A season filled with historic highs and unexpected lows has left Myles Rowe looking to continue his growth as both a driver and team leader. Feeder Series sat down with Rowe at Nashville last month to discuss his unparalleled victory at Gateway, his unusual trip through the IndyCar ladder and how he hopes his third season will end.

By Owen White

Few things in racing are more stunning and rare than seeing a driver work their way from the very last position up to the front of the field.

When Myles Rowe completed that incredible feat at Gateway in June, he set a nearly unbreakable record for the largest comeback in Indy NXT history, driving from 24th to first and doing so in only 47 laps.

Although the Abel Motorsports with Force Indy driver started the race from the final spot on the grid, he had also been the quickest man in qualifying on Saturday. The difference between starting first and last came in the form of a disqualification Rowe earned for having accidentally run a third flying lap after the completion of his official two-lap attempt. Despite the crushing ruling from the stewards, Rowe tore through the field to lead a race-high 29 laps, shrugging off his opponents at a late restart to take victory by 2.2081 seconds.

Rowe has captured the attention of many in the paddock for his superb pace on ovals despite having done relatively few oval races before entering Indy NXT in 2024.

“I have a couple races of oval experience but no more than two or three Lucas Oil [Indianapolis Raceway Park] races before coming into Indy NXT,” Rowe told Feeder Series. “I remember the first Indy NXT test, it was Milwaukee… it’s probably the closest oval to Lucas Oil that we drive on, but it still felt very different.”

In a tough first Indy NXT season, incidents caused Rowe to finish multiple laps down, if at all, in each of the four oval races. But he cleaned up his act and proved to be a quick learner, so much so that his first second-place finish at Gateway in 2025 and then his three subsequent Indy NXT victories all came on ovals. 

“I think understanding the platform of the car and the control of that constantly, in the clean air and dirty air has been key,” Rowe said about his oval performances, “especially in the races, the anticipation of your opponents in regards to that, and how you manipulate the balance to raise your minimum speeds and have higher efficiency across multiple laps. That’s been the key to my oval success. I’m a very smooth driver for the most part, as long as the car allows me to be.”

Having finished fourth in 2025, Rowe entered Indy NXT in 2026 as a title favourite whose results across the season were expected to match his flashy displays on ovals. That, however, has not been the case. Rowe struggled to find podium-level pace in the opening third of the season, with no finishes better than fifth and two retirements leaving the Georgia native ninth in the championship, already 112 points off the lead.

“When we started the season, the balance was completely not right for speed. It took us a lot of road course races, all the way through past the Indy GP, to try to get some kind of hang on it,” Rowe said. “There was a lot of dialogue at the track, but more importantly at the shop. We just went to the drawing board and tried to figure out what we all wanted together as a team to get our cars to have more speed.”

At the end of May, Rowe and Abel Motorsports experienced a turnaround: their first podium of the season, scored after Rowe made the climb from 11th to second at Detroit, narrowly missing out on victory. What appeared to be a sudden improvement was in fact the product of weeks of conversation between team and driver. 

Rowe’s improvement as he moved into the summer stretch was defined by composure and resilience, as so much of his career has been dating back to his days in the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series. After competing in eight races across 2017 and 2018 – winning five of them – Rowe couldn’t find the funding to race the next year and took a two-year break from motorsport. He returned to single-seaters for the 2021 USF2000 season, his rookie campaign on the Road to Indy ladder, and claimed victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park along with a 13th-place result in the championship.

In the background, however, Rowe’s precarious financial situation threatened to end his chances at stardom once again, especially once the 2022 USF2000 season got underway. Through a mix of a GoFundMe that raised $250,000, connections made through his marketing job secured because of his screen studies and film degree, and further backing from IndyCar owner Roger Penske, the Georgia native put together the necessary funding to complete the USF2000 season in 2022.

Although Rowe fell just six points short of the championship to Michael d’Orlando, the runner-up from 2021, his five victories and strong pace were enough for him to retain Penske’s backing and earn a spot in USF Pro 2000 the following season. He took the championship in his rookie campaign and, as a result, earned a shot to race just one step below IndyCar in 2024 with a $664,500 champion’s scholarship in hand.

