Note: This is the first of a series of 2025 INDY NXT by Firestone team previews on INDYNXT.com. The season starts Sunday, March 2 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Starting Lineup: Callum Hedge (No. 17 ABEL Motorsports), Jack William Miller (No. 40 ABEL Motorsports with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Jordan Missig (No. 48 ABEL Motorsports), Myles Rowe (No. 99 ABEL Motorsports with Force Indy).
2024 in Review: Jacob Abel shined in his third INDY NXT by Firestone season, scoring all three career wins, 10 top-three finishes, 11 top-five results and 12 top 10s in 14 starts leading to a runner-up championship finish. Rookie Yuven Sundaramoorthy was his only full-time teammate, and he ascended as the season progressed. Sundaramoorthy had a pair of top-three finishes, four top-fives and eight top 10s as a rookie in 2024, including all eight top-10 finishes occurring over the final nine starts. He finished a career-best second in the season finale Sept. 15 at Nashville Superspeedway. Josh Mason and Jordan Missig split duties in the No. 21 entry with that car competing in seven of the 14 rounds while Taylor Ferns raced the four ovals with a best result of 15th at World Wide Technology Raceway.
New for ’25: ABEL Motorsports boasts plenty of change with this season being the first-time Jacob Abel hasn’t competed for the family team, as he graduated to a full-season ride with Dale Coyne Racing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Also, instead of two full-time cars and two part-time, ABEL Motorsports will field all four cars on a full-time basis. Missig is the only driver remaining from the 2024 season, but he competed in just five races last year. Second-year drivers Callum Hedge and Myles Rowe move from HMD Motorsports to ABEL Motorsports. Rowe, 24, finished 11th in the series standings as a rookie last season, highlighted by seven top-10 finishes and two top-five results. Hedge, 21, racked up eight top-10 finishes with five top-five finishes, and in June he scored his first series podium result at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. The fourth car is a partnership with Miller Vinatieri Motorsports and Jack William Miller as the driver. Miller, 21, finished his INDY NXT by Firestone rookie season 15th in points. His best finish was 10th in the each of the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca doubleheader races last June.
Keep an Eye on This: The last three INDY NXT by Firestone champions – Linus Lundqvist (2022), Christian Rasmussen (2023) and Louis Foster (2024) – were sophomores in the series when they won the title. There are seven second-year drivers this season, with three at ABEL Motorsports. Sophomores Rowe and Hedge have been fast in the offseason tests, with Rowe quickest in October at the annual Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. In the latest test last week at Sebring International Raceway, Hedge was second quickest and Rowe fourth. Second-year driver Miller will test an ABEL car for the first time this week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Little-Known Fact: Three of the four drivers were teammates once before. Missig and Rowe were each at Pabst Racing in 2023, the season that Rowe won the USF Pro 2000 championship. Last season, Rowe and Hedge teamed at HMD Motorsports. For 2025, all three are under the same umbrella. This is the first time in Miller’s racing career that he’s had a teammate. Having readily available resources provided by an established, race-winning team in ABEL Motorsports could expedite Miller’s growth as MVM is no longer the only single-car team on the grid.