Jamie Chadwick qualifies in the top-3 at Iowa, scores sixth top-10 of the Indy NXT season

"I felt like we had a good race car but just fell victim to getting a bit stuck in a traffic jam" - Jamie Chadwick had a remarkable qualifying at Iowa Speedway, claiming third on the grid in only her second visit to the track and her third-ever oval race, and secured her sixth top-ten finish of the season having lost out in traffic after a lengthy caution.

Photo by Penske Entertainment: Travis Hinkle

Jamie Chadwick had a remarkable qualifying at Iowa Speedway, claiming third on the grid in only her second visit to the track and her third-ever oval race.

Chadwick, who took a breakthrough pole position and maiden race victory earlier this year at Road America, following her first podium finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, continues to impress in her sophomore IndyNXT campaign. Although unfortunate traffic during the Iowa race prevented the Andretti Autosport racer from holding her position to the checkered flag, she collected her sixth top-10 finish of the season to date, moving up to fifth in the championship standings.

The Iowa weekend started with dramatic developments as tyre supplier Firestone was hit with severe blistering after few laps into the practice session at the 1.4 km oval. After this became a problem for several cars, a solution needed to be found by the series official and Firestone for the upcoming race on Sunday.

A few line up changes also marked the eighth championship round, as the IndyNXT calendar enters its second part - with a few drivers halting their campaigns due to funding. One of them was Lindsay Brewer, who had raced with Juncos Hollinger Racing since the start of the season before dropping out ahead of the Mid Ohio weekend and couldn't secure enough funds to return to Iowa.

"As a woman in motorsports, I am always advocating for funding and sponsorship, and I remain committed to advancing opportunities for female athletes to have equal support for their platforms to foster collaboration, connection, community, and drive new audiences toward our sport", Brewer said via her social media. "While we were close to securing funds, it’s sadly not enough to move forward this time."

A new addition to the field, on the other hand, was Taylor Ferns, joining Abel Motorsports for an oval campaign and making her IndyNXT debut. The 28-year-old driver from Detroit is well known for her successes in USAC, including many race wins and championship titles in a wide variety of racing cars.

Also back on an oval for her third ever race was Jamie Chadwick: “Iowa is a challenging, short track that will give us a very fast race to work with", commented the British driver, aiming to keep momentum after strong four-race streak of top-10 finishes after her win.

"It races very differently from how it qualifies, but I’m excited to use the experience I have there now to hopefully bring home some solid results this weekend.”

The only practice session for the weekend was extended to 75 minutes as the in-season test at Iowa a month before was hit by rain and then canceled later on.

However, the tyre blistering issue stopped the action with with caution periods for track inspections.

Four HMD Motorsports drivers led by Christian Bogle topped the session, ahead of Caio Collet, Christian Brooks, and Callum Hedge. Jamie Chadwick finished the practice in 11th place, less than 0.4 seconds behind the leader. Taylor Ferns was running a bit further down the order, finishing 2 seconds behind Bogle in P18.

Qualifying, however, changed the power balance as the fastest drivers were a group of three Andretti drivers.

Taylor Ferns went out first for her debut Indy NXT qualifying session, setting a combined lap time of 41.123 seconds.

Jamie Chadwick then had a superb run, going second fastest with a two-lap average time of 37.7775 seconds, just 0.053 seconds behind teammate James Roe. This provisional front row position came after 13 drivers had completed their runs.

James Roe ultimately secured a surprise pole position, with no one able to beat his time. Louis Foster managed to clinch second place at the very last moment, but Jamie Chadwick held on to third. This marked Jamie's second-best qualifying result, contributing to an Andretti Autosport 1-2-3 finish. It was further testament of Chadwick's development in her second year in the series, despite the limited oval experience.

“We were super close behind James and Louis, so I know that the car has it in it to do well tomorrow", Jamie said after the qualifying effort. "A 1-2-3 start for tomorrow is awesome for the team, and I'm really happy for James on the pole. Hopefully, we have good cars heading into tomorrow and I’m looking forward to fighting from the front.”

Taylor Ferns would take the start of her first race in P18.

The race was formerly announced to run a yellow flag period between the laps to address the tyre issue, but an accident and subsequent lengthy caution made this superfluous. Foster snatched the lead early in the race before the caution took place.

Collet faced understeering issues and as it deteriorated he spun, collected Rowe in the process, and crashed heavily. As a result, the race ran under yellow for 26 out of the scheduled 55 laps.

In the first part of the race, Foster and Roe tried to pull away, while Jamie Chadwick had to defend from Christian Bogle. While she fell to fourth on the second lap, things settled and Chadwick was looking comfortable in fourth throughout the first 12 laps before the caution.

The race resumed on lap 39 and she did well at the restart, again holding fourth, but was then under pressure as she caught up with lapped cars. This gave the drivers behind the chance to take the faster outside line and Jamie dropped down to 7th place. A second yellow was waved again with Miller hitting the wall at turn three on lap 54. With just two laps to go, the positions were locked, meaning Foster scored the victory ahead of Roe and Salvador de Alba (Andretti Cape).

“Pretty disappointed after a really strong qualifying yesterday", said Chadwick after crossing the finish line in seventh place. "I felt like we had a good race car but just fell victim to getting a bit stuck in a traffic jam and dropped back at the very end when we lost a bit of momentum."

"So, it was a frustrating day, but still, we managed to get some points and I’m looking forward to the rest of the ovals.”

Despite losing a top five in the closing stages, Chadwick secured her sixth top-ten of the season - and the fifth consecutive one. Despite a very unlucky first few rounds, where the British racer couldn't capitalize on her front-running pace due to several misfortunes, Jamie has now moved up to fifth in the championship standings, with 237 points to her name.

Taylor Ferns had a solid race and made good improvements throughout the weekend, running on better times during the Firestone Indy 100. She was classified in P16, having completed 48 laps.

"Ripped the band-aid off. Lackluster first 'race' given the unfavorable circumstances", Ferns summed up. "I expect more of myself, but will build off of what was learned with the short amount of seat time we had. I have more work to do. Not here for a participation trophy."

The next event will take place at the World Wide Technology Raceway from 16th to 17th August, for the second oval round of the season.