NXT Gen Notebook: Johnson crowned champion in fight to the finale
- Archie O’Reilly
- 5 hours ago
- 12 min read
Nikita Johnson became the youngest champion of all-time at Indy NXT level on Sunday after clinching the 2027 title in the final round of the season.
The 18-year-old Cape Motorsports powered by ECR driver led the standings by three points ahead of HMD Motorsports’ Enzo Fittipaldi ahead of the season-finale doubleheader at Laguna Seca. HMD’s Tymek Kucharczyk was the third driver in reasonable contention at 29 points behind the lead.
DIVEBOMB tells the story of how the final chapter of a season-long title battle unfolded, as the campaign-closing event concluded with a maiden winner crowned and the latest champion honoured…
Split poles & contenders mixed-up
After taking his maiden pole in Milwaukee, Andretti Global’s Josh Pierson secured his second successive P1 Award for the opening race at Laguna Seca, ahead of Kucharczyk, who was the best-placed of the title contenders. That front-row order was flipped for Sunday’s running, with Kucharczyk taking his first Indy NXT pole.
Points leader Johnson was the next-best of the title protagonists, qualifying fifth and sixth, while Fittipaldi started down the order in 13th and 12th.
The same two drivers qualified on the second row for both races, too, with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR)’s Niels Koolen starring for third place for Race 1, ahead of Abel Motorsports’ Myles Rowe, with the pair inverting in the Race 2 order.
The rest of the top 10 for Race 1 was completed by Johnson, Jacob Abel for his family team, CGR’s Bryce Aron, Milwaukee winner Max Garcia for Abel, Andretti’s Lochie Hughes and Cape’s Matteo Nannini. The Race 2 top 10 was rounded out by the same drivers, though with Garcia leading Johnson, Abel, Hughes, Nannini and Aron.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio had been chasing the outright Indy NXT record of nine poles, having achieved eight poles and a total 12 front-row starts in his rookie season. But having qualified no worse than eighth until a crash on his two-lap run in Milwaukee, de Tullio was confined to starting only 12th and 11th for the finale.
It was also a particularly disappointing qualifying for Andretti’s Max Taylor, who was mathematically still alive in the title picture at 77 points behind Johnson, in 17th and 14th.
Pierson dazzles amid title-fight strife
There was a dramatic twist for the championship at the outset of Race 1. As Kucharczyk attempted to make an outside move for the lead in the Turn 2 hairpin, Rowe misjudged his braking, hitting the Pole’s left-rear corner with his right-front tyre.
“I’m speechless,” Kucharczyk wrote on X afterwards, having been spun around and sent tumbling to the back of the order. Rowe was handed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact but that was little consolation given the ramifications for Kucharczyk’s title hopes.
“There’s some drivers that just drive like totally reckless drivers that don’t care about anything,” Kucharczyk said the following day. “It is what it is. It’s part of racing. There’s nothing you can do about it. [But] I wish to turn back time. I probably would have left a little more space, probably get away with a P2.”
Caught up behind Kucharczyk’s spin, Abel and Hughes were also confined to the rear of the field, only recovering to 13th and 14th by the race finish. Foyt’s Nicholas Monteiro also peeled into the pits with apparent damage at the end of Lap 1, while HMD’s Jack Beeton suffered a puncture at the start of Lap 2 and fell off the lead lap.
But as it was, with a first-lap caution avoided, Pierson held onto the lead and Johnson was promoted to second, over a fast-starting Garcia, Koolen and Correa.
In the title equation, Fittipaldi had climbed as high as seventh from his 13th-place start early on, though he found himself pegged back a position by Taylor on Lap 7. By that point, Kucharczyk had already gained ground back, up 10 positions to 14th place.
At the front of the field, Pierson had built a lead upwards of four seconds within 10 laps, with a buffer for Johnson to Garcia, too, as the podium trio cut themselves adrift of the rest of the field. But those margins were eliminated on Lap 13, when a first caution was brandished for CGR’s Carson Etter stranded after an off-track moment at the bottom of the Corkscrew.
