PORTLAND, Ore. (Friday, Aug. 7, 2026) – If the first practice is any indication, the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Portland could be a very interesting race with major championship implications.
Just one of the top five drivers on the time sheet Friday at Portland International Raceway is in the top five in the championship standings for the INDYCAR development series. Niels Koolen, 16th in points, led with a best lap of 1 minute, 3.0405 seconds in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
“It seems all the prep we did as a team for this track paid off so far,” Koolen said. “Let’s see if we can keep this up for the rest of the weekend.”
Seb Murray of Andretti Global, 13th in points, ended up second at 1:03.0861 in the No. 27 Megatron machine on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course. Murray’s teammate Lochie Hughes, fifth in points, was third at 1:03.1374 in the No. 26 Andretti Global entry.
Surprises continued with JM Correa, 11th in points, ending up fourth at 1:03.1984 in the No. 68 Cusick Morgan Motorsports car. Myles Rowe, sixth in points, rounded out the top five at 1:03.3058 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine.
It wasn’t the strongest session for the top three title contenders.
Points leader Nikita Johnson was 13th at 1:03.5915 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry.
“Traffic was a little bit difficult,” series rookie Johnson said. “(The circuit) is so flowy that it’s kind of hard to see in your mirrors sometimes, and even I messed up, as well, on some of these laps. It’s kind of hard for everyone to see who’s behind. A little bit of traffic here and there, but we had the car in a better window at the end.”
Enzo Fittipaldi, just one point behind Johnson in second, was 18th at 1:03.9284 in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car. His fellow rookie teammate Tymek Kucharcyzk, 25 points behind Johnson in third, was the quickest of the tight trio atop the standings in 12th at 1:03.5783 in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry.
All three of the title contenders can take solace in knowing less than one second separated the top 20 drivers on the speed chart.
In another interesting storyline this weekend, 2024 series runner-up Jacob Abel was ninth at 1:03.4055 in the No. 48 Abel Motorsports car in his first INDY NXT by Firestone start since the end of the 2024 season.
Up next is a second practice at noon ET Saturday, followed by qualifying at 3 p.m. ET. The 35-lap race starts at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. FS1, FOX One and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls are broadcasting the remaining sessions this weekend.
