By: INDY NXT BY FIRESTONE (Photo Courtesy INDYCAR)
NEWTON, Iowa (Saturday, July 13, 2024) – Louis Foster couldn’t have asked for a better ending to Saturday’s INDY NXT by Firestone at Iowa Speedway.
After patiently conserving his Firestone tires early in the 55-lap race, the series points leader swiped the lead from Andretti Global teammate James Roe with six-plus laps remaining and cruised to another victory in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car.
Foster won for the fifth time in the past seven races, and his other two results in this stretch are second-place finishes. To cap Saturday, the 20-year-old English driver saw his series lead swell to 77 points as his two closest competitors – Jacob Abel and Caio Collet – incurred contact.
Abel was fortunate to keep his No. 51 Abel Construction machine out of further harm’s way, but he lost three laps with the pit stop for repairs. Earlier in the race, Collet spun his No. 18 HMD Motorsports entry in front of fellow rookie Myles Rowe, and their wall contact ended both of their races. Abel finished 15th, Rowe 18th.
Meanwhile, Foster motored on without issue.
“We discussed prior to the race we were going to save tires throughout, so I wasn’t trying to (challenge) James – I was letting him get a gap so I could save my tires,” Foster said. “Towards the end, there was enough laps left where I knew if I killed my tires it wouldn’t be too much of a big deal.
“I just kept (the car) on the outside and he lifted (off the throttle) and I stayed through. He gave me really good racing room.”
The victory was Foster’s first on an oval track. It was his seventh series race win over the past two seasons.
The race was shortened by 20 laps to help the drivers manage their tires on a hot afternoon at a track that recently had its corners repaved. Nearly the entire field eclipsed the series’ two-lap record in qualifying, and the pole was nearly 7 mph quicker than the mark set by Colton Herta in 2017.
Roe, who earned his first series pole, led the first 49 laps of the race in the No. 29 Topcon entry and tied his career best with a second-place finish. Salvador de Alba Jr. finished third in the No. 2 Grupo Indi of Andretti Cape INDY NXT to give Michael Andretti’s organization contingent a sweep of the top-three finishers.
“Cool, sweet,” Foster said of the Andretti sweep. “Obviously, really good car, really good day for Andretti and really good for the championship. Super happy.”
Rowe’s car was struck twice in the race’s first 13 laps. Coming to the green flag to begin the race, his No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy machine was struck from behind by the No. 40 Patterson Dental Haven Go by SAAM entry of Jack William Miller. Rowe spun to the inside without additional contact.
Rowe mounted a hard charge, advancing from the back of the 18-car field to grab the 10th position. But then, while following Collet, he didn’t have space to maneuver around Collet’s spinning car in Turn 1, and their contact took both cars to the outside wall. The damage to both machines was significant enough to end their days, although neither driver was injured.
With two laps remaining, Miller lost control of his machine in Turn 3 and hit the outside wall, causing the race to finish under caution. He also was not injured.
A pair of rookie drivers for HMD Motorsports rounded out the top five. Callum Hedge finished fourth, Christian Brooks fifth.
Four races remain in the season. Next up is the Aug. 17 race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