On the restart, Garcia sensed a momentary opportunity to look down the inside of Johnson at the hairpin but backed out. Fittipaldi re-passed Taylor for seventh in the Corkscrew, while Kucharczyk was quickly up into 11th, pouncing on a wide moment for de Tullio on the restart, then dispatching of Abel’s Colin Kaminsky and Andretti’s Seb Murray.
There were only three laps of racing before a second caution was deployed for a clumsy accident in Turn 5. Having spun Kucharczyk at the start, Rowe was culpable again as he attempted a double inside move on teammate Abel and CGR’s James Roe ahead. But ambitious in his attempt, Rowe made contact with Roe’s left-rear tyre, vaulting briefly airborne before the cars appeared to get stuck together.
As the pair detached, Rowe jinked left and inadvertently wiped out Monteiro, who had been taking evasive action. Roe continued but Rowe and Monteiro suffered significant damage. Rowe was handed a second avoidable-contact penalty, resulting in a six-place drop from his third-place start on Sunday, given he could not serve a drive-through.
The restart was orderly out front but de Tullio again found himself in the gravel on the exit of Turn 2 - somewhat forced wide the first time but this time sliding into Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR)’s Alexander Koreiba on his outside. Koreiba’s front wing was damaged and de Tullio was handed a drive-through penalty. They finished the race 16th and 18th.
Within three more laps, another caution fell, with Murray stranded with damage in Turn 3 and Kaminsky, who continued to finish 15th, limping back to the pits with a dislodged front wing.
As on the previous three restarts, leader Pierson was again the driver to fall under the least pressure. Kucharczyk had an initial wide moment on the exit of Turn 2, though he was able to overtake Nannini for 10th later in the lap. On the following tour, Taylor demoted Fittipaldi back to eighth, meaning only JHR’s Nolan Allaer split him and Kucharczyk.
Passing proved to be at a premium in the final 10 laps, as gaps reemerged between the lead cars. Pierson commanded throughout, taking the chequered flag to become the record-tying 10th different winner of the season and a joint-record seventh first-time winner of 2026.
This first win came in his 53rd attempt, beating Johnson by 2.6294s despite the trio of restarts. It marked an impressive rebound after crashing from the lead in Milwaukee the week prior, as well as being a timely win amid talk around IndyCar’s new driver-eligibility rules, as Pierson continues to be linked with a graduation to IndyCar next year.
Coming home second as Fittipaldi finished eighth, Johnson extended his lead of the standings to 19 points, meaning a podium would guarantee him the championship the following day. Finishing 10th, Kucharczyk dropped to 48 points adrift, meaning he would essentially be eliminated from contention at the beginning of Race 2.
“I was running my own race. I knew Tymek was back there, Enzo behind me. No point trying to go 120% to get a third win,” Johnson said. “Every time I try to make a plan, it never goes that way. I’ve just resorted to going clear head, driving free, no emotions.”
Behind Johnson, Garcia backed up his first win in Milwaukee with a first road-course podium. Correa raced from 11th to finish fourth, ahead of Koolen, who achieved his third top five in his two-and-a-half seasons in the series. Aron completed a strong day for CGR in sixth, ahead of biggest-mover Taylor (up 10 positions), while Fittipaldi and Kucharczyk sandwiched an impressive ninth-place run for the part-season Allaer to complete the top 10.
Johnson clinches as Kucharczyk commands
The beginning of Race 2 barely made it to the green flag before Pierson was hit from behind by Garcia, sending him spearing into Koolen on the crest of the frontstretch.
“Nothing he could do,” said Pierson, for whom a shifting issue caused him to bog down, of Garcia behind. But Garcia, who continued in the race, was still handed a 10-second stop-and-hold penalty - meaning he finished 21st - for which he was irate on the radio.
The ordeal all unfolded directly in front of Johnson, who caught a particularly lucky break that he was able to avoid the incident by ducking to the inside.
“I already left a little bit of a gap on the start because I knew there’s no point to get up on the rear wing and take my front wing off,” Johnson said. “There’s too much risk there and no reward. I saw they were crashing, got on the brakes really hard, checked up, moved out of the way, avoided it. I was really glad that nobody from behind hit me because I had to really slow down not to be involved. Being smart kept me out of it.”
