A pole to victory Nashville finale for Indy NXT Champion Foster

Andretti Global’s Louis Foster put his stamp on his championship-winning campaign in Indy NXT by going flag-to-flag from pole for all 65 laps to win the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.

The Briton was untouchable despite late pressure and fended off Abel Motorsports rookie Yuven Sundaramoorthy by 0.3071s on the 1.33-mile oval. The performance marks the 10th win of Foster’s career, with eight of those coming this season, which also featured 13 top fives, 14 top 10s, six poles and 362 laps led over 640 total through 14 races.

HMD Motorsports rookie Caio Collet ended up third, with Andretti Global’s James Roe in fourth and Andretti Cape rookie Salvador de Alba Jr. rounding out the top five.

The Race

Foster started on pole after qualifying was rained out and the field was set on points. Abel was left to forfeit his second-place starting spot after returning to pit lane under pace laps for a steering issue, returning before the green flag but relegated to the rear of the field.

Foster got a clean jump at the start, with rookie Collet behind in second. Foster widened the lead to 1.7147s by lap 10.

Meanwhile, Myles Rowe and Callum Hedge had a close moment battling for sixth. The two had a wheel-to-wheel moment and then touched going into Turn 1 as Rowe went around the outside. Rowe continued on, but Hedge was forced to pit.

The gap at the front continued to grow as Foster held a 2.0328s back on the halfway mark over Collet. However, there would be a change for second as Sundaramoorthy climbed by Collet.

Foster held a 3.1744s lead over Sundaramoorthy by lap 40, with Collet in third and Roe in fourth.

Abel’s charge through the field remained steady as he vaulted up to ninth by lap 40, but 20s behind Foster.

The caution came out with 14 laps to go after Chadwick tried to get by the lapped car of Jack William Miller but the two made contact in Turn 1, which sent the former nearly into the wall before skating to the inside and through the infield grass. She returned to pit road with suspension damage, but fell out of the race.

Foster led the field to the restart with seven laps to go and jumped out while snaking to the top and bottom of the track to prevent a tow by Sundaramoorthy.

The battle for the win was on with three laps to go as Sundaramoorthy was right on the gearbox of Foster, with Collet a distant third at 1.7s back.

Despite the late pressure, Foster was able to hold on and take victory in his final race in Indy NXT.

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	L. Foster Andretti Global	26	65	-		Active
2	Y. Sundaramoort Abel Motorsports	22	65	+0.307 0.3071	0.307	Active
3	C. Collet HMD Motorsports	18	65	+1.790 1.7897	1.483	Active
4	J. Roe Andretti Global	29	65	+2.090 2.0898	0.300	Active
5	S. De Andretti Cape INDY NXT	2	65	+2.954 2.9538	0.864	Active
6	M. d'Orlando Andretti Cape INDY NXT	3	65	+3.759 3.7591	0.805	Active
7	B. Aron Andretti Global	27	65	+5.003 5.0025	1.243	Active
8	J. Abel Abel Motorsports	51	65	+5.296 5.2964	0.294	Active
9	C. Brooks HMD Motorsports	39	65	+11.540 11.5396	6.243	Active
10	J. Pierson HMD Motorsports	14	64	1 lap		Active
11	C. Bogle HMD Motorsports	7	64	+1 Lap 0.2026	0.203	Active
12	J. Browne HMD Motorsports	23	64	+1 Lap 1.2661	1.064	Active
13	N. Allaer HMD Motorsports	10	63	1 lap		Active
14	M. Rowe HMD Motorsports	99	62	2 laps		Active
15	J. William Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	40	59	5 laps		In Pit
16	C. Hedge HMD Motorsports	17	54	10 laps		Active
17	J. Chadwick Andretti Global	28	51	13 laps		Cont.			Accident
18	T. Ferns Abel Motorsports	55	12	52 laps		DNF			Retirement
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