Myles Rowe won the INDY NXT by Firestone race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday after starting 24th and last in the 24-car field. The No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy driver turned a bad qualifying Saturday into his first victory of the season and third career INDY NXT win.
Rowe Passes the Field
Rowe’s run to the front covered a race-record climb. His victory was the longest ascent to a win in the 40-year history of the INDYCAR development series, breaking the previous low-water mark of 18th, set by Esteban Guerrieri in the 2012 Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He was already 10th by Lap 19 of the 75-lap race. By Lap 32, he had moved past Max Taylor for third with an inside move in Turn 1, then went by Lochie Hughes for second on Lap 41 in a three-wide move entering Turn 3.
WWTR Turns Into A Test
Rowe took the lead from Josh Pierson on Lap 47 exiting Turn 4 and never gave it back. Two caution periods in the final 22 laps tightened the race, including a debris caution on Lap 54 and a two-car accident on Lap 61 involving Salvador de Alba and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, who were not hurt.
Pierson made one last push for the lead after the final restart on Lap 68, but Rowe held on and beat rookie Alessandro de Tullio by 2.2081 seconds. Josh Pierson finished third in the No. 29 Starchive Andretti entry, Niels Koolen was fourth in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car, and Max Taylor took fifth in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen machine of Andretti Global.
Rowe’s Oval Record
The win was Rowe’s third career INDY NXT victory, and all three have come on ovals. After losing his qualifying run Saturday for failure to follow the direction of INDYCAR, he said he would have earned the pole after continuing on a third flying lap following the checkered flag for his two-lap run.
Afterward, he described the race as a matter of execution and tire management. “It’s a chess game out there,” he said. “Confidence is key in motorsports.” He added, “The Abel Motorsports Force Indy guys, they really gave me a car today to have that kind of confidence to have a plan and to be able to execute it.”
That plan held up through traffic, cautions, and the final restart on a 1.25-mile oval just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis and its Gateway Arch. The result is a new benchmark for INDY NXT and a win that Rowe had to earn from the last row of the grid.
