Photo: James Black
Louis Foster leads Indy Nxt’s standings through imperious form, but it is money associated with the title – rather than how it is won – that will make an IndyCar move possible.
Indy Nxt awards $850,000 (£664,063) to its champion to spend, and last year a series representative explained to media that was to be put towards “an oval test at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Open Test/Rookie Orientation Programme, the Indianapolis 500 and an additional 2024 IndyCar event”.
It is understood to be a similar spending arrangement for the 2024 champion, with the key element being a guaranteed seat for two race weekends in 2025 (which ensures a debut takes place even if the driver fails to qualify fo the Indy 500).
Andretti Global driver Foster takes a 77-point lead into the final four races of the season, an enviable position but one he can not take for granted when his IndyCar ambitions depend so heavily on the scholarship fund.
“We’ll have to keep fighting to the end. But obviously a good [point] gap; makes me sleep better at night,” he told media including Formula Scout at the most recent round last month. At the time Andretti had no IndyCar test runs planned for its Indy Nxt drivers, and Foster had approached multiple teams about race opportunities in 2025 but not for 2024 tests.
“From my situation for me to move up to IndyCar next year, it would be very, very, very beneficial to win the championship,” Foster explained.
“I’m going to do the same thing I’ve always done [to ensure I win it]. I mean, when we get to [the finale at] Nashville and maybe the last two rounds seeing where it is, different decisions will be made. But we’re still going to try to put it on pole every weekend and win every race. That’s the mentality, it’s going to stay the same. It’s a big sum of money and it would be lovely to have, but we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
He added: “We’ve been in contact with quite a few teams about next year. But again, I need to win the championship first. I need that money. I’m not going to know anything until I would expect, no earlier than September, October. So I think our full focus is just winning the championship, and if I can do what I need to do on track, then hopefully that’ll be enough.”