The NTT IndyCar Series’ main feeder series begins a new era next month in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. After 25 years with Indy Lights branding, the newly christened Indy NXT kicks off as the series continues its ongoing transformation efforts.
Those efforts began in September 2021 when Penske Entertainment announced it had acquired the series from Andersen Promotions. Under Dan Andersen’s leadership, which began in 2014, the series launched the Dallara IL-15 in 2015 with a new engine from Advanced Engine Research to replace the 2002 IP2 chassis and its 3.5-liter, V-8 power plant.
However, car counts dwindled to the point the 2018 field had only seven full-time competitors, including series champion Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta. Changes were on the horizon, starting with Penske Entertainment’s subsequent acquisitions of IndyCar and Indy Lights.
In October 2021, Penske Entertainment hired USAC Vice-President Levi Jones to serve as series director. Jones, a five-time USAC sprint car champion, immediately began working to bring the championship back to prominence. The first step was identifying what the series had in tangible and intangible assets.
“We were all in an evaluation of what we had as far as equipment that IndyCar owned, (equipment) that came back from Anderson Promotions, and what we needed and what we needed to do,” Jones said. “Because our goal is to operate it like IndyCar, right? A professional racing series with all the tools we need to do that. So that was step one.
“We made a significant investment in equipment, upgrades, tools, tech pad, all of those sort of things. And then before you know it, it was time for the first event at St. Petersburg.”
Last year’s St. Petersburg race was the opening act of the championship’s new vision. In 2021, each race weekend featured two races. That operating model changed last year with an additional practice session and only one race at most venues.
Only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Belle Isle street circuit in Detroit and the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca had two races on a single weekend.
The changes were popular with drivers and teams because they had another session to work on chassis setups. At the same time, drivers had multiple opportunities to hone their feedback skills during debriefings.
“That’s working with the goals of what we need to accomplish as a series; and the discussions with teams about the optimum number of races and being in key markets is critical,” Jones said of the schedule changes. “The schedule of those weekends, working with the promoters, what is ideal and then the number of races, the cost versus races, and the whole world of motorsports is something you have to look at as dollars and cents, you know. The dollars and cents of each event, and I think the growth of the series speaks to some of that.”
The changes started to bear fruit toward the end of the season as the anticipated car count for 2023 began to rise.
Cape Motorsports announced a two-car team and Juncos Hollinger Racing declared its return to the series after focusing on IndyCar in 2022.
However, the primary reason for the increased car count is Henry Malukas’ HMD Motorsports empire. After running between four and six cars throughout last season, HMD Motorsports will field nine cars this year through its organization and separate partnerships with Dale Coyne Racing and Force Indy.
IndyCar continued its revamp of Indy Lights by announcing the return of Firestone as the official tire supplier. The Ohio-based company left following the 2013 season and the company’s return brings the two paddocks closer together with one tire supplier working.
The next step in the series’ transformation came with the name itself. In November, Penske Entertainment announced Indy Lights would be rebranded Indy NXT.
“Indy NXT is where we landed,” Jones said of the renaming process. “And I think people will be pleasantly surprised by some of the things that we can do that are different than the NTT IndyCar Series of how we go to market, and that’s the main point.”