It’s an all-American weekend of racing as IndyCar and its support series head to Portland while (almost) every other championship takes a break. Feeder Series tells you how you can follow the action.
By Feeder Series
Last year, Portland played host to the final round of the three USF Pro Championship seasons, all of which ended exceptionally early in August. This year, only the two upper series are headed to the westernmost track in junior single-seaters, but they do so with multiple races to run and championships to play for. Indy NXT – and, naturally, IndyCar – will be there too as their own seasons march towards the finish line next month. Read on to find out more about the big storylines to follow.
Outside of Oregon, Nordic 4 heads to Rudskogen in Norway for the first time since 2018. Matteis Stigsen reclaimed the championship lead last time out with a win and two third-place finishes, giving him a three-point advantage over Richard Olson. This weekend, Mille Hoe will be rejoined in the F5 class by older brother Mads Hoe as well as Niels Ejnar Rytter, neither of whom competed in the Swedish rounds. Aquila Racing Cars chief executive officer Dan Suenson will try out the Nova car, and RaceCraft Driver Academy owner Frederik Stenå will occupy the team’s car previously driven by Milla Sjöstrand.
This round also marks the return of SMP F4 after a two-month hiatus, with the championship heading to Igora Drive. UAE4 competitors Platon Kostin and Vladimir Verkholantsev occupy the top two positions in the standings, with Chinese F4’s Timur Shagaliev third. Neither the Russian series nor Nordic 4 will be covered in depth.
Indy NXT: Round 14, Portland
Circuit: Portland International Raceway, 3.161 km
Schedule: All times local (UTC−7)
Friday 7 August
- 13:30–14:15: Practice 1
Saturday 8 August
- 09:00–09:45: Practice 2
- 12:00–12:30: Qualifying
Sunday 9 August
- 11:00–12:00: Race (35 laps)
How to follow: Internationally, all sessions will be streamed live on IndyCar Live. Live timing will be available on the Indy NXT website. In the United States, practice 1 will be shown on Fox Sports 2, while practice 2, qualifying and the race are shown on Fox Sports 1. In addition, all sessions are streamed on the Fox One app.
Weather forecast: Sunny all weekend.
What to know: Indy NXT is heading into crunch time as Portland International Raceway hosts round 14 of 17 of the 2026 championship.
Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR driver Nikita Johnson comes into this round as the points leader on the back of his second place at Nashville. The 18-year-old has 451 points, just one point more than fellow title contender HMD Motorsports driver Enzo Fittipaldi on 450 points. Fittipaldi’s teammate Tymek Kucharczyk struggled in Nashville but remains in contention on 426 points, 25 behind Johnson.
Portland is a short but challenging road course where the first chicane has provided plenty of chaos over the years. Last year, for example, Bryce Aron and Lochie Hughes made contact on the opening lap. It is traditionally tricky to overtake at the 12-turn track, but the straight between Turns 7 and 10 provides the best opportunity.
There are three changes coming into this round. Jordan Missig will not be returning to the grid this season because of the costs of repairs for the extensive damage his Abel Motorsports machine suffered in an accident at Nashville. Instead, Jacob Abel (#48) will return to his father’s team to fill the vacancy left by Missig. The 25-year-old previously competed in Indy NXT for three seasons, with his best finish being a second place in the championship in 2024. He raced with Dale Coyne Racing next to Rinus VeeKay for the 2025 IndyCar season and now competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship’s LMP2 class.
As was confirmed during the race weekend at Mid-Ohio, Nolan Allaer (#76) is back in the car for Juncos Hollinger Racing after sitting out Nashville. New on the grid this weekend for HMD Motorsports is Bart Harrison (#17), who will turn 19 on the day of the race. The Englishman makes the switch from Eurocup-3, in which he currently sits 16th in the championship, and replaces Salvador de Alba for the remaining road courses of the season. De Alba is set to return to the team for the final oval race of the season at the Milwaukee Mile.
Jack Beeton and Nicolas Stati are racing in Indy NXT as usual, but prior to the weekend, they will be doing the USF Pro 2000 test on Thursday with Turn 3 Motorsport and TJ Speed Motorsports respectively to gain experience at Portland.
