NXT Gen Notebook: Disqualification dominates Road America headlines
- Archie O’Reilly
- Jun 25
- 13 min read
Indy NXT’s annual visit to Road America provided a frenzied doubleheader, crowning two fresh race winners for 2026 to bring the season tally to eight different victors in 10 rounds.
On track, Andretti Global’s Lochie Hughes picked up a first win since last June, while AJ Foyt Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio achieved what appeared to be his second win of the season. But a technical infraction meant de Tullio was disqualified, with Cape Motorsports powered by Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR)’s Matteo Nannini inheriting a first win since 2023.
DIVEBOMB brings you the weekend story and a breakdown of the headlines as IndyCar’s premier junior category surges into the second half of its season…
Birthday boy shines for seven
De Tullio was the star of qualifying again on Saturday, claiming his sixth and seventh pole positions of his rookie season on the day of his 20th birthday.
As is the procedure on a doubleheader weekend, drivers’ best laps set the Race 1 field and second-quickest laps set the Race 2 order. But it was not to matter for de Tullio, who set the three quickest laps in the session on the season’s longest track at 4.014 miles, as he elevated his astonishing first-year qualifying form to nine successive front-row starts.
“It’s amazing, especially the turnaround we had from practice, where we struggled,” said the Argentine driver, who started the weekend sixth in points. “Converting it into two pole positions is absolutely unreal.”
For both races, de Tullio was joined on the front row by pre-weekend championship-leading Nikita Johnson, whose Cape-ECR outfit starred early on Saturday morning as Nannini also secured third- and fourth-place starts in the team’s second entry.
It was a mixed qualifying for the remainder of the top four drivers in the standings. Sitting fourth in points, Andretti’s Max Taylor qualified seventh and third but was relegated six positions for each race - to 13th and ninth - for failing minimum underwing height in post-qualifying technical inspection.
After Taylor’s penalties, HMD’s Enzo Fittipalidi, who was two points off the standings lead pre-weekend, was promoted to seventh for both races. His teammate Tymek Kucharczyk - five points adrift of the points lead - was docked his two quickest laps for interfering with Abel Motorsports’ Colin Kaminsky, meaning he was confined to starting 14th and 16th.
In the finalised Race 1 order, de Tullio, Johnson and Nannini were followed by Andretti pair Hughes and Josh Pierson, HMD rookie Jack Beeton, Fittipaldi and Cusick Morgan Motorsports’ JM Correa to complete the top eight.
The same eight drivers populated Race 2’s front four rows, albeit with an unchanged front row and fourth row sandwiching Beeton in a career-best third and Nannini, Hughes and Pierson dropping one position each.
Abel Motorsports’ Myles Rowe, winner of the previous event at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR), could only manage 11th and 10th.
A milestone 100th Andretti victory
Having failed to make it cleanly through Turn 1 on three occasions from pole this season, all eyes were on de Tullio at the race start on Saturday. Mercifully, he navigated it cleanly, as Hughes jumped to second, Nannini holding third and Johnson dropping to fourth.
There were championship implications from the outset, as Fittipaldi out-broke himself in the first corner and clipped Pierson ahead. The Brazilian pulled off into the paddock mid-lap with damage, requiring the FOX Sports drone to be located by his team. He eventually returned to the track but finished the race nine laps down in 22nd.
A caution was avoided for Fittipaldi’s scuffle but a first-lap stoppage was caused by a heavy crash for Abel’s Jordan Missig in The Kink, following Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR)’s Niels Koolen in running wide and spearing into the concrete wall. Koolen’s own moment also necessitated repairs in the pits, though he recovered to finish the race in 11th.
There was enough time on the restart for Johnson to tumble further to seventh, but contact between Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Alexander Koreiba and Foyt’s Nicholas Monteiro in Canada Corner forced another near-instant stoppage. Monteiro was able to continue but Koreiba, deemed at fault and handed a six-place grid drop for Race 2, had his day ended.
The wait for a complete green-flag lap continued beyond halfway in the 20-lap race, with CGR’s Bryce Aron beaching himself in Turn 1 after contact with Kaminsky on Lap 9. But at the head of the pack, Hughes had delivered a textbook outside move on de Tullio to take the race lead in the nick of time, before the third caution was deployed.
“I was more thinking about defending from Nannini behind me. I started getting this big run, thought: ’Why not go for it?’” Hughes said, while de Tullio bemoaned the dirty track: “I just didn’t have the grip. Just got on the gas, was sideways. Lochie had the run. They [Andretti] were on another level compared to us.”
