Nikita Johnson wasn’t the fastest, but was in the right place at the right time to win the first race of a doubleheader weekend for Indy NXT at Barber Motorsports Park.
The Florida native was running third but vaulted to the lead after pole-sitter Alessandro de Tullio and Max Taylor collided with nine laps to go. Johnson was untouchable after leading the field to the restart with five laps to go, with his #21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry besting Enzo Fittipaldi (HMD Motorsports by 0.7667s on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course.
“I kind of expected it,” Johnson said, regarding the incident between de Tullio and Taylor. “I know those guys battle really hard. I’ve raced them forever, so I knew something was going to happen. And when I saw there were lapped cars I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s about to get messy.’ So I just maintained my tires, left them a good gap and made sure I could avoid any trouble.”
Tymek Kucharczyk finished third, marking his third podium in as many races this season.
Abel Motorsports teammates Max Garcia and Myles Rowe finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Meanwhile, Taylor (Andretti Global) was penalized for his part in the crash and ended up 19th, directly ahead of de Tullio (AJ Foyt Racing).
The result marks Johnson’s second win of the year, and takes over the championship lead by 28 points over Kucharczyk. Taylor sits third at 29 points behind.
The Race
Leading the field to green for the second race in a row, de Tullio got the jump on Taylor into Turn 1.
However, the caution came out moments later after Josh Pierson (Andretti Global) was knocked off course in Turn 5 after teammate Seb Murray locked up and ran through JM Correa (Cusick Morgan Motorsports) and then nailed Pierson’s right-rear. Murray was given a 30s stop-and-hold penalty by Race Control for avoidable contact, but Pierson was unable to finish for the second consecutive race.
The race restarted on Lap 5 with de Tullio once more getting a clean getaway on Taylor, followed by Johnson and Fittipaldi.
The field remained relatively unchanged over the next several laps, with de Tullio holding a 0.8s lead over Taylor after 12 laps. Johnson remained third, followed by Fittipaldi and Kucharczyk.
The biggest battle on track was for sixth, with Garcia under threat by Rowe. Despite the pressure, Garcia was able to hold serve and retain sixth. After 20 laps, de Tullio extended his gap to 1s over Taylor, and 3.5s over Johnson.
The leaders began to catch backmarker traffic with nine to go, with de Tullio losing the lead after subtle contact trying to lap Carson Etter (Chip Ganassi Racing). Taylor’s lead was brief, though, as de Tullio fought back moments later in Turn 12. The two battled side-by-side until the fight for the lead led to both making contact and spinning in Turn 16, handing the lead to Johnson. The incident brought out a caution, with Taylor able to continue on while de Tullio was waiting on assistance to get out of the gravel trap.
Johnson led the field to the restart with five laps to go, with Fittipaldi in second and Kucharczyk in third. Taylor, who restarted seventh, was then hit with a stop-and-hold penalty by Race Control for avoidable contact in his earlier incident with de Tullio.
There was little pressure the rest of the way as Johnson maintained the gap and collected his second win of the season.
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