Foster rounds out Indy Nxt championship with Nashville victory

Photo: Chris Owens

Louis Foster rounded out the 2024 Indy Nxt championship with a lights-to-flag victory in the final race of the season on Nashville Superspeedway.

A late caution period, brought out by team-mate Jamie Chadwick, put the pressure on Foster for the final seven laps of the 65 lap race. Foster managed to hold off Yuven Sundaramoorthy to take his eighth win of the season.

Rain delays in qualifying meant the grid was decided by championship points, putting Foster on pole ahead of Jacob Abel. However, a problem in the pits before the race meant Abel was unable to get away and had to start from the back of the field.

Caio Collet moved up into second ahead of Christian Brooks and Salvador de Alba, but as they battled they allowed Foster to escape down the road.

Most of the race was quiet for Foster, who gradually extended the gap to the battle for second and had lapped everyone up to ninth by the closing stages of the race. However, the battle further back in the back was much closer.

Among those fighting were Jamie Chadwick and Jack Miller at the tail end of the top 10. The two made contact, bringing out the yellow flags on lap 52 as Chadwick slowly made her way back to the pits. Miller also pitted as a precaution, but returned after the team confirmed the car was fine.

By this point, Sundaramoorthy had climbed up from 11th to second and was now on Foster’s tail. He got a good restart when the track turned green and kept the pressure on the race leader, but Foster was able to pull a few car lengths ahead to take the win by 0.3071s.

Caio Collet picked up third after holding off James Roe for much of the race. 

Callum Hedge and Myles Rowe were both taken out of the top 10 fight early on when they made contact while battling towards the front of the field. Rowe suffered a puncture and Hedge also pitted with damage, but both returned to the track to finish 14th and 16th.

Going in the opposite direction, Michael d’Orlando climbed up to sixth. D’Orlando was one of the drivers to lose out by the lack of qualifying, as he only ran a partial campaign in 2024 and so started from the back of the field. He managed to stay out of trouble to finish close behind de Alba and comfortably ahead of Bryce Aron.

Abel climbed up to eighth, ahead of Christian Brooks and Josh Pierson.

Race results (65 laps)