Nikita Johnson rolls to Indy NXT victory in St. Petersburg

Nikita Johnson was untouchable en route to his first career victory in Indy NXT on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

A native resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, Johnson started second and made the early move at the start past pole-sitter Max Taylor and powered to victory by 0.6990s at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit.

Four cautions pivoted the race from its originally scheduled 45-lap distance and converted it to a 55-minute time limit. Undeterred, Johnson, in the #21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry, led all of what ended up being 42 laps.

It was also the maiden win in Indy NXT for Cape Motorsports, who returned to the series in 2023 after a one-off campaign in 2010.

Taylor, in a #28 Andretti Global entry, ended up second. The #71 HMD Motorsports machine of Tymek Kucharczyk, who became the first Polish driver to ever race in Indy NXT, finished third to complete the podium.

The Andretti Global duo of Sebastian Murray and Lochie Hughes, last year’s third-place finisher in the championship, rounded out the top five. Myles Rowe (Abel Motorsports) was sixth, followed by Andretti’s Josh Pierson. Salvador de Alba, who made the switch from Andretti to HMD over the offseason, was eighth.

Juan Manuel Correa, in the #68 entry for Cusick Morgan Motorsports, was ninth, ahead of A.J. Foyt Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio. 

The biggest mover of the race was Jack Beeton in the #45 for HMD Motorsports, who started 13th but ran into trouble in the early running and had to charge back through the field, making 14 on-track passes en route to finishing 11th. 

Other notables included a clash between teammates as Chip Ganassi Racing's pairing of James Roe and Niels Koolen came together early on. Additionally, Carson Etter, another CGR driver, saw his day suffer a blow after crashing in the tire barrier in Turn 8.