With Pierson and Koolen eliminated and Garcia with a penalty to serve, Johnson immediately inherited second place again. Fittipaldi made greater inroads on this occasion, raising himself to within three positions of Johnson as he moved into the top five on Lap 9.
Ahead of what became something of a train from Johnson in second, through Hughes, Abel and back to Fittipaldi, Kucharczyk had surged clear out front in his bid to right the wrongs of Saturday’s despair. His advantage grew to above seven seconds in the final 10 laps.
In tyre-management mode in case of a late caution, Johnson remained under close pursuit but little threat from Hughes all the way to the climax. With overtaking challenging, there was no more change in the lead positions in what transpired to be something of a non-event of a final race, which was exactly as Johnson wanted it.
Beating Fittipaldi by only two seconds but three positions, Johnson finished second to seal the title by 29 points ahead of the experienced Brazilian in a remarkably stress-free manner.
“There was really no pressure on me,” Johnson said. “It was one of the most enjoyable weekends I ever had. I get to fight for the championship and I have no pressure. All my competitors are dealing with all the pressure of having to do this and that. It was a surreal thing of fighting for the biggest championship of my career [and] I’m not feeling a thing.”
Meanwhile, Kucharczyk ended a strong rookie season in rampant style to secure a second victory of the campaign and third in the standings, 34 points behind Johnson and only five points behind Fittipaldi. His eventual race-winning margin stood at 6.5756s.
Even if Kucharczyk had not been taken out at the start of Race 1 and had swept the weekend, Johnson still did enough to secure the title with his pair of second-place finishes.
“A bit of redemption,” Kucharczyk said of the win. “The car was really good all week. I just maximised what I had. I never backed down. Every lap, I pushed to the maximum. I just wanted to prove the point that things could have looked different.”
Between Johnson in second and Fittipaldi in fifth, the podium was completed by Hughes and Abel finished fourth for the best result in his four-race cameo. Rowe salvaged sixth, ahead of Nannini, de Tullio, Aron and Beeton.
Johnson a champion “beyond his years”
Johnson ends his championship-winning season having finished all 656 laps, with two wins, nine podiums and no result worse than eighth. All season, while his competitors fell by the wayside on weekends, he was the field’s great maximiser.
“Just been an incredible year,” he said. “We’ve been one of the fastest everywhere we’ve gone to, by far the most consistent out of everyone. Even if we weren’t the fastest in practice, we always got there by qualifying, no matter what. We never let a bad first day dictate our weekend. That’s what made us so strong.
“We worked really good together, [with] the mentality that it’s never over until it’s over. We just always pushed all year, no matter what. What helped us win this championship was getting the good points on the days when others couldn’t finish.”
Having studied the position-by-position points difference, he realised it was not worthwhile to risk losing 20 points in an attempt to gain only two points with a certain move. That maturity shone through and garnered high praise from his Cape team.
“He drives beyond his years,” said co-owner Nicholas Cape. “He’s level-headed. He brings the car home every time. It’s hard to call him young. Absolutely magnificent job. When you say he’s young, it’s only an age, not his mentality.”
Johnson’s calmness was a defining feature of the championship-deciding weekend and throughout the season, where he consciously gave nothing away to his competitors.
“I’m a pretty chill person,” he said. “I’m not crazy when something happens. A lot of people think I’m passion-less, when I race emotion-less. I wouldn’t be racing if I didn’t have a passion for it. I’m really good at keeping my emotions regular and down.
“I knew I had good support from all the Cape boys, my whole family, everyone around us supporting us. No matter what happened, I knew I’d be in the right hands and I had a shoulder to lean on. I think I was a lot better at dealing with my emotions than anyone else out there. That’s what gave me the championship.”
Johnson is confident that he will have the opportunity to graduate to IndyCar in 2027, though he has left these dealings to his agent in the midst of his championship bid. The priority will now switch to securing the best opportunity for his future.
An emotional day for Cape Motorsports
Plenty of plaudits for Johnson’s championship must also be directed towards the “underdog” Cape Motorsports team, who stood up to and ousted the might of Indy NXT’s powerhouses, HMD and Andretti, to win their first title in only their fourth year in the championship.
