Louis Foster was simply too quick – Sunday, and all season lengthy.
Foster completed his Indy NXT by Firestone championship-winning season together with his eighth victory of 2024 within the Music Metropolis Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. He drove his No. 26 Copart/Novara Applied sciences entry from Andretti World to victory by 0.3071s over rookie Yuven Sundaramoorthy within the No. 22 Optima Batteries/Clarios/Abel Motorsports automotive. It was a career-best end for Sundaramoorthy.
Whereas Foster clinched the title within the IndyCar growth collection on the earlier race, Aug. 31 at Milwaukee, he lastly acquired an opportunity to carry out celebratory donuts after his tenth profession victory in Indy NXT, tying him for second all time with Tommy Byrne, Alex Lloyd, Paul Tracy and present NTT IndyCar Collection star Kyle Kirkwood. Greg Moore is the all-time chief with 13 wins.
“I’d have cherished to have carried out them at Milwaukee, however we needed to child the automotive for yet another weekend,” Foster stated of the celebration. “However now we are able to. Yeah, it’s good. If unsure, go flat out.”
Rookie Caio Collet completed third within the No. 18 HMD Motorsports entry, 1.7897s behind Foster on the 1.33-mile concrete oval. James Roe completed fourth within the No. 29 Topcon automotive of Andretti World, and rookie Salvador de Alba Jr. rounded out the highest 5 within the No. 2 Grupo Indi machine of Andretti Cape NXT and helped to place three Andretti-affiliated automobiles within the high 5 because the workforce capped its sixth championship in Indy NXT.
Foster earned his eighth win within the final 11 races as his checklist of superlatives continued to mushroom. He by no means completed decrease than second within the final 11 races of this season, relationship again to mid-Could. He certified on the entrance row within the final 10 races of the season.
In complete, Foster led the collection in wins (eight), poles (seven), laps led (362 of 640, 57 %), top-five finishes (13) and top-10 finishes (14) in 14 races this season.
Foster pulled away from the sector Sunday after ranging from pole. His hole held regular between 2-3s, first over Collet. Then Sundaramoorthy handed Collet in Flip 1 on lap 34 of the 65-lap race however couldn’t bridge the hole to Foster.
The complexion of the race modified on lap 52 when Jack William Miller within the No. 40 Patterson Dental Haven Go by SAAM automotive of Miller Vinatieri Motorsports and Jamie Chadwick within the No. 28 VEXT entry of Andretti World made contact in Flip 1, triggering the one warning of the race.
Foster’s 3s lead instantly evaporated. He acquired a great bounce on the restart on lap 58, however Sundaramoorthy rallied to tug to inside 0.2s on lap 59. Sundaramoorthy closed to inside 0.1s on lap 63, however Foster drove away on the final two laps to hold on for victory. He led each lap.
“It was a wierd race, actually,” Foster stated. “We have been pinned for just about your entire race. As soon as I had a little bit of a spot to Caio and Yuven behind, I used to be saving tires a bit.
“Yuven was actually robust that race. I needed to maintain him behind on the finish, and I used to be combating the stability of the automotive. I wasn’t positive if we had it, however fortunately, I used to be capable of maintain him at bay and end with a win.”
