Lochie Hughes was third overall in Indy NXT last season and the second-best rookie behind champion Dennis Hauger. This year, however, things have been a struggle, and the Andretti Global driver currently sits fifth in the standings with a slim chance at taking the title. Feeder Series caught up with the Australian at Nashville to discuss his season and life as a reserve driver for Andretti’s IndyCar squad. 

By Vincent van der Hoek

Hughes had an impressive rookie campaign in 2025. The Andretti driver started his Indy NXT career with eight podiums from 14 races, including two victories, one at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and another at the Gateway oval. Those results led him to third place in the championship, behind current IndyCar drivers Hauger and Caio Collet. 

The Australian was thus naturally seen as one of the pre-season title favourites, but the season itself has only brought three podiums so far. A comparison of his first four races paints a clear picture: while Hughes never finished off the podium in that time in 2025, his best finishes in that stretch in 2026 were two fifth places.

In the fifth race of 2026, Hughes finally took his first podium of the season in race one at the IMS road course, where he finished second. He took his first victory of the season at race one at Road America and most recently secured a second-place finish at Portland.

More than merely a downturn in form, though, Hughes says the Dallara IL-15’s new P1414 gearbox built by Xtrac has led to a different feeling behind the wheel.

“It’s just been a very confusing year this year with the difference. The tyres feel different. We obviously have the new gearbox and [differential], which is crazy how much it’s changed the way you have to run the car,” Hughes told Feeder Series.

“We’ve gone into a lot of race weekends this year and probably haven’t rolled out the truck great. When you only have one practice session for a two-race doubleheader weekend, like at Mid-Ohio, as a team, we all really struggled. It’s just hard when you have one practice and you’re straight into quali. If the car’s not perfect when you roll out of the truck, you’ve got to take some risks for qualifying.

“It’s just been a very frustrating year,” he continued. “We led at Gateway, we led at Indy, we led at Road America. It’s been a lot of races up the front. It just hasn’t been finishing that way. Some stuff has been very confusing, and there’ve been some mistakes I’ve had, like Detroit. That should have been a pole and a win for me. I was so fast there. I think it was eight [hundredths] clear of the field in practice one. We just had so much pace. We just couldn’t really put it all together.

“And that’s the other thing – this year, we’ve been super fast in all the practice sessions. I think we’re always top three in practice. Even at Mid-Ohio, where we really struggled, I was third in practice. It’s just, as a team, we just seem to be struggling in qualifying right now, which is annoying because it’s a qualifying championship.

“I look back at Road America and I think, ‘Man, we had so much pace.’ When I won the race, once I got in the lead, it was easy. Yet we’re still qualified behind all these cars and have to pass them. In race two, when we got caught in an incident, that’s what happens when you don’t qualify super well, even though I think I started that race like fifth, which isn’t bad. It’s just you still run the risk of being in incidents.”

One example of Hughes’ struggles in qualifying was the round at Barber Motorsports Park, where Hughes qualified 19th for race one and 21st for race two and failed to crack the top 10 in the races, finishing 12th and 16th respectively.

Perhaps the low point came two months later in Detroit, where Hughes was fastest in practice one and second behind teammate Max Taylor in second practice. In qualifying, however, he slipped back to fifth, and adding further insult to injury, Hughes caused a crash into polesitter Alessandro de Tullio at the race start, resulting in a 30-second stop-and-go penalty.

At Gateway, Hughes was fourth in the sole practice session, and he eventually qualified on pole position for the race. The Andretti driver went on to lead 26 laps, but he fell back throughout the latter stages of the race, finishing in sixth place.

Road America finally brought redemption, the Australian going from fourth on the grid to the win in race one. That victory was a special moment for Andretti too, marking their 100th win in IndyCar’s premier feeder series.

“Honestly, when I won, I didn’t even remember that because it’d been so long since back in Arlington, [which] was the first race we were able to win it, so it felt like a long time. Selfishly, I was just really relieved just to get a race win,” Hughes admitted.

“As soon as I got back into the pits, I realised it was the 100th win and what that meant to the whole team, which is pretty amazing. It shows what they’ve accomplished in all the years they’ve been in Indy NXT. It’s not often any team achieves 100 wins no matter what series it’s in, so it’s pretty special.”

Andretti Global’s line-up for this year is also unusual because of its drivers’ overall experience levels. Hughes, the elder statesman at 24 years old, is in his second season, as is Sebastian Murray, who moved across from satellite team Andretti Cape Indy NXT. Josh Pierson is 20 years old but the most experienced driver on the team, having made his Indy NXT debut in 2023 and accrued 51 starts. Taylor, 18, is in his first full season but competed in six races last season to get familiar with Indy NXT machinery. 

“This year’s actually been pretty good because there hasn’t really been any rookies in the team, which has been helpful for all of us,” he said. “We’ve just been confused about a lot of things. It’s just hard when you have changes this year, no testing really, and we rock up to some of the races with one practice and then straight into quali. We’re typically all in agreement with the way we want the car and everything, which is good. I feel like all our feedback is pretty similar.”

Currently, Taylor is the best-placed Andretti driver in the championship in fourth with 396 points, one spot above Hughes in fifth with 386 points. Their margins to points leader Enzo Fittipaldi are 80 and 90 points respectively. Behind them, Pierson sits in 11th with 291 points, and Murray follows in 13th with 260 points.

For Hughes, that position doesn’t necessarily scream ‘promote now’. Indeed, Hughes – like the rest of his Indy NXT rivals – does not have a 2027 seat announced yet and, more tellingly, has not featured prominently in any 2027 IndyCar discussions. Yet unlike most of his rivals, he already has ties to Andretti’s IndyCar team, having served as a reserve driver for the team this year. The role has given Hughes plenty of insight into how some of the series’ best drivers work.

“It’s always really cool to hear the way everyone operates in there and just sitting there like a sponge,” he said. “When you hear the drivers talk, they’re still just drivers, just like we are. They get confused. Sometimes they don’t really know what’s going on with the car. They’re not like these aliens that know everything, so it’s cool just to see the human side of everything. It’s such a big operation that when I’m sitting in there, sometimes I forget. I’m a race fan at heart as well, so it’s been really cool to work alongside them in that aspect.” 

The help goes beyond the engineering room. Current Andretti driver Will Power, who moved to the team over the winter after 17 seasons at Team Penske, has been instrumental in shaping his compatriot’s career in the United States.

“Will and I have always spoken for the last few years now, ever since I moved over to the US,” Hughes said.

“He’s been an amazing help for me, just someone I can call. I remember when I was battling for the USF Pro [2000 championship], I was struggling, honestly, mentally. My career was on the line, and if I didn’t win the championship, I didn’t get the scholarship and I didn’t move up. And just calling him and talking to him about that – he’s been a massive help.”

In the end, Hughes succeeded, earning the $681,500 scholarship that enabled him to step up to Indy NXT for 2025. While there won’t be any prize money on offer for him this year unless a miracle happens, Hughes remains focused on finishing as well as he can. 

“I’d like to win a couple races at the end of the season and finish top three in the championship,” he said. “You never know with a doubleheader at Laguna. I’ve had horrible qualifyings this year, and around there, if someone else has the same, the guys at the top of the championship have the same and we end up on the good side of qualifying, who knows what can happen.”

Interview by August Bamford

Header photo credit: Chris Owens / Penske Entertainment