Rarely has an Indy NXT champion demonstrated the kind of consistency and dominance as Louis Foster has done on the way to clinching the title in 2024. His seven wins and 11 podiums, including a current streak of 10 straight finishes of first or second and an average finishing position of 2.1, are nothing short of remarkable and made it possible for the Briton to seal the championship for Andretti Global with one race left on the calendar.
The mature-beyond-his-years 21-year-old heads into the Nashville Speedway season finale with a shot at securing his eighth victory from 14 events. Foster is also heading to Tennessee with the need to find a new home — one in the NTT IndyCar Series paddock –as teams narrow their options for 2025.
“We’ve had a very good season in Indy NXT; very happy with it, clearly,” Foster told RACER. “If you look at stats as well, I think we have the highest average finishing position in Indy NXT history, so I’m hoping that that translates to an IndyCar team wanting me.
“Obviously, we’ve had chats with different teams. At the moment, there’s nothing on the table, so we’re just waiting and seeing. It’s such a hard category to get into. It’s the best drivers in the world. But we’re working flat out trying to get a deal sorted.”
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By winning the NXT title, Foster will have $850,000 in advancement funds from series owner Penske Entertainment to bring to an IndyCar team, and could have some other sponsorship to offer, but like his championship-winning predecessors, he’s a talent to be hired for his skills. His hope is to show potential employers what he can do in a post-season test.
“We’ve got some ideas for tests, hopefully coming up soon, with a few different teams,” he said. “We should be doing a test; I imagine one, maybe two, with two different teams, maybe three. I need to perform in those tests, and reassure the team with what I’m about and what I can bring to the table. I’m very lucky that there are teams who are interested and who do want me.”
Foster became the poster boy for what a second season of NXT racing can do to develop young talent. He earned poles and two wins in his rookie year with Andretti — after winning the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 title — and took all he learned and turned it into an unstoppable force.
“We were quick last year; I think we were the best qualifier, but just the consistency in my driving, in the way I approached things, I was not very happy at all with the overall year,” he said. “The plan was to do a second year and from the guidance of Rob Edwards and Michael Andretti, they wanted me for a second year to go win the title with them. Looking back at it, it was definitely the correct decision.
“Had I moved up to IndyCar this year, I think I’d have done well, but I don’t think I would have done as well as I could have. I think the second year in NXT definitely gave me a lot more confidence, more understanding of the IndyCar paddock, the series, and also just a bit more understanding of myself as a driver. This year was the first ever time in my career that I had done a series back-to-back. I’d always progressed after one year. It was just about just being very clever with how to approach a second year and utilize the experience as much as possible.”