Nikita Johnson wins Indy NXT championship in season finale

In his first full season in Indy NXT, Nikita Johnson has won the championship for IndyCar’s top support series. Johnson, who drives for Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR, clinched the championship in the final race of the season Sunday.

Coming into this weekend’s doubleheader at Laguna Seca, six drivers were alive for the Indy NXT title. Johnson held a three-point lead over Enzo Fittipaldi, and he finished second in both races to seal the championship. Fittipaldi finished second in the championship while Tymek Kucharczyk – who won Sunday’s race – finished third.

Johnson – a native of St. Petersburg, Florida – won the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Johnson then won the third race of the season, the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Johnson did not win a race after that, but he finished no worse than eighth in the season’s 17-race schedule. At 18 years, three months and 12 days old, Johnson is the youngest Indy NXT champion ever.

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The championship secures the $850,000 scholarship for Johnson. The scholarship is meant to provide funding for the champion to find a full-time IndyCar ride, which Johnson has not yet secured for 2027. Johnson thinks his consistent finishes and ability to keep the car out of harm’s way have been enough to get him to IndyCar.

“Right now, for me, it’s the right time to move up,” Johnson told IndyStar in July. “I think doing multiple years in Indy NXT sometimes can be harmful. So I’m trying to move up.”

Johnson, who drove in Formula 3 in 2025 and races in IMSA’s GTD Pro class for RLL Team McLaren, is not committed to returning for a second Indy NXT season. There’s a chance that if no IndyCar ride becomes available to Johnson, he races in IMSA full-time and becomes an IndyCar team’s reserve driver until he can make the jump.

“I really don’t want to do a second year of Indy NXT,” Johnson told Divebomb Motorsport. “I’ve already learned a lot and there’s not really too much more to learn. I’m already not making rookie mistakes and all that, not crashing people out. So to do a second year almost would be, in my mind, going a step backwards.”

In a season that saw 10 different drivers win races, Nikita Johnson prevailed to become the Indy NXT champion. Now, Johnson will look to use the feat and associated prize money to make it to the top step of the North American open-wheel ladder.

Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at@z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to theYouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Nikita Johnson wins Indy NXT championship in season finale