Lochie Hughes Comes Alive Late To Win at WWTR
INDYCAR
In a blistering race with no yellow flags, Lochie Hughes tossed caution in the breeze when it mattered most and ended up in victory lane.
Hughes used a late charge to win the INDY NXT by Firestone race Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, his second win in his rookie season in the INDYCAR development series. Hughes, from Australia, drove his No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car to a 4.3521-second victory over Myles Rowe, who earned a career-best second place in the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy machine.
SEE: Race Results
'I was starting fifth, and I was pretty angry with yesterday (after qualifying),' Hughes said. 'So, I honestly didn't really care. I just thought I'd send it and try something with the setup and send it and see what happens.'
Caio Collet finished third in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car after leading 58 of the first 61 laps in the 75-lap race, the first oval event this season. Salvador de Alba finished fourth in the No. 27 Grupo Indi car fielded by Andretti Global, just .0676 of a second behind Collet and the final podium position.
Pole sitter and championship leader Dennis Hauger rounded out the top five in the No. 28 Nammo machine, the third Andretti Global car to finish in the top five. Hauger's lead over Hughes in the standings slimmed to 19 points after he carried a 38-point lead into this race weekend.
Hughes made a stunning charge toward the front after deciding to try to use his higher-downforce setup to find speed on the higher line on the 1.25-mile oval. The risky ploy, as pieces of worn tire rubber can accumulate in the upper groove and reduce grip, began to pay off when Hughes passed the No. 14 HMD Motorsports car of Josh Pierson to climb from sixth to fifth on Lap 46.
The boldest, most decisive moves by Hughes came in a four-lap span from Laps 59-62, when he blazed a trail on the high line to jump from fourth to first.
Hughes was in second at the start of Lap 62 when he approached the leading car of Collet, who was running behind the No. 3 Frank's Red Hot car of Ricardo Escotto, who was on the tail end of the lead lap. Hughes swept past both cars on the outside of Turn 2 and powered away, never trailing thereafter.
'It was mega,' Hughes said of his car. 'I still can't really believe it, to be honest. I was so, so disappointed after yesterday. I thought we had thrown away a good result. We did it somehow.
'I just thought I'd try the high line one lap, and it worked. I was like, 'Oh, found something,' and then just kept running it and ended up with a win. It's awesome. I'm so happy.'
Said Collet, who used a low-downforce setup for speed: 'I thought I had it with 50 to go, but once I caught traffic, I really lost the tires, and it was really hard to hang on. And they just came flying by.'
Hughes averaged 157.199 mph in the caution-free race, the first without a yellow flag this season and the first oval race without a caution in the series since this event in 2022. There also were 165 on-track passes in this feverish race, an INDY NXT record at WWTR.
The next INDY NXT by Firestone race is Sunday, June 22, the Grand Prix at Road America (11 a.m. ET, FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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