NXT Gen Notebook: Maiden winner crowned in Arlington frenzy
- Archie O’Reilly
- 6 minutes ago
- 8 min read
The inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington delivered a second first-time winner in as many weekends to begin the Indy NXT season, as Andretti Global’s Max Taylor won from a fourth-place start in a shortened 30-minute race in Texas.
Behind the 18-year-old, who is competing in his first full season in the series, was the HMD Motorsports pair of two-time Formula 2 race winner Enzo Fittipaldi and, finishing third for the second race in succession, reigning EuroFormula Open champion Tymek Kucharczyk. AJ Foyt Racing rookie Alessandro de Tullio also starred to take pole position on Saturday.
DIVEBOMB delves into the key stories from Round 2 of the season.
De Tullio steals maiden pole
It has been an excellent start to the NXT season for a number of newbies to the series, whether debuting or competing in their entire campaign. For 19-year-old American-Argentinian de Tullio, who finished fourth in USF Pro 2000 with four wins last season, a pole position on only his second race weekend was an impressive achievement.
He led Group 1 in qualifying by over three-tenths of a second. And against the norm, that time was not beaten by Group 2, which was interrupted briefly by a red flag for Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Alexander Koreiba stranded in a runoff zone.
Fittipaldi headed that second group - at just under one-tenth shy of de Tullio’s time - in a marked step forward after crashing in St. Pete qualifying.
Finishing second in the opening group, Kucharczyk improved two spots on a fifth-place start in St. Pete, sharing Row 2 with Taylor, who had led both practice sessions - including by 1.1s on Friday. It was a challenging qualifying for Andretti, who after finishing second practice 1-2-3 also had Lochie Hughes eighth and Seb Murray and Josh Pierson sharing Row 6.
A pair of rookies shared Row 3 - HMD’s Jack Beeton and Cape Motorsports by Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR)’s Nikita Johnson, who won the St. Petersburg opener - while Cusick Morgan Motorsports’ JM Correa placed seventh, ahead of tipped title contender Hughes.
Another possible championship favourite, Abel Motorsports’ Myles Rowe, recovered to start 10th after crashing in Practice 2, sharing the row with Cape-ECR’s Matteo Nannini. Last year’s fifth-place championship finisher Salvador de Alba, now with HMD, was only 13th, while 2025 USF Pro 2000 champion Max Garcia struggled in 19th for Abel.
Taylor reigns in frenetic sprint
With the Sunday schedule altered due to forecasted high winds, the race - reduced to a 30-minute timed affair - took on something of a ‘sprint’ form.
Before it even saw the green flag, Colin Kaminsky was in the left-side wall on the 0.9-mile straight, on which the race started. It was a disorganised start mid-pack and the Abel driver was a victim of that mess to bring out an immediate caution.
Further forward, Beeton jumped the start and blew quite staggeringly by the field from Row 3, earning him a 30-second stop-and-hold penalty after already being sent to the rear.
With the race still green as the cars reached Turn 10 - the opening corner of racing - there was instant disaster for de Tullio, whose right-rear tyre was clipped by stablemate-by-alliance Kucharczyk, sending the pole-sitter into the runoff. There was no further action taken on the contact, which relegated de Tullio to the back of the pack.
Fittipaldi was ultimately credited as the leader after a confusing start, having initially been passed by Kucharczyk, who followed the Brazilian in the order, ahead of Taylor and Correa, as the race restarted with only 16-and-a-half minutes remaining.
The restart was orderly as Fittipaldi failed to check out and soon found himself under pressure in a three-way fight. Kucharczyk once found his way past, only to run deep and find himself re-passed as the scrap began to invite the cars behind into the lead battle.
Having dominated the early weekend, the final 10 minutes once again showed Taylor as the quickest driver in the quickest car. And inside the final eight minutes, a huge divebomb move into Turn 14, almost wiping out leader Fittipaldi but impressively controlled, edged him past Kucharczyk.
The cars had started to spread a little when a caution was brandished with six minutes remaining, with Pierson having hit the Turn 14 wall after contact with de Alba and finding himself stopped on track with front-wing damage. But the incident was quick to be cleared, with three-and-a-half minutes of racing time remaining at the restart.
The resumption was not the cleanest, featuring heavy contact between Rowe and de Alba, but the race was able to continue to the finish. And inside the final two minutes, having continued to place Fittipali under duress, Taylor was able to seize the race lead with another move into Turn 14 - more routine this time - and check out for a maiden win by 1.8925s.
The Andretti driver, who finished runner-up in St. Pete, led home Fittipaldi with Kucharczyk in close pursuit. The top five was rounded out by Correa and Hughes, ahead of Johnson, Murray, Nannini, Rowe and Abel’s Jordan Missig.
De Tullio recovered to 11th and was still the fourth-best rookie, with Garcia finishing 14th and Beeton 15th, while Koreiba was the race’s biggest mover in 16th, gaining eight positions. Of note, the final three drivers on the lead lap, excluding the incident-struck de Alba, were all from Chip Ganassi Racing, with Niels Koolen their best finisher in 13th.
