ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Saturday, June 20, 2026) – This was more than just a victory for Lochie Hughes. It may have saved his season.
Hughes earned his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory of 2026 and reinserted himself into the championship hunt by winning the first race of the Grand Prix at Road America doubleheader Saturday on the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course.
Australian Hughes, driving the No. 26 Andretti Global entry, crossed the finish line .7827 of a second ahead of teammate Josh Pierson in the No. 29 Starchive Andretti car. It was the 100th victory for Andretti Global in INDY NXT competition. Pole sitter Alessandro de Tullio finished third in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing machine.
“Just so happy right now,” Hughes said. “It’s possibly been the worst season of my life so far. That was great. I know my name is Lochie, but I feel a bit more like Rocky right now because I’ve been taking some punches this year.”
Hughes was the top returning driver to the INDYCAR development series this season after finishing third as a rookie with Andretti Global, with two victories. He has struggled in 2026, entering this event seventh in the standings with a best result of second in the opening race of the Indianapolis road course doubleheader in May.
“So, yeah, relieved,” Hughes said. “We’ve been trying all year, but I guess losers try their best, and winners go home with the prom queen. We got the prom queen.”
Rookie Jack Beeton produced a career-best finish of fourth in the No. 45 HMD Motorsports car, with Matteo Nannini putting two Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entries in the top five in the team’s No. 20 car.
Hughes climbed to fifth in the standings with his third career victory, 55 points behind leader Nikita Johnson, who finished sixth in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry.
The start of the 20-lap race was choppy, with eight of the first 10 laps run under caution due to three separate incidents.
Hughes was running second behind de Tullio on a restart at the end of Lap 8 when he swung to the outside in Turn 1 on Lap 9 and powered to a lead he would not surrender. Hughes got a big jump on the last of four restarts on Lap 11 and never was threatened, maintaining a gap between seven- and nine-tenths of a second until the checkered flag.
Pierson drove around the outside of de Tullio in Canada Corner on the final lap to claim second. That tied his best career finish and continued the upswing that started with his third-place finish June 7 on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval.
Race 2, an 18-lap event, is set for noon ET Sunday (FS1, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). De Tullio again will start from pole with just 55 points separating the top five drivers.
Johnson leads second-place Tymek Kucharczyk – who salvaged an eighth-place finish after starting 14th in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car – by 10 points. Enzo Fittipaldi is third, 23 points behind Johnson after a season-low finish of 22nd in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports machine due to damage from contact on the first lap.
Andretti Global’s Max Taylor, who finished 12th in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car, is fourth, 38 points behind Johnson.
