Hughes suffers Indy NXT blow

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 14 July 2025

The Indy NXT title hopes of Australia’s Lochie Hughes took a big hit in Iowa where Myles Rowe made history.

Hughes was in the thick of the action, battling for second with Rowe until it all went wrong,

The Aussie was trying to keep the #99 Abel/Force driver behind on Lap 3 down the back straight.

But when Rowe swung to the inside, Hughes’ left rear touched Rowe’s front wing.

The officials thought the Andretti Global Australian was to blame and handed him a drive-through penalty.

It put Hughes a lap back, and he could never recover as he had to settle for 16th, one spot ahead of fellow Australian Tommy Smith.

With title rival Dennis Hauger securing a safe second, Hughes’ deficit in the title race has grown to a significant 76 points with five races left.

Myles Rowe could not hide his historic victory. Image: Penske Entertainment

But it could have been worse as Rowes ended up winning the race and making history.

Hauger led the majority of the race until he was overrun with just 14 laps left.

Rowe sensed his moment and flew around the outside at Turn 4 to steal the lead.

The 2023 USF Pro 2000 champion ended up pulling 1.4s clear to make history as the first Black driver to win a race in this series.

“It’s so good,” Rowe said after driving the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy entry to victory lane. “We’ve been working a minute for this, and we knew we had the pace. It was about waiting for the last half of the race and seeing what we could do with it.”

The short oval race was mainly a clean affair with all 19 cars finishing and only spins for Juan Manuel Correa and Davey Hamilton, Riccardo Escotto all having spins.

The next round is a Laguna Seca double header on July 26-27.

Image: Penske Entertainment

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Hughes suffers Indy NXT blow

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