WEST ALLIS, Wis. — On a day of agony for two of the three Indy NXT by Firestone title contenders, Josh Pierson found ecstasy by earning his first pole in the INDYCAR development series Saturday at the Milwaukee Mile.
Pierson, in his third full Indy NXT season and fourth overall, produced the fastest two-lap average qualifying speed on the historic 1.015-mile oval at 153.434 mph in the No. 29 Starchive Andretti car of Andretti Global. That’s a series track record for a two-lap average qualifying speed, breaking the mark of 152.639 set last year by Dennis Hauger.
The breakthrough pole came for Pierson in his 52nd career start in the series after he was a disappointing 11th in practice this morning. His previous best qualifying spot was third, recorded five times, including in May for the second race of the doubleheader at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“Finally,” Pierson said. “It’s such a relief. For me, I feel like it’s just always been a little bit, I’m always just lacking something. And to finally break through means the world to me. I owe it all to this crew, everyone on this 29 car.
“In practice, we kind of struggled. We really had to shake things up and try something with the car, and I’m really happy where things turned out.”
Rookie Tymek Kucharczyk was the only one of the three main title contenders to find speed in qualifying, ending up second at 153.382 in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car. Kucharczyk is third in the standings, 18 points behind leader Enzo Fittipaldi and 17 behind second-place Nikita Johnson with three races remaining this season.
Fittipaldi qualified seventh at 152.336 in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports machine. Johnson struggled even more, qualifying a season-worst 15th at 151.350 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car.
Rookie Jack Beeton backed up the speed that helped him lead practice this morning by qualifying third at 153.280 in the No. 45 HMD Motorsports car, tying his career-best starting spot. Niels Koolen continued his second-half upswing by qualifying a career-best fourth at 153.094 in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing car.
JM Correa qualified fifth at 152.852 in the No. 68 Cusick Morgan Motorsports entry, while Max Taylor took the sixth spot at 152.747 in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car of Andretti Global.
Two drivers made wall contact during qualifying.
James Roe did a half-spin exiting Turn 2 and hit the SAFER Barrier with the left side of the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing car. Alessandro de Tullio slapped the right side of his No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry in Turn 2 on his second lap, ending his run. Neither driver was hurt, and both cars suffered moderate damage.
It was a case of “what if?” for de Tullio, seeking to tie the series record with his ninth pole this season. His first lap of 154.231 was quicker than Mark Hotchkis’ 30-year-old track record for one lap in Indy NXT and appeared to set the table for a record-tying pole before his car slammed the wall on his second lap.
