Rowe's Record Indy Climb
Myles Rowe Secures Historic Indy NXT Victory, Climbing from Last to First in Record-Setting Race
Myles Rowe powered an Indy NXT by Firestone victory at World Wide Technology Raceway after starting 24th and last, turning a qualifying setback into the series’ longest climb to first in its 40-year history. After battles at the front and multiple caution restarts, Rowe seized the lead around Lap 47 and controlled the final restart sequence, ultimately winning the 75-lap race by 2.2081 seconds over Alessandro De Tullio. The charge was helped by quick early gains through traffic and decisive overtakes, while incidents elsewhere brought cautions that reshuffled the field late. Rowe’s win also set a new record for the deepest starting position by a race winner, surpassing a mark previously held by Esteban Guerrieri. The race featured a notable clash that damaged Salvador de Alba and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, contributing to the tight late-race dynamics that kept the outcome in question until the checkered flag.
Key Points
Rowe’s back-of-grid start came after a qualifying error: multiple reports say he was fastest but completed one too many laps, leading race control to negate his run and relegate him to the last row.
After the win, Rowe emphasized the race as strategy and execution—saying, “Yeah, it’s a chess game out there… Confidence is key,” and crediting Abel Motorsports/Force Indy for giving him “a car to have that kind of confidence” and a plan he could “execute.”
His on-track climb included specific early milestones and a tactical line choice: he reached 16th after four laps and was in the top 10 by Lap 20, while also using an “alternative higher line” he said he discovered during practice.
The event’s battle data was record-setting for the series: reports cited 229 total on-track passes, 183 passes for position, and 81 passes within the top 10 (per Frontstretch data).
The race also affected the Indy NXT championship: Cape Motorsports by ECR driver Nikita Johnson finished sixth to reclaim the championship lead with 285 points, while Enzo Fittipaldi salvaged a 13th-place finish after pre-race mechanical trouble.
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