Josh Pierson went flag-to-flag from pole to claim his maiden Indy NXT victory in the opening race of the season finale doubleheader at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Driving the #29 Andretti Global entry, Pierson held firm through multiple restarts to lead all 35 laps and win by 2.6294s over Nikita Johnson (Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR) on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile natural terrain road course. The victory came in Pierson’s 53rd series start.
“A big relief,” Pierson said. “I think the pole position did a lot for me in Milwaukee. It was really good for my confidence level. I feel like this series has really mentally destroyed me over the years, especially coming over from the World Endurance Championship and everything I was able to do there.
“It’s been tough here, going back into a formula car wasn’t easy. I put so much hard work into this and I can’t thank everybody at Andretti Global and everybody on this #29 crew enough. These guys kept believing in me. Nobody doubted me, even when I doubted myself. Yeah, super grateful, and such a relief to finally be here.”
Max Garcia, who took his first series win last weekend in Milwaukee, backed it up with a podium result to finish third for Abel Motorsports.
With one race left, Johnson was able to extend his championship lead by 19 points over Enzo Fittipaldi (HMD Motorsports), who finished eighth. Tymek Kucharczyk, who started second but was spun on the opening lap and clawed back to finish 10th, lost significant ground in the title picture; sitting third but a distant 48 points back.
The Race
Pierson led the field to the green flag, getting the jump on front-row starter Kucharczyk. Entering Turn 2 on the outside, Kucharczyk tried to make the pass but made contact with Myles Rowe’s Abel Motorsports car on the inside and spun.
The race remained under green flag conditions, and Rowe was handed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. Pierson remained out front, establishing a 2.6909s lead by Lap 3, with Johnson rising to second despite starting fifth.
Johnson’s runner-up spot came under threat from Garcia on Lap 5. Despite falling to 24th after the spin, Kucharczyk already battled back up to 16th.
Pierson’s lead widened to 3.3240s over Johnson by Lap 6.
By lap 10, Pierson’s lead was 4.4185s over Johnson, with Garcia still in third, with Niels Koolen (Chip Ganassi Racing) in fourth, and JM Correa (Cusick Morgan Motorsports) in fifth.
The caution waved on Lap 13 after Carson Etter (Chip Ganassi Racing) ended up stopping on the course at the exit of Turn 8.
Pierson led the field to the restart on Lap 15, with Johnson and Garcia battling before settling back in second and third, respectively.
However, the caution returned on Lap 17 after a multi-car crash ignited as Rowe attempted to make an inside move on James Roe (Chip Ganassi Racing) in Turn 5. The two came together and collected Nicholas Monteiro (AJ Foyt Racing). Roe was the only one able to continue.
The restart came on Lap 20, with Pierson once again getting the jump on Johnson and Garcia.
Despite Pierson building a gap of over 1s, it evaporated again with a caution on Lap 22 after Seb Murray (Andretti Global) was stopped on course in Turn 3 with significant damage to his front wing and right-front suspension.
Pierson led the field to the restart on Lap 27. Kucharczyk attempted an outside pass for 10th at Turn 2 and ran off, before taking the position at the Zanardi Corkscrew moments later. Fittipaldi, who restarted seventh, dropped to eighth after being passed by Max Taylor (Andretti Global).
With six laps to go, Pierson’s lead over Johnson was 1.37s, with Garcia continuing to run in third at 2.6s behind.
In the end, Pierson remained uncontested through to the checkered flag.
