Myles Rowe makes history with maiden Indy Nxt victory

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Myles Rowe has made history as the first black driver to win in Indy Nxt with victory at Iowa Speedway.

The Abel Motorsports with Force Indy driver pressured Dennis Hauger for most of the race before making a move around the outside late on. Once ahead, he sprinted away to finish 1.3927 seconds clear of the championship leader.

A weather-induced cancellation of qualifying meant entrant points set the grid, putting Hauger on pole ahead of Andretti Global team-mate Lochie Hughes, HMD Motorsport’s Caio Collet and Rowe.

The race was also brought forward in an adapted Saturday schedule.

Rowe got the best start from fourth and passed Collet before finding the rear of Hughes. He found room to overtake him, despite blocking by Hughes which earned him a drive-through penalty.

Hauger had built a small gap, but it did not take long for Rowe to close in. The pair then spent the majority of the race nose to tail, with a comfortable gap back to Collet and Andretti’s Salvador de Alba battling for third.

Three caution periods then disrupted running. The first came as HMD’s Josh Pierson spun while eyeing up fourth place. He ran high then lost control of his car, dipping below the apron and to the infield grass. He soon recovered, joining the field again behind the pace car.

Slow pace on the restart led to several drivers spinning at turn four and yellow flags waved almost immediately. This occurred on the next restart too before racing finally resumed successfully just after the halfway point.

Hauger and Rowe distanced themselves from the rest of the field, but Rowe held back to wait for the perfect opportunity to overtake and used lapped traffic to his advantage.

When Hauger attempted to put Jack William Miller a lap down on lap 64 of 75, Rowe hung around the outside of Hauger and took the lead. Hauger tried to fight back but Rowe rapidly put some distance between himself and the long-time leader.

Just moments after Rowe took the lead, de Alba took third from Collet after being locked in battle for most of the race’s green flag action. De Alba then closed in on Hauger but ran out of laps to challenge him for second.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Niels Koolen rose from 12th on the grid to fifth, the best result of his racing career, ahead of Abel’s Callum Hedge.

Further back but still on the lead lap were Andretti’s James Roe Jr and Abel’s Jordan Missig, then Ganassi’s Bryce Aron and HMD’s Max Taylor who climbed up from the back of the grid.

Hughes finished down in 16th, meaning Hauger’s championship lead has grown to 76 points.

Race results (75 laps)