“I just can’t thank the Cape boys enough,” Johnson said. “They’ve always worked so hard, busted their butt all year to go and win this championship. Even though it’s an individual sport, at the same time it’s not. I wouldn’t be here without this whole team. I’ve never seen a team like this. Just unbelievable this amount of support.”
Established champions in the lower ranks of the IndyCar ladder, Cape stepped up to Indy NXT in 2023 to forge a new chapter in the organisation’s history. Until the end of 2025, they were partnered with Andretti in a technical alliance, but for 2026 they broke away from that bond, gaining support from Ed Carpenter Racing but operating more on their own terms.
For Johnson to have trusted and bought into the Cape vision is incredibly meaningful to co-founding British brothers Dominic and Nicholas.
“People come into your life at certain points; Nikita came at the right time for us,” Nicholas said. “We’ve been working hard these four years - unbelievably tough times. Nikita was ready; we were ready. He’s from a lovely family - lovely lad. Everyone got behind him. He drew everybody on the team to him. It was a brilliant year. Hard to put into words.
“He committed to us not knowing anything, just knowing that we were going to do it ourselves. He came 100% committed just to want to be with us. That speaks volumes, when you’ve got somebody with his talent that wants to be with you and we’re starting a new venture. It was a scary proposition but we were open to it, wanted to do it.
“We knew we had to do it for ourselves because we are a bit naughty. Look where we are now.”
The “saddest win” of Kucharczyk’s career
After the events of Saturday, being immediately taken out of realistic title contention when running ahead of the points leader, Kucharczyk was grappling with a torrent of emotions in Victory Lane on Sunday. Thoughts swirled about what could have been.
“Today was a bit of a hard day. I couldn’t really satisfy myself, even with a dominant win,” he said afterwards. “That was probably my saddest win of my career. It was hard to enjoy it.
“I felt like I did everything I could: qualified P2, P1. I had everything under control. It’s hard to compensate the victory. It is what it is. Still, to bounce back and prove I could jump in the car and be the quickest out there is a strong point I think I showed to everyone.”
While it is hard to accept in the immediate aftermath of the season, Kucharczyk is pleased with his rookie campaign in Indy NXT, having moved over to the series as Euroformula Open champion but an unknown quantity stateside. To end his first year with two wins, a total of eight podiums and 12 top-five results in 17 races is a laudable return.
There may be some regret at how the year tailed off, with five of those podiums and seven of the top fives coming in the opening seven rounds. But Kucharczyk still only twice finished outside the top 10 all campaign on a selection of tracks and in a car entirely unfamiliar.
“I keep proving every year that wherever I go, I can battle up front,” he said. “Whatever is thrown at me, I can stand up strong and keep battling. I came here pretty much unknown. First week of the year, I got a podium. [Won in May at] IMS. Another win here [at] Laguna proves it’s been a really strong year.
“Sometimes it’s like this; the fastest driver doesn’t win championship. You’ve got to be consistent. You’ve got to be up there for most of the year. This year’s just been so competitive. It’s been an interesting one. A season to draw a lot of conclusions from.”
The final standings picture
The season concludes with Johnson champion by 29 points ahead of field-high four-time winner Fittipaldi. At 34 points behind in third, Kucharczyk ends the season 81 points clear of Taylor in fourth. The top three are all rookies, while Taylor completed his first full season.
Disappointed with his year after finishing third as a rookie in 2025, Hughes is the first full return driver in fifth. He confirmed he will not be back with Andretti after two years with the team and is working towards and “confident” in finding an opening for the Indianapolis 500.
Behind Hughes (who was 132 points adrift of Johnson), de Tullio finishes 143 points back in sixth amid a year of misfortune aplenty, despite being the quickest driver over a single lap for much of the campaign. Seventh through 10th were split by only eight points, led by Correa (-196), followed by Rowe (-197), Beeton (-203) and Garcia (-204).
Pierson and Nannini - both one-time race winners this season - narrowly missed out on the top 10. The top 12 was separated from the rest of the order below by 56 points.
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