Report by Vincent van der Hoek
Read the previous round’s report here.
USF Pro 2000: Round 6, Portland
Circuit: Portland International Raceway, 3.161 km
Schedule: All times local (UTC−7)
Thursday 6 August
- 13:20–14:20: Test 1
- 16:00–17:00: Test 2
Friday 7 August
- 09:45–10:15: Practice
- 12:30–13:00: Qualifying
- 17:05–17:55: Race 1 (30 laps)
Saturday 8 August
- 14:30–15:15: Race 2 (30 laps)
How to follow: All sessions will be streamed live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel. Live Timing will be available on the USF2000 website and the USF Pro Championships app.
Weather forecast: Sunny all weekend.
What to know: USF Pro 2000 is back in action this weekend at Portland International Raceway for two races across Friday and Saturday.
In the most recent round at Mid-Ohio, Turn 3 Motorsport driver Leonardo Escorpioni took a hat-trick of wins and snatched the championship lead from Exclusive Autosport driver Jack Jeffers. The gap between the two title contenders is just two points, with Escorpioni possessing 228 points and Jeffers 226. G3 Argyros of Pabst Racing sits in third with 177 points, 51 behind the championship leader.
Colin Aitken moves from the #11 VRD Racing entry to the #18 Pabst Racing entry that was occupied by Jacob Douglas for the first two rounds. It has sat vacant since.
Michael Costello is not on the grid this weekend for Turn 3 Motorsport. Feeder Series learned that the 19-year-old has run out of budget. HMD Motorsports Indy NXT driver Jack Beeton will take the seat of Costello’s #2 during the test on Thursday to gain experience at Portland ahead of his Indy NXT weekend. Likewise, Cusick Morgan Motorsports Indy NXT driver Nicolas Stati will pilot the vacant TJ Speed Motorsports #28 entry, last raced by Jeshua Alianell at Road America, during the test.
Part-time entrant Logan Adams will also not compete this weekend.
Report by Vincent van der Hoek
Read the previous round’s report here.
USF 2000: Round 5, Portland
Circuit: Portland International Raceway, 3.161 km
Schedule: All times local (UTC−7)
Thursday 6 August
- 12:00–13:00: Test 1
- 14:40–15:40: Test 2
Friday 7 August
- 09:00–09:30: Practice
- 11:45–12:15: Qualifying
- 16:10–16:50: Race 1 (25 laps)
Saturday 8 August
- 12:50–13:30: Race 2 (25 laps)
How to follow: All sessions will be streamed live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel. Live Timing will be available on the USF2000 website and the USF Pro Championships app.
Weather forecast: Sunny all weekend.
What to know: The jam-packed weekend at Portland wouldn’t be complete without USF2000, the second tier of the USF Pro Championships package, which heads to Portland International Raceway for two races.
After 11 races, DEForce Racing driver Sebastián Garzón is still the championship leader with 265 points, but Pabst Racing’s Brad Majman has cut down his championship lead to 19 points, currently possessing 246. Majman’s teammate Eddie Beswick has 208 points.
There are four driver changes coming into the round, three of which are at Jay Howard Driver Development powered by ECR. Liam Loiacano announced the end of his USF2000 season on Instagram because of budget issues. Kaylee Countryman (#5) is back with the team after missing the round at Mid-Ohio to race in F1 Academy with ART Grand Prix at Silverstone. Max Cuthbert (#8), currently 10th in the USF Juniors championship with 150 points, is set to make his USF2000 debut with the team in the seat previously occupied by Erik Holm.
The final change is not only a new driver but also a new team, at least in their current form. Olivia Racing are set to make their USF2000 debut with Karol Pasiewicz. The Polish driver currently races for the team in USF Juniors and leads the championship with 284 points, having won four races and taken five further podiums.
Report by Vincent van der Hoek
From the press: Before becoming USF2000’s dominant force, Garzón was a standout karter in both his native Colombia and the United States, quietly building a reputation as one of his country’s rising stars. We caught up with him to learn more about his story and the growth he’s made from 2025 to 2026. Read the article here.
Read the previous round’s report here.
All times and forecasts listed above are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow each series’ websites or social media pages.
Header photo credit: Gavin Baker
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