There was strife for another title protagonist during that yellow period, with Taylor pitting from inside the top 10 at the order of his team due to a tyre losing pressure. He limited the damage to come home 12th - still one position better than he started.
Finally, after the Lap 12 restart, on which Pierson passed Nannini for third, a racing rhythm was established, even after a precarious moment as Abel teammates Max Garcia and Rowe made contact after a gutsy lunge from Kucharzcyk.
An eventual run of uninterrupted laps allowed the quickest drivers to come to the fore, chiefly Pierson in the lead pack, harrying de Tullio into the closing stages. Beeton also showed a turn of pace, getting by Nannini for fourth on the penultimate lap with an aggressive lunge into Canada Corner, followed by astute defensive driving to secure a personal-best result.
Then, on the final lap after several laps of duress, having saved push-to-pass for “one final shot”, Pierson was finally able to dispatch of de Tullio on the outside of the same corner to secure second - his joint-best result in Indy NXT - and a 1-2 finish for Andretti.
“I know Ale is disappointed, didn’t think it was super fair,” said Pierson after his second successive podium. “I tried to leave him space but I was locked up. The nose is pointed there anyways to the apex. Managed to get it stopped, rolled through. It was an incredible way to finish a race that had quite a bit of action.
“Our start of the year was really rocky. We were trying to build momentum and just trying to get that first result, trying to really get things moving. Super happy for the guys.”
At the head of the field, Hughes came home less than one second clear of Pierson but scarcely looked back after taking the lead shortly before the midpoint of the race, achieving a milestone 100th win in the category for the Andretti team.
Behind Hughes, Pierson, de Tullio and Beeton, Nannini withstood pressure from teammate Johnson to record his first top-five finish since returning from a two-year racing hiatus. Correa, Kucharczyk, Rowe and Garcia completed the top 10.
Hughes “back where we belong”
It had been a tough start to Hughes’ season, with only a solitary podium alongside three results outside of the top 10 in the opening eight rounds of a campaign where he was tipped by many to be title favourite. To be back in Victory Circle was a relief, more than anything.
“I’d say [it has been] the worst start of my career since I was in go-karts,” assessed Hughes, who finished third in points as a rookie last year. “Every year I’ve been in the US, every category I’ve won and finished top three in the championship.
“This year has been a bit different. Some of the stuff I learned last year didn’t really translate to the way the car is this year. So I kind of had to unlearn some things and then I lost some confidence in myself, went down that spiral. This is good to be back where we belong.”
What specifically has felt different to Hughes? Frankly, many of the fundamentals, from the raw feel of the car to the tyre. But he has gradually regained comfort, coming to a head at Road America, as much as being unable to maximise qualifying continues to frustrate him.
“I knew the win was just a matter of putting it together,” he said. “It was just a matter of ‘it’s going to come’. We just struggled to put all the pieces together.
“I feel like since Indy, I’ve been really quick. I should have won Indy Race 1. Detroit, I should have been on pole if I didn’t stuff up. Obviously I did stuff it up, then the race was a blank [after crashing into de Tullio on Lap 1]. Gateway we poled it.
“It’s the first few races of the season we really struggled. It’s just been hard. When you’re on the back foot, things seem to get a bit worse. It’s nice starting to get some momentum. Anything’s possible the rest of the season.”
How the second race panned out
De Tullio’s Race 2 started swimmingly from pole again, holding onto his race lead as, on Lap 2, Nannini had made his way past teammate Johnson and into second. But on the opening tour, a quartet of front-runners - those running directly behind the podium positions - had already been eliminated from contention.
It appeared initially that, in Turn 3, Hughes made contact with compatriot Beeton. Both ending up on the grass and the check-up led to Pierson running into the back of teammate Hughes, sent slightly airborne as Correa, in turn, collided with the back of him.
Pierson and Hughes had to pit for repairs, the former returning to the track on the lead lap but promptly falling a lap down. While five laps down, Hughes ultimately finished the race 20th and ahead of Pierson, who later pitted again and completed only nine laps, in 22nd.
Further teammate contact with Rowe also forced Garcia to pit for repairs early in the race, meaning the reigning USF Pro 2000 finished a lap down in 18th. Cautions were avoided until Lap 6, when CGR’s James Roe found himself beached deep in the gravel in Turn 13. The Irish driver was recovered but joined Garcia one lap down, finishing 19th.
