ST. PETERSBURG — From the time his parents put him in a NASCAR toddler’s booster seat, Nikita Johnson has been seated and ready to move.

Johnson began kart racing at age 5. By 8, he started competing in Europe. By his teens, he was posting top speeds at different levels of formula racing.

And now, at just 17 — he’s already graduated from high school with honors — he’s one step from IndyCar racing.

The South Pasadena resident returns to the St. Petersburg Grand Prix for his first full-time season of Indy NXT, joining the Cape Motorsports team.

The biggest reason Johnson likes racing in his backyard? To get mother Olesya Pyankova’s cooking, as well as the home cooking that comes from being a local racer.

“The fan support has been amazing,” Johnson said. “I get to eat at home, I get to sleep at home, which I usually never have a chance to do.

“Usually, you’re living out of a backpack.”

In 2025, Johnson’s father, Obie, estimated they spent 300 days on the road racing on three continents in four different open-wheel series.

It paid off. Johnson competed in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship, held in New Zealand over five consecutive weekends in January and February; GB3, a racing championship held across Europe; and the FIA Formula 3 Championship, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile. His highlights included becoming the youngest-ever race winner in GB3, competing in three Indy NXT races and taking part in his first endurance race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Recently, usopenwheelnation.com and Eddie Fuhrer launched USOWN Scout, a fully searchable database of advanced analytics tracking IndyCar prospects who have competed in the USF Pro Championships from 2015 to 2025.

In the metrics analyzed — where drivers finished and where they finished relative to teammates, other drivers, other teams and the series — Johnson rated in the top five. In other words, he’s one of the bright young stars in open-wheel racing.

“After looking fantastic in 2024 in his final full campaign in America, and winning nine races in USF Pro 2000, there’s a lot to look forward to from a driver who has proven time and time again he deserves to be alongside other top American open-wheel prospects,” Fuhrer wrote.

While Johnson said he’s not surprised by the analysis, he doesn’t make a big deal out of it, either. “I always did well when I was young,” he said. “I have about 40 to 50 hats from races I’ve won.”

His father adds that Nikita has a good idea of “where he stacks up” but doesn’t dwell on it. “To be honest, what’s really important is how you raced the year before,” Obie Johnson said.

This will be Johnson’s sixth time racing on a street course and his fourth at St. Petersburg.

“You have to be pretty technical,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of bumps here on the street circuit. It’s my favorite track.

“I’d like to finish in the top three. But there’s so much talent. It gets tougher every year.”