“Probably the move of my career”
Taylor did not have it easy en-route to victory, having to bide his time in third, behind the scrapping leaders. But when the chances arose, particularly with the daring first pass on Kucharczyk, the teenager was decisive.
“We missed the setup in qualifying but we definitely didn’t miss it [in the race],” he said. “It was a really, really good race. I knew it was going to be a bit chaotic since it was shortened. I was being patient, letting these guys race, saving my push-to-pass. When I saw the opportunity, I was able to take it on both of them. I was able to really show my pace then.
“[The Kucharczyk overtake] was definitely probably the move of my career. It was quite a late send. Squeezed me a little bit, got me onto the dirt. It was a good move. I knew I had to commit. At some point, I had to overtake him. I just had the opportunity there. I sent it.”
Even Kucharczyk himself could not fault the execution from his rival.
“It was late. I think Max could tell how close it was to contact with Enzo,” he said. “[But] if I was [in] his place, I would do exactly the same thing. It was fair and square. We’re not here to be sat behind another driver and wait for them to crash into the wall.”
The eventual race-winning pass on Fittipaldi was a little more rudimentary.
“I was good into Turn 10 [and] able to get really close to Enzo,” Taylor said. “Going into Turn 12, he made a little mistake. I was a bit caught off-guard by it; we were probably pretty close to contact there. It was really close racing. I was able to capitalise on it.”
Fittipaldi rebounds from St. Pete
For Fittipaldi, hoping to emulate the successes of 2025 champion Dennis Hauger as an F2 veteran taking NXT by storm, it was a suboptimal start in St. Pete, suffering the qualifying wall contact and only recovering to 17th in the race.
But with a maiden podium in only his second race, he is back on track and already feeling relatively comfortable in his new stateside venture.
“I adapted super quickly with the car,” he said. “St. Pete was unfortunate; we would have been up there. Silly mistake. It happens. That cost us the race weekend. Happy to come here and bounce back, have a great qualifying - super close to pole.
“It was a very interesting race for us. The battling we had was super strong out there. It was nice fighting - I really enjoy that close racing. I was definitely just struggling a lot in Turn 10. That’s something that we need to work on with our setup, especially our car over the bumps.
“Our pace was alright; definitely Max was the fastest on track. That safety car at the end definitely didn’t help us. I just didn’t feel as quick after the safety car, felt like I had a bit less grip out there. Still, it was a good race. We have good momentum going into Barber.”
Not-average Kucharczyk disappointed
In the early days of his NXT career, fans will have grown accustomed to the bubbliness of Kucharczyk. But such is his lofty ambition, that dissipated post-Arlington, despite securing another podium.
“You can see by my face I’m very happy,” he said (sarcastically). “I’m very disappointed, I’m frustrated. I’m not here to come in third. We had a chance to win this race and I blew it. Quite a difficult race. We had so much more pace than Enzo. We didn’t maximise it. A bit unhappy.
“I’m happy to prove the fact that wherever I go, whatever series I go in, I’m able to fight at the front. Another top-three finish, I can be proud of that obviously. [But] I’m a racer. I want to win. Winning is the only thing that interests me. So that’s why I’m unsatisfied.
“P3 is great for an average driver but I don’t feel myself as an average driver.”
Right now, despite such a strong start - whether he is content or otherwise - Kucharczyk is not being drawn on talk of a title fight with 15 races remaining. But if he is to remain in contention down the stretch, he feels he has to improve his execution.
“I’ve just got to deliver. The team has done an amazing job. The car was pretty much spot on for most of the weekend. It’s just about putting everything together. St. Pete, I was pretty much in my comfort zone; I was much closer to the limit [and] feeling confident in the car. I just feel like I should have done a better job this weekend.
“That’s a good lesson for the next weekends because I know my potential is really high. I know the team really supports me. I’ll aim for just a little bit more, hopefully get that top spot.”
An early standings shake-up
With victory, Taylor has vaulted 10 points clear of season-opening winner Johnson, who delivered another solid showing in Arlington, atop the standings. Kucharczyk remains firmly in-touch in the early stages, his two third-place results leaving him 22 points adrift in third.
After a quiet first two rounds, last year’s third-place finisher Hughes remains only 32 points back in fourth, followed two points back by the much-improved Murray. Fittipaldi is a single point further behind, jumping from 17th to sixth, followed by Correa (38 points off the lead) and Rowe (42 points behind), who will be expecting more from his third NXT season.
De Tullio is ninth overall and has slipped to fourth in the rookie standings - Beeton and Garcia next up in 14th and 15th - with Missig completing the top 10, only one point ahead of Nannini and JHR’s Ricardo Escotto. Both having finished in the top six last year, it has been a challenging start for de Alba in 13th and Pierson - after his move to Andretti - in 16th.
As the field looks to quell the charge of Taylor, the Indy NXT returns at Barber Motorsports Park with the first of five doubleheaders this season on 28th and 29th March.
