The latest edition of the championship rivalry building between Abel and Nolan Siegel (HMD Motorsports) took to the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit, with the former successfully defending the lead despite a restart with three laps to go to win by 0.5470s.
It is the second career victory for Abel, who collected his first in the last round at Barber Motorsports Park.
“Yeah, this is awesome,” Abel said.
“Unfortunately, we don't get to celebrate for too long here; we get another chance at it tomorrow. That was a really great race, though. Nolan and I had a great battle. I had it under control the whole time. I had a big lead there and unfortunately a lot of yellows had to really make me work for it at the end, but I was just saving tires early on, so I was ready for that. It was really good.
“Massive thanks to all the Abel Motorsports crew. They just delivered an amazing car. We didn't roll off a 100% here, but we figured it out in that one practice session that we had and that's almost more gratifying than than last week when we just rolled off perfect.”
Down to the wire!! 😤@jacobabelracing beats @nolan_siegel to the Yard of Bricks at IMS.#INDYNXT // #INDYGP pic.twitter.com/A4Wlzm5sVZ
— INDY NXT by Firestone (@INDYNXT) May 10, 2024
Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick finished third to capture the first podium of her Indy NXT career. She became the first female to finish on a pdium in an Indy NXT race since Pippa Mann won at Kentucky in 2010.
“I've sort of got results over the time of last year just getting lucky with contact and things, but this year we seem to have really good pace and we just haven't been able to results,” Chadwick said.
“Not sure there was anything more I could ask for in that race. We got a little bit lucky with a few people coming up front, but we had such good pace at the end. Happy.”
Abel, driver of his family’s No. 51 entry, now holds a 14-point lead in the championship standings over Siegel.
While Abel was out front for all 35 laps, there was plenty of action behind that started early and often.
Moments after the green flag, Andretti Global’s James Roe made a mess of his third-place start after an early lockup in Turn 7 resulted in going off in the grass and falling down the running order to 14th and then, after pitting, to 21st.
The fourth lap then saw a clash between Caio Collett (HMD Motorsports) and Louis Foster (Andretti Global) while battling for second. Collett’s right-rear caught the front wing of Foster in Turn 3, which resulted in a flat tire that sent Collett into a spin under braking in Turn 7.
Meanwhile, Foster was left trying to nurse a front wing that he eventually was forced to pit for after dropping from second the following lap to Siegel.
Although Abel built up a 5s lead, it evaporated with 15 laps to go after Yuven Sundaramoorthy went off and was stuck in the gravel trap to bring out the caution.
CAUTION!
— INDY NXT by Firestone (@INDYNXT) May 10, 2024
A spin by @YuvenRacing may change everything in the closing laps!
📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/81hgrPRKr6
After the restart was delayed twice, the race finally resumed with nine laps to go and saw Abel get a clean getaway from Siegel, with Chadwick rising to third through pace and the chaos that struck other frontrunners.
During this stretch, Foster, who fell a lap down at one point as a result of the front wing change, was able to battle back with the help of the restart and was running 10th with seven laps to go.
Then a caution flag returned once more with five to go after Jordan Missig, making his series debut with Abel Motorsports, spun in Turn 7.
The caution set up a restart with three laps to go, which saw Abel withstand the challenge of Siegel once more.
Despite making a deep push into Turn 1 on the final lap, Siegel coiuld not find a way by Abel and was left taking his second runner-up finish since winning the season-opening round on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Floria, in March.
Callum Hedge was the first driver to finish just off the podium in fourth, followed by Myles Rowe in fifth.
Reece Gold quietly finished sixth, while Foster managed to make the most of the late restart and propel to seventh.
