Jamie Chadwick achieved a milestone by securing her first career INDY NXT by Firestone pole position for the Grand Prix at Road America, making her the first female driver to earn a pole on a road or street course in the history of INDYCAR’s development series. Chadwick, driving the No. 28 VEXT car for Andretti Global, recorded a top lap of 1 minute, 51.0333 seconds.
“I’m so happy,” Chadwick said. “We struggled a little bit this weekend chasing balance. When (teammate) Louis (Foster) did the lap he did, I knew we would have a good car. Track conditions improving, this is our shot in our group, as well. I really thought we could make the most of this opportunity.
“It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow, but I’m confident in what we can do.”
The 20-lap race will be broadcast live at 1:05 p.m. ET Sunday on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Chadwick’s previous best starting position was fourth last Sunday on the streets of Detroit. Her speed has been accelerating in her second INDY NXT season. In today’s split-session format qualifying, Chadwick was in the second group, which benefited from the drying track after rain had soaked the 14-turn, 4.014-mile circuit all afternoon.
Louis Foster, also from Andretti Global, will start second after a best lap of 1:51.0541 in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car. Foster is aiming to be the first driver since Linus Lundqvist in 2022 to win three consecutive INDY NXT races.
Josh Pierson achieved his career-best starting spot of third with a lap time of 1:51.1621 in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports machine, surpassing his previous best of sixth in May 2023 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Championship leader Jacob Abel will start fourth with a time of 1:51.2702 in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry of Abel Motorsports.
HMD Motorsports teammates Reece Gold and Caio Collet will start in the third row. Gold qualified fifth with a time of 1:51.5069 in the No. 10 machine, while Collet, the top-qualifying rookie, will start sixth with a time of 1:51.4054 in the No. 18 car.
