The 21-year-old Briton led all 75 laps en route crossing the finish line by 3.3406s over championship rival Jacob Abel. Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Abel’s rookie team-mate at Abel Motorsports, finished third to collect the first Indy NXT podium of his career.
For Foster, the performance marks his sixth victory of the season and has now extended his championship lead to 91 points over Abel (491-400).
“Yeah, I think we had a really good car today,” Foster said.
“Obviously, it’s a shame that Jamie (Chadwick) wasn't able to be up there with me today. I think we both would have finished 1-2 in that race. You know, Andretti gave us a great car.
“I got really at the start and then once I realized that my pace was really strong, we just backed down massively; I was just massively tire saving halfway through the race. And then when the caution came out, I knew it wasn’t the best thing in the world, but I knew we had a good car and we could pull away again.”
The Race
Foster led the field to the green flag on lap 2 after the initial start was waved off following contact between Taylor Ferns and Jack William Miller, who ended up retiring with damage.
As the field charged into Turn 1, Myles Rowe spun after trying to make it three-wide on the outside of Salvador De Alba Jr and Reece Gold for ninth. Fortunately, Rowe was able to avoid contact but abruptly stalled on track with a suspected driveshaft issue to his No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy entry.
The restart on lap 7 ended up short-lived after Caio Collet and Chadwick, both battling for second place, ended up colliding on the frontstretch. A replay showed Collet drifting slightly down, squeezing into Chadwick with his left-rear, which sent both into the inside wall. Chadwick’s No. 28 Andretti Global entry was left stranded against the wall, while Collett’s No 18 HMD Motorsports entry suffered a broken frontwing, along with severe suspension damage. Race Control eventually penalized Collet, noting the incident as avoidable contact.
TWO CONTENDERS COLLIDE 😱
— INDY NXT by Firestone (@INDYNXT) August 17, 2024
Jamie Chadwick and Caio Collett find the inside wall on the front straightaway, putting the race back under caution.
#OUTFRONTShowdown // #INDYNXT pic.twitter.com/24HWskQQxo
The result of the contact elevated Abel to second, directly behind Foster. Rookies Christian Brooks and Callum Hedge moved up to third and fourth, with fellow first-year driver Sundaramoorthy in fifth.
The green flag returned on lap 17, with Foster speeding away from Abel, while Sundaramoorthy managed to propel up to fourth past Hedge. The following lap featured a side-by-side battle between Abel and Brooks for the runner-up spot, with the former holding firm to retain the position. Meanwhile, Foster built up a 2s lead by lap 22.
Foster’s stranglehold of the field furthered as he widened his lead to over 3.3s by lap 30.
Following extensive repairs, Collet returned by lap 33.
It was a near-miss for Hedge, who went for a powerslide moment through Turns 1 and 2 while running sixth, but he was able to save his No. 17 HMD Motorsports entry from crashing, continuing on and only falling down the running order to eighth on lap 36.
While Foster continued to extend his lead, which was up to 4.5s by lap 47, De Alba Jr passed Brooks to take over fourth and set sights on the No. 22 Abel Motorsports machine of Sundaramoorthy.
Foster’s lead shrunk to 3.5s by lap 52, but was completely wiped out when the caution came out the following lap after Josh Pierson crashed in Turn 4.
The race resumed on lap 60 as Foster jumped out to put a car length between him and Abel.
Hedge took it three-wide to move up to fifth, slapping the wall with an outside pass out of Turn 4 and carrying the momentum into Turn 1. Meanwhile, De Alba Jr dropped to sixth, unable to reapply pressure on Hedge.
With 10 laps to go, Foster held a 2.2s lead over Abel, with Sundaramoorthy in third. De Alba Jr built up enough pace to get by Hedge and then jetted by Brooks moments later to move into fourth. Brooks then nearly fell into the clutches of Hedge, but was able to fend off the challenge and hold firm in fifth.
Foster remained unchallenged through to the checkered flag, while Abel snagged second and Sundaramoorthy took third. De Alba Jr ended up fourth.
The final lap saw Hedge and Brooks once again in a side-by-side fight, with Hedge pushing by into Turn 3 to take fifth, while Brooks fell to seventh after rookie Bryce Aron also squeaked by to take sixth.
