The 2026 Firestone Indy NXT Series is the fortieth season of the Indy NXTopen wheelauto racing series and the 24th sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. This is 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]
All teams use Dallara IL-15 cars with an AER produced Mazda sourced 2.0 litre engine and Firestone tires. The following drivers and teams compete in the series.
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.[18] On September 5, 2025, Cusick Motorsports announced it had rebranded to Cusick Morgan Motorsports after its team director Billy Morgan.[19]
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.[26]
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.[13]
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 joined 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.[20]
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 moved 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.[21]
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.[30]
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 were joined by James Roe, who moved over from Andretti Global for his fifth Indy NXT campaign, and Carson Etter, who stepped up from USF Pro 2000 after finishing the 2025 season in 17th with Exclusive Autosport.[17]
On January 13, 2026, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced the first driver of the team's Indy NXT lineup in Ricardo Escotto, who returned to the series after being released by Andretti Cape halfway through 2025. Escotto had previously made his Indy NXT debut with Juncos for a part-time program in 2024.[28]
On January 15, 2026, HMD Motorsports announced that Salvador de Alba would move over from Andretti Global for his third year in the series, taking the final spot in their lineup.[22]
On January 31, 2026, Cape Motorsports announced their second driver in Matteo Nannini, who rejoined Indy NXT after last competing there in 2023 driving for Juncos Hollinger Racing.[14]
On February 19, 2026, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced the final driver of the 2026 grid in LMP3 driver and Indy NXT debutant Alexander Koreiba.[27]
Barber Motorsports Park, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca 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.
The 2026 Indy NXT season began with 24 cars at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the series' biggest grid since 2009.[32]Cape/ECR's Nikita Johnson topped the first qualifying group, before Andretti's Max Taylor bettered his time in the second group to take pole position.[33] Taylor covered the inside entering turn one at the start of the race, but a move around the outside saw Johnson claim the lead. HMD's Tymek Kucharczyk slotted into third, before a caution was called at the end of the lap. Two more interruptions followed, but the top group remained static throughout. Taylor shadowed Johnson but was unable to deter him from winning as Kucharczyk held off Andretti's Sebastian Murray for third.[34]
Round two of the season saw a new venue for Indy NXT as A. J. Foyt's Alessandro de Tullio took pole position in qualifying around the Streets of Arlington.[35] The race, shortened to 30 minutes after a schedule change, began under yellow after HMD's Jack Beeton made a huge jump start, Abel's Colin Kaminsky heavily collided with the wall and Kucharczyk pushed poleman De Tullio into an escape road. The race restarted with HMD's Enzo Fittipaldi leading Kucharczyk and Taylor. The trio battled for the lead throughout the rest of the race, with Taylor sliding past Kucharczyk before eventually taking the lead after a second caution period. His maiden win saw him take the championship lead by ten points.[36]
The double-header at Barber Motorsports Park saw De Tullio notch up two more pole positions in qualifying.[37] The first race began with a caution before De Tullio and Taylor began gapping the field after it was withdrawn. Taylor closely shadowed the leader until the pair encountered two CGR backmarkers. Taylor made a move for the lead, De Tullio retook the place one corner later, and the pair collided. Both dropped down the order, with Johnson slipping through to take the lead. The collision saw a second caution, and no changes in the order occurred afterwards. Johnson took the victory, reclaiming the championship lead by 28 points, with Fittipaldi and Kucharczyk completing the podium.[38]
A day later, De Tullio and Taylor once again led the field to green. Taylor initially dropped behind Johnson at the start of the race, before passing him on lap two. The top three then began to pull away from the field, with Taylor remaining less than a second behind the leader throughout the race. On the final lap, Taylor shortened the gap to the leader to 0.3 seconds, but did not risk a move for the lead. De Tullio remained mistake-free to finally convert pole position to victory - his maiden Indy NXT win and A. J. Foyt Racing's first junior series victory since 2003. Johnson took third to remain championship leader as Taylor climbed to second place in the standings, 23 points behind him.[39][40]
^De Tullio is an Italian-American driver who competed under an American racing licence at rounds 1 and 2, and with an Argentinian racing licence from round 3.