Owing to the first-lap chaos, the podium of de Tullio and the Cape-ECR duo was followed by Taylor, Kucharczyk and Fittipaldi, who had been as high as fourth in the opening laps, come the restart. Having started 16th, Kucharczyk was particularly on the move, quickly passing Taylor for fourth and putting Johnson under duress.
But as the top two drivers in the standings duelled side-by-side through Turn 5, Kucharczyk found himself pushed wide, onto the gravel strip and grass. Suddenly, a battle for the podium had turned into the Pole languishing in eighth, behind Rowe and Andretti’s Seb Murray.
While he would ultimately finish fifth, in search of road-and-street improvements, Rowe endured a tough mid-phase of the race. He fell as low as 10th, including behind teammate Kaminsky and Beeton, who by Lap 10 had recovered from the rear into the top 10.
Ahead, the podium had started to check out, with de Tullio fending off any threat from Nannini and Johnson struggling to keep tabs on his teammate. But before long, they had Kucharczyk to worry about again, having scythed back through the squabble for the final of the top-five positions and making swift inroads back on the leaders.
Indeed, after falling foul in their earlier scrap, Kucharczyk made light work of Johnson to seize third - where he finished on the road having gained 13 positions - with four laps remaining. The battle for fifth only intensified as the laps ticked down, too, as Taylor’s staunch defence against Fittipaldi eventually came to no avail.
At the back of that five-car pack, though, disaster struck for Kaminsky, who appeared to mistime his draft on Murray when vying for eighth, losing his car and collecting the inside wall. On Lap 15 of 18, de Tullio’s lead evaporated as a caution was brandished.
A last-lap dash was set up, though de Tullio had saved ample push-to-pass to fend off any pressure from behind and seemingly win for a second time, as Nannini held onto second ahead of Kucharczyk. How crucial that runner-up-on-the-road battle proved…
Why was de Tullio’s win stripped?
A little over two hours after the chequered flag, IndyCar Officiating announced that both AJ Foyt Racing cars - of de Tullio and Monteiro - had been disqualified from Race 2.
It was found in post-race technical inspection that de Tullio was sporting the set of tyres used by his teammate in qualifying - and vice versa for Monteiro. That is not permitted, as Rule 15.1.3 states that “tyres are assigned to a specific entrant” and cannot be transferred between cars, whether “sold, traded or otherwise reassigned”.
Further to that, the mistake from Foyt meant neither car started either race on their qualifying tyres, which is mandated for one round of a doubleheader weekend.
“It’s nothing that gains us an advantage at all but rules are rules,” de Tullio said in an Instagram video. “It’s very hard to take, especially after the race we had. We had great pace, led every lap, controlled the race. We did everything right on track. This mistake has unfortunately resulted in a DQ and a lot of points down the drain. Don’t have many words.”
As a result of both infractions - deemed the highest Level 3 by IndyCar Officiating, de Tullio’s win was stripped and Monteiro lost 15th place. Therefore, neither entry was eligible for driver or entrant points from Race 2 and de Tullio dropped from firm contention in fourth in the standings - 45 points behind Johnson’s lead - to 101 points adrift in seventh.
How were the order and points impacted?
After winning only his third-ever race of a half-season rookie campaign in 2023, Nannini was handed a second win in only 17 races in Indy NXT, 10 rounds into his first full-season deal. He had battled on with damage throughout Race 2, too, after contact on the first lap.
While Kucharczyk’s recovery drive is now reflected by a runner-up result, his mere 0.1334s margin to Nannini at the finish is a gutting near-miss in his bid for a second debut-year win.
With Johnson promoted to third for a fifth podium of his rookie season - after a four-race drought - he maintains the championship lead by six points ahead of Kucharczyk, owing to the consistency of still recording no finish worse than seventh in 2026. His gap to Kucharczyk extends by a single point from before the doubleheader.
Fittipaldi, meanwhile, is credited with fourth in Race 2 after his non-result the day prior. From two points off the championship lead pre-weekend, he now trails Johnson by 27 points.
Taylor lost out to an even greater extent, suffering a tyre delamination - due to a flat spot - in Canada Corner on the sole green-flag lap at the end of Sunday’s race. He finished the race 17th and, while still fourth, has fallen from within 30 points of Johnson to 61 points adrift.
