Phoenix Raceway served as host for the first INDY NXT by Firestone race April 6, 1986, with Steve Millen winning that day.
Fast-forward 38 years, and the winner of Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix will be remembered as the victor of the 500th INDY NXT by Firestone race. The winner joins Eddie Lawson the winner of the 100th race at Cleveland in 1994, AJ Foyt IV the victor of the 200th race in 2002 at Texas Motor Speedway, James Hinchcliffe as the winner of the 300th race in 2010 at Long Beach and Colton Herta the winner of race No. 400 in 2017 at Barber Motorsports Park.
As the series embarks on the celebrated feat of race No. 500 this weekend, it’s a perfect time to look back at the vital role the INDYCAR development series has served in nurturing future stars of the INDYCAR SERIES.
Since the first season, many of the INDYCAR SERIES’ biggest names developed their skills in INDY NXT by Firestone – formerly known as Indy Lights – including Paul Tracy, Adrian Fernandez, Greg Moore, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Cristiano da Matta, Oriol Servia, Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti, JR Hildebrand, Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden and many more.
More recently, rising stars Pato O’Ward, Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Linus Lundqvist and Rinus VeeKay have excelled in INDY NXT by Firestone while INDY NXT by Firestone champions Bryan Herta, Eric Bachelart and Jay Howard have become successful team owners.
In 2024, 13 full-time drivers on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid have INDY NXT by Firestone listed on their resumes, including two INDYCAR SERIES rookies who raced in INDY NXT in 2022 and the last three series champions (Kirkwood, 2021; Lundqvist, 2022; Christian Rasmussen, 2023).
The series continues its rapid growth this season, with more than 20 cars on the starting grid. It runs as companion to most of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race weekends, including this weekend on the streets of Detroit.
One of the goals when the Penske Corporation acquired the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDY NXT by Firestone, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions in November 2019 was to strengthen the relationship between the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the top development series.
That process accelerated starting in the 2022 season when Penske Entertainment took over promotion and sanctioning of the series, further integrating it into the INDYCAR paddock. In 2023, that vision also included a rebrand, shifting the name Indy Lights to INDY NXT by Firestone.
The series saw increased numbers across the board in 2023. The rise of car counts was the most eye-opening. The series averaged 17.9 starters per event, the highest total since 2009, a span of 14 seasons. There were seven different race winners and six different pole winners. Fourteen different drivers finished on the podium. That’s double the amount of podium finishers from 2022, when there were just seven. Also, 17 different drivers scored a top-five finish after just 10 did so in 2022.
With more drivers mixing it up, the number of on-track passes increased to 1,226 in 14 races, 651 more (113 percent increase) than 2022. The average number of lead changes per event increased 25 percent, from nine to 12. Finally, the average margin of victory was tighter in 2023 by just over a half-second (3.13 seconds vs. 2.59 seconds).
So far this season, 20 drivers have competed in all four races with a healthy mix of world-class talent.