After her rookie season in Indy NXT, Jamie Chadwick seemed a shoo-in for another year with Andretti. But recent developments have put that scenario in doubt, Feeder Series has learned.

By Jeroen Demmendaal

It’s not just the case in IndyCar: the silly season is alive and kicking in Indy NXT as well. The grid for 2024 is likely to feature more than 20 cars, and the latest twist involves a potential shake-up at Andretti Global (formerly Andretti Autosport) as the series prepares for the upcoming Chris Griffis Memorial Test at the Indianapolis road course on 20 October.

Andretti, one of the most successful teams in Indy NXT, recently announced returning drivers James Roe and Louis Foster as well as Euroformula Open convert Bryce Aron as its first three Indy NXT drivers for 2024. The team is strongly rumoured to be interested in USF Pro 2000 race winner Salvador de Alba and Formula Regional Americas championship leader Callum Hedge as well for next year’s campaign.

That would leave the team in a tight spot, however, since it ran four cars in 2023 and is also keen to continue with Jamie Chadwick. Considering the changes and challenges she faced in moving to the United States, the three-time W Series champion had a decent rookie season with Andretti in 2023 and brought a lot of extra eyeballs to Indy NXT.

Despite the many differences between her W Series machinery and the Indy NXT car, the British driver became visibly more competitive as the season progressed. During the second half of the year, Chadwick broke into the top 10 regularly, scoring a season-best sixth place at Portland.

Considering a loan move

No doubt Chadwick will have higher ambitions for a second season at Andretti, confirmation of which seemed, until recently, to be a formality. However, Feeder Series has learned from multiple sources that Andretti is in the process of finalising a collaboration deal with Cape Motorsports, which could also affect Chadwick’s 2024 plans.

Cape, a perennial winner in USF2000, made the switch to Indy NXT in 2023 with Jagger Jones and Enaam Ahmed. The team struggled to be competitive, however, missing the Gateway round entirely and going through several driver changes during the season en route to last place in the 2023 teams’ standings.

Feeder Series understands that as part of the Cape collaboration, Andretti is considering loaning drivers to Cape rather than keeping them in one of the four cars within the Andretti Global mothership. Intriguingly, Chadwick is one of the drivers under consideration for such a move.

The big question is whether Chadwick would be willing to go along with such an arrangement. While the Andretti-Cape collaboration would likely involve sharing set-up data and the like, it wouldn’t be surprising if Chadwick sees being farmed out to Cape as a demotion.

A much-needed leg up

For both teams, the Andretti-Cape deal makes a lot of sense. The latest silly season intel indicates that Andretti has more drivers than cars at the moment, and by working with Cape it effectively expands its fleet to six cars from four. 

Meanwhile, by collaborating with multiple championship winners Andretti, Cape would get a much-needed leg up as it continues to get to grips with the car and the series.

As for Chadwick, she could also move away from Andretti in search of a better deal. Feeder Series understands that representatives for Chadwick have been in early talks with at least one other Indy NXT team to explore options in case the partnership with Andretti goes sour.

Representatives for Andretti Global and Cape Motorsports did not respond to Feeder Series’ requests for comment. A PR representative for Chadwick declined to comment.

Header photo credit: Chris Jones