Lochie Hughes Charged Through the Field Around the High Lane to Win at St. Louis

Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor

Riley Ogle (Motorsports Today, 2025)

Lochie Hughes charged through the field to win on his INDY NXT SERIES oval debut at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday afternoon. He led 58 laps after starting fifth for his second win of the season.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m still kinda in shock,” Hughes said. “We were just so far behind in the beginning there, the car balance wasn’t feeling great and wasn’t till we got to lap traffic and I was like, ‘I don’t really care anymore...’ I just started running the high lane and ‘oh there’s some grip out here.’”

Even though there were 165 on-track passes, an INDYNXT record, the majority of the overtakes came off lap traffic. Hughes and Myles Rowe (second-place finish) passed the most cars, with 15 each, as both drivers jumped into the podium places from fifth and fourth, respectively.

“Greatful to be on the podium, especially on Father’s Day,” Rowe said. “I think we could have done a little bit more, but Lochie came on quite surprisingly in the end and could really make the high line work.”

Caio Collett led the second-most laps, 14, after him and INDYNXT championship leader, Dennis Hauger, stayed side-by-side for the first five laps of the race. After starting on the front row, the duo dropped to third and fifth.

Collett has found his groove on the ovals, earning his second podium on an oval in his INDY NXT career. The 23-year-old Brazilian’s first podium came in the season finale last year at Nashville Superspeedway.

“After the first few laps, I thought we had a pretty good car, we had a pretty good race going on and everything was settled,” Collett said. “Towards the end of the race, once we started hitting traffic, I started to lose balance. We took a gamble on the downforce before the start of the race, and by Lap 25-30, it was a little tough to drive.”

Hughes was the first car to test the high lane, which propelled him forward and out of the draft of his competitors, to pull out a four-second lead. After Hughes passed Rowe, Rowe followed the Andretti Global driver’s lead to pass Collett, Salvador de Alba and Hauger for a runner-up finish. The latter three stayed nose to tail, stuck in the dirty air of lap traffic.

Hauger’s championship lead has been cut down to a 19-point deficit with Hughes' win at St. Louis. Collet (-59), Rowe (-68) and de Alba (-87) rounded out the Top 5, all inside a hundred-point gap of the 22-year-old Norwegian.

As for the anticipated INDY NXT oval debut for Hailie Deegan, it was a 16th-place finish after starting a career-best tenth-place. Deegan's last outing at WWT Technology came with Thorsport Racing in 2023, where she finished 32nd.

INDY NXT SERIES (UNOFFICIAL) RESULTS

1. Lochie Hughes #26 (R) - (Leader) 

2. Myles Rowe #99 -4.352s

3. Caio Collett #76 -5.52s

4. Salvador de Alba #27 -5.587s

5. Dennis Hauger #28 (R) -5.947s

6. Josh Pierson #14 -6.268s

7. Callum Hedge #17 -7.988s

8. Juan Manuel Correa #39 (R)  -16.351s

9. Nolan Allaer #11-16.690s

10. Niels Koolan #10 -17.51s

11. Jordan Missig #48 -1 Lap Down

12. Sebastian Murray #2 (R) -1 Lap Down

13. Ricardo Escotto #3 -1 Lap Down

14. Bryce Aron #9 -1 Lap Down

15. Davey Hamilton Jr. (R) #24 -1 Lap Down

16. Hailie Deegan #38 (R) - 2 Laps Down

17. Tommy Smith #16 (R) - 2 Laps Down

18. James Roe #29 - 3 Laps Down

19. Jack William Miller #40 -41 Laps Down (DNF)

The  INDY NXT SERIES returns to action at Road America for the Grand Prix of Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on Sunday, July 22, on FS1.