Nearly three seasons of Indy NXT later, it hasn’t been a perfect journey for Rowe, who now finds himself a veteran in the paddock and at Abel Motorsports. Among his teammates is the championship’s youngest driver – 17-year-old Max Garcia, the 2025 USF Pro 2000 champion and another driver to receive backing from Penske.

“It’s been an interesting transition this year, having that veteran title,” Rowe said. “I’m more on the older spectrum of drivers, and that’s honestly been really fun for me. Max is a great kid and he also has the Penske support. It’s really cool finding this equilibrium of experience and perspective in two completely different age groups when we’re doing the same thing.

“There’s definitely things he’s trying to learn a lot from me and a lot of videos I have on the team and things that I show him, and it’s funny because obviously he’s really fast, so there’s things I look at and try to find from him.”

Rowe’s ties with Penske stretch even further back than 2022 – all the way back to a chance meeting with one of his drivers in spring 2014 at the GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, North Carolina. Rowe was enjoying his first runs in a new kart he had received as a prize for his success across two years of rental karting when he came across a familiar helmet.

“I remember being very intimidated by the go-kart and seeing it was a real thing. I spent two years wondering what it was like to drive this real thing,” Rowe said. “Will [Power] was there. I did not know this. I found out on track from seeing his helmet pass me, and it took me a little while to realise. Then he started dropping back and pushing me, then he would take off and do the same thing again.”

Power spoke with Rowe and his father after their shared time on track, and again at the Barber Grand Prix in 2016 when Rowe was a spectator. Rowe stayed in touch through social media over the years, and the Australian – who moved to Andretti Global over the winter – became one of his most trusted figures in racing. Power’s mentorship proved vital for Rowe, who credited it particularly for readying him for the mental and emotional aspects of racing.

“He says he constantly learns every race, every year on the sim, even when he’s practicing at home. He’s a good representation of how you can never stop learning,” Rowe said. “I’ve been applying that this year. The new gearboxes help. It’s not like everything has been the same, so there’s things that are new to everyone.”

“I’ve been getting more and more proper experience,” he added. “This is the first time I’ve really [felt] I’ve been here for long enough and I’m very familiar. What else can I still learn and how much can I really pull from this? I think it’s been really good, really fun.”

Another person who helped Rowe’s trek towards the upper echelons of racing is Rob Reid, the founder of the Force Indy entity that helps run Rowe’s car. Force Indy, which has supported Rowe since 2021, aims to create opportunities in motorsport for underrepresented talent, in particular Black Americans. Now also an ambassador for Force Indy and its sister organisation, NXG Youth Motorsports, Rowe wants to help young people discover their passion for motorsport before they hit any of the competitive and financial barriers within the sport.

“Right now we’re seeing it happen a lot more than we did even over the last five years – just a lot more diversity, a lot more people from different backgrounds and different countries in every kind of motorsport,” Rowe explained. “NXG for the youth, for younger individuals, gives them that opportunity to see what they want to do in this scope, if they want to be in motorsports in general.

“If they do, then what occupation is great for them? Is it something around engineering, is it around the pit stops, or being a driver, or is it something [with] content and creativity and things like that? It introduces STEM education into its programmes for all the programmes that it teaches with its kids. It’s a very educational way, a very efficient, healthy, fun way for young individuals to spend their time in the scope of motorsport. I’m an ambassador for NXG because I really do care for that mission.”

Some of those NXG graduates may one day follow Rowe to a role within the Force Indy team. On track, they seem to have found their footing again too. Rowe scored his third podium of the season at Nashville Superspeedway, finishing behind only the Cape Motorsports duo of Matteo Nannini and Nikita Johnson and bumping himself up to sixth in the championship.

This weekend, Rowe will contest the final oval race of 2026 in Milwaukee before heading into the season-ending double-header at Laguna Seca. Now 132 points behind championship leader Enzo Fittipaldi after a tough round at Portland, he is effectively out of championship contention, back in seventh in the standings.

With that deficit plus his uncertain future plans, Rowe’s full focus, in racing terms, is on maximising results throughout the final three races. In cinematic terms, how does he picture his season winding down?

“There’s no such thing as a perfect ending, I think,” he answered. “Honestly just a sentimental closure – in California, the sand and the beaches, after Laguna Seca. Maybe we know what’s happening then, maybe we don’t, but it’s just a really good day in California [laughs]. That’s how it ends. Just like that.”

Interview by August Bamford

Header photo credit: James Black / Penske Entertainment