Joining Taylor in tumbling out of the top 10 on the last lap, teammate Murray was hit from behind and fell to 15th. Alongside de Tullio’s exclusive, this prompted plenty of change within the top 10 as Rowe placed fifth, Beeton sixth and Correa seventh. Then came a trio of Race 2 seeming outsiders: HMD’s Salvador de Alba and the CGR duo of Koolen and Aron.
Also for CGR, rookie Carson Etter lifted himself from the foot of the standings with his best weekend to date, recovering from 23rd to record results of 16th and 13th.
Back at the head of the standings, behind the closest quartet of challengers for the title, Hughes has leapfrogged Rowe by five points to claim fifth after 10 rounds, though he still sits 81 points behind Johnson. Behind de Tullio in seventh is Correa (126 points behind) in eighth, then the latest victor, Nannini (141 points), and Pierson (143 points).
From sidelines to Victory Lane
For the past two years, Nannini has scarcely been a racing driver. Instead, his involvement in the industry has been led by founding USF2000 team ENVE Motorsports in 2025.
Naturally, his return to the sport as a competitor got off to a slow start this year, with only two top-10 finishes in the opening eight rounds. But back in the saddle, his comeback has lift-off after his fifth-place result in Saturday’s race at Road America and victory on Sunday.
“We’re finally where we belong,” Nannini said. “It’s been a rough start to the season. So happy for my team, my sponsors, everyone involved. It’s hopefully the first of many more.
“For the past two years, I didn’t do much - not even working out - [and] started focusing on other things. I feel like the third [race], we were already up there speed-wise. We didn’t have a clean weekend and couldn't put it together from qualifying. I feel like in this series, qualifying is key. If you start up front, 90% of your job is done.
“I feel like now we’re at the point in the championship where I don’t have much to lose.”
How Kucharczyk recovered 14 places
If not for Rowe’s heroic worst-to-first display at WWTR, Kucharczyk’s 14-place gain at Road America may well have garnered a host more plaudits.
Race 1 was a tougher affair, only recovering six positions from 14th to eighth. His sporting of new tyres in Race 2 may have helped his cause, he suggested, but that cannot take away from the stunning race craft with which he made his way up to the podium fight, then down to eighth after being pushed wide before battling up onto the rostrum once more.
“It was a fun one, for sure,” Kucharczyk said. “I didn’t expect to be this quick. I was struggling with the feeling in the car [earlier in the weekend]. I tried to drive like the car wanted to be driven. It just didn’t work for me.
“We spent a lot of time just figuring out what can we change to actually make me feel comfortable. That’s obviously a big part of my engineer, of my connection, my chemistry with him. I’m just happy to finally drive a car that’s capable of going fast. We made some big adjustments [and] I was so much better. Obviously new tyres helped massively.
“On Lap 1 [in Race 2], I went from 16th to eighth, which is quite insane. Went side-by-side with Nikita, he forced me off the track, had to make it up all the way again. Obviously I was frustrated when I got pushed off. Then I used quite a bit of push-to-pass there. When you’re so quick, it’s easy to get a bit hot-headed and do a stupid move, which I did.”
But Kucharczyk collected himself to finish third on the road - a sixth podium and eighth top-five finish of his maiden season - and ultimately a marginal runner-up.
“Safety cars, didn’t have much push-to-pass left. Sketchy last lap,” he said immediately afterwards, while still classified third. “Obviously really, really happy. It was a pretty cool race. [With] so much pace advantage, it was just a pleasure to drive. I would say this is the moment where I had to do it for the championship.”
Milwaukee testing & looking ahead
Two days after concluding the Road America round, Indy NXT was on track at the Milwaukee Mile for a day long open test on the short oval.
Fittipaldi set the pace for HMD, followed by a strong showing for CGR, with Koolen and Roe in second and third and Aron featuring in seventh. De Tullio was fourth for Foyt, followed by Beeton and Hughes; behind Aron was Pierson, Garci and Kucharczyk. Championship leader Johnson was 13th, one position ahead of Taylor, behind Nannini and Correa.
There was one significant piece of wall contact for Rowe in the morning, confining the WWTR winner to only 30 laps. Etter had a lighter moment in the afternoon but continued, albeit finishing last on the time sheets with a 144.707 mph best lap, which was over 7 mph behind Fittipaldi’s pace-setting 152.012 mph average.
Indy NXT returns to Milwaukee for a single race on 30th August. Next up, Rounds 11 and 12 are impending with a doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on 4th and 5th July.
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