Cooper slicks that the cars used previously.
NXT up, the drivers (sorry, couldn’t help myself). With the NXT cars all in the same specification, driving talent really comes to the forefront and has traditionally produced some great racing and epic battles among its ranks – exactly the kind of thing Indycar team owners want to see when scouting for new talent. But before we dig into the upcoming driver roster for 2023 we need to talk about the biggest black eye the new-look championship needs to overcome this year; we need to talk about Linus.
2022 Indy Lights champion Linus Lundqvist is sadly stuck in no mans land without a ride for 2023 after Penske Entertainment slashed the championship scholarship from $1.2 million to a paltry $500,000. The series has since increased the 2023 scholarship to $850,000 and guaranteed 2024 testing opportunities in Indycar, but with the eye-watering $7 million-per car annual budget required for even a modest operation the reduced monetary component is a hard sell. Penske has stated that its prize money restructuring includes a larger distribution for each race win, which certainly benefits the Indy NXT teams but is hard to reconcile when the series champion is unable to secure a seat and ultimately misses out on the opportunity that the series was designed for. Lundqvist isn’t scheduled to return to Indy NXT for 2023, though whether that was ever a possibility is unclear.
Despite the increased challenge to its champion, the Indy NXT grid is expanding and could see as many as 19 full-time entries this year – up two from last year and a staggering 12 car increase from seven full-time cars in 2018. Among those 2023 entries, Abel Motorsport, Andretti Autosport, Cape Motorsports, HMD Motorsports, HMD with Dale Coyne Racing, HMD with Force Indy, and Juncos Hollinger Racing are all set to field cars with HMD Motorsports either partially or wholly responsible for a whopping nine of the Indy NXT cars contesting this year’s championship.
Though not all 19 of this year’s championship hopefuls have been confirmed, there are already plenty of names to keep an eye on. Last year’s USF2000 champion Louis Foster makes his Indy NXT debut with Andretti Autosport and will no doubt be eager to carry that momentum forward. Making her North American racing debut with Andretti Autosport, 3-time W Series champ Jamie Chadwick steps into Andretti’s No. 28 as arguably the hottest signing in Indy NXT. Andretti’s driver lineup is rounded out by Hunter McElrea in the No. 27 and James Roe Jr. in the No. 29.
Abel Motorsports enters its second season of Lights/NXT competition fielding a car for Jacob Abel, with no drivers currently signed for its second car. Last year driving duties in the second car were split between Antonio Serravalle, Flinn Lazier, and Ryan Phinny, and the team recently tested former USF Pro 2000 driver Colin Kaminsky but has yet to indicate who might get the nod(s).
Cape Motorsports makes its series debut with Indy NXT rookie Jagger Jones, who in addition to contesting an impressive USF2000 season with Cape last year is also the grandson of open-wheel legend Parnelli Jones. Like Abel, Cape Motorsports has yet to confirm anyone for its second car but called on USF Pro 2000 driver Enaam Ahmed to test for them in January.
Juncos Hollinger Racing, a stalwart of the Road to Indy ladder, is making their return to the top rung with Matteo Nannini and Reece Gold. Though both may be rookies in NXT neither are strangers to open wheel racing; Nannini is new to the team but brings considerable Formula 3 experience while Gold has won races for Juncos Hollinger in both USF2000 and USF Pro 2000.
The HMD Motorsports armada kicks off with Josh Pierson and Kyffin Simpson, though as of writing Pierson’s schedule has not yet been finalized. HMD’s partnership with Dale Coyne Racing will see six full-time cars running under that banner; rookies Josh Green and Nolan Siegel, racer winner and former Andretti driver Christian Rasmussen, high speed fence inspector Christian Bogle, returning-from-a-gap-year-in-IMSA Rasmus Lindh, and Danial Frost – who scored his first Lights/NXT victory with HMD last year.
The Force Indy team uses a livery inspired by the legendary Tuskeegee Airmen
Force Indy, which ran as a standalone operation in its inaugural Lights/NXT campaign last year, returns with Ernie Francis Jr. in it’s No 99. Francis, who holds seven consecutive Trans Am championships, is still acclimating to racing without a roof or fenders but showed flashes of brilliance during his 2022 rookie season. Bolstered by a new partnership with HMD and the coolest livery on the grid, this team/driver combo could be a sleeping giant in 2023.
Probably the most surprising omission from the 2023 roster is Matthew Brabham, who in 2022 made a return to open wheel racing after several years away in other disciplines to deliver seven podiums and two wins for Andretti Autosport – even placing third overall in the championship.
As mentioned earlier there are still two potentially full-time seats up for grabs, so the NXT silly season still isn’t over. In all actuality, whoever is able to come up with the necessary funding for those remaining seats will get them but where’s the fun in that? With several names in the conversation for those two seats, I think the teams need to embrace their wrestling-adjacent name and hold a 30-driver battle royal to determine who fills out the remainder of the grid.
The Indy NXT season kicks off alongside the Indycar series on March 5th at St. Petersburg, Florida and features 14 rounds across street courses, road courses, and short ovals. The schedule will include double-header races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Streets of Detroit, and the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. While the weekend format mirrors that of the Indycar series, the races themselves are much shorter sprint races that don’t require tire changes or refueling – placing even more emphasis on a driver’s performance by removing some of the strategy elements pit stops can provide.
With a new name, new tire to learn, and new drivers pairings to evaluate, we’re all set for a dramatic first season of Indy NXT. How rapidly can Jamie Chadwick adapt to a new category of open wheel car? Will Louis Foster find continued success in NXT? Will the rising tide of HMD help or hinder its teams’ efforts? Will Matty Brabs show up to St. Pete with a steel chair and claim a race seat? All this and more when Indy NXT descends on southwest Florida for a falls-count-anywhere street fight at Takeover: St. Petersburg, streaming on Peacock.