Jamie Chadwick ends 2024 Indy NXT Season seventh after unlucky race in Nashville

"It’s been a great year and I've had a great time with the team" - Jamie Chadwick showed strong pace at the final Indy NXT race in Nashville but was unfortunately caught in an accident that concluded her sophomore season with seventh in the championship standings, following a win, a pole position, three top-5 and seven top-10 finishes.

Photo by Penske Entertainment / Joe Skibinski

The last race of the Indy NXT season was held at Nashville Superspeedway and unfortunately didn’t deliver the ending Jamie Chadwick had hoped for. The British racer, who had been competing at the front of the field throughout much of her sophomore campaign, once again showed good pace during the weekend but endured a troubled race, ultimately getting caught in an accident that ended her race prematurely.

Nevertheless, Chadwick finished seventh in the championship standings after making significant progress, having also scored her first victory and pole position in IndyCar's top feeder series, frequently battled for podiums, and made notable strides in pace, particularly in qualifying.

This race marked Jamie’s sixth career start on an oval, following a recent top-five finish—her third of the year—at Milwaukee Mile, the penultimate oval on the schedule. Chadwick had tested at Nashville Superspeedway in August, where she recorded the second-fastest lap, just four-hundredths of a second behind Louis Foster.

"I’m very excited to race at the Nashville Superspeedway for the first time", Chadwick said before the season finale. "We had a positive test there earlier this year, so I’m really aiming to finish the year on a high."

The weekend started well for Chadwick, who ran second in the early stages of the opening practice. After 10 minutes, Foster led an Andretti Autosport 1-2, with Chadwick close behind. Two cautions disrupted the session, before Abel moved into second midway through as the green flag waved again.

Chadwick however stayed in the top five and finished P5, three-tenths off pace-setter and newly crowned champion Louis Foster.

Foster dominated the second practice session as well, maintaining the lead throughout. Chadwick ran in the top 10 and improved to P6 in the final minutes, once again about three-tenths behind Foster.

Back for the final race of the season, Taylor Ferns also joined the grid at Nashville to complete her part-time rookie season in single seaters. Ferns was the first driver to go out in qualifying, setting an average of 170.227 mph for her two laps.

However, light rain halted the session after only five cars had run. Despite an attempt to restart, qualifying was ultimately canceled, and starting positions were set based on championship points. This put Louis Foster on pole, ahead of Jacob Abel and Caio Collet, while Jamie Chadwick would line up on the fourth row in P7. Taylor Ferns started from P18.

Photo by Penske Entertainment / James Black

The final race of the season was Chadwick’s last chance to break into the top five in the championship standings - a realistic scenario for the Andretti Autosport driver.

There was early drama for Jacob Abel, whose car required a steering wheel change just before the start, forcing him to begin from the back of the field.

Chadwick had a clean start, immediately moving into sixth place. Ahead, De Alba went side-by-side with Brooks, but the pack quickly settled into a single file. Chadwick was fast and attacked Hedge but lost out to Sundaramoorthy after leaving the door open, then had to defend from Myles Rowe after losing some momentum.

Rowe made contact with Hedge, allowing Jamie to move back into P7. She then battled James Roe, trading positions before regaining seventh when Roe dropped down with damage. Chadwick caught and passed De Alba with a good move, but then struggled with traffic, allowing De Alba to reclaim the spot.

Running in the pack, Chadwick switched positions with d’Orlando and reclaimed seventh but lost touch with Aron and De Alba ahead. Meanwhile, Foster led Sundaramoorthy and Collet. Abel, starting from last, was the fastest on track and caught Chadwick by lap 47.

Jamie was in control and defended well for several laps, but then encountered traffic and took the low line, which resulted in contact with Jack William Miller, bending her front suspension and causing the first caution of the race. The #28 VEXT Andretti machine limped back to the pits and retired.

Foster had already pulled away in the lead and easily lapped everyone up to the top 10. Sundaramoorthy, having climbed from 11th, briefly chased Foster after the restart but was unable to close the gap. Foster took another victory, completing a flawless season, with Sundaramoorthy second and Caio Collet third. Taylor Ferns also retired after 12 laps.

Unfortunately, Chadwick’s second season in Indy NXT—one marked by a pole position, podiums, and a victory—ended with a DNF and a seventh-place finish in the championship standings. Over the season, she secured 310 points, 3 top-five finishes, and 7 top-ten results.

"I think we had a decent pace today", Chadwick summarized. "Our cars were really strong and I think we had the chance of capturing a top-five result today."

"Unfortunately, we got caught up in an incident that ended our race early. However, it’s been a great year and I've had a great time with the team", she concluded. "Thank you to the entire No. 28 team for their support this season."

Chadwick is now set to complete her first IndyCar test with Andretti Global on September 30th at Barber Motorsports Park.

Photo by Penske Entertainment / James Black