\u201cI\u2019m super thrilled, it\u2019s such a tough category, so to be in [Indy NXT] again and for my first full year is amazing. Hopefully we can pull off a few wins,\u201d Johnson told The Crow\u2019s Nest at the Grand Prix Kickoff Street Party on Feb. 25.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson got his first win as a full-time Indy NXT driver earlier than expected. Starting from P2 after exceeding expectations in qualifying<\/a>, Johnson overtook grid leader Max Taylor<\/a> on the race\u2019s initial turn and led the rest of the way. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI saw there was an opportunity coming into turn one, so I went for it and stuck it,\u201d Johnson said during the post-race press conference. \u201cAfter that \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say smooth sailing \u2014\u00a0but I had it pretty controlled. It was still a little bit tough. Max was right there all the time behind me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Taylor was the likely victor heading into March 1 \u2014 ending both practices and qualifying in P1 \u2014 but was unable to replicate those results on race day. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJust made the one mistake in the race off the start and that was my race,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cI was trying to keep the pressure on Nikita, but he did a really good job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Rounding out the top three was rookie Tymek Kucharczyk<\/a>, who slipped his way from fifth to third after the race\u2019s first caution on Lap 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were four cautions throughout the race, taking up 12 laps in total.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jack Beeton<\/a> was responsible for the first yellow, skidding into the wall on Turn 4. While his car was damaged, Beeton re-entered the race and was able to finish in 11th.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next occurred when Carson Etter<\/a> glanced his front wing off the wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wing, damaged from the hit, detached on turn eight and slid underneath Etter\u2019s car, causing him to skid into the wall\u2019s padding \u2014 ending his race.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lap 17 again warranted a yellow, as Nicholas Monteiro<\/a> clipped the inside wall, which launched him into the outside wall. The damage to his car prevented him from finishing the race; he placed 23rd.\u00a0<\/p>\n The final occurred in Lap 21, when teammates James Roe<\/a> and Niels Koolen<\/a> collided with one another. Neither was able to complete the race and finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n The excessive cautions forced the race to diverge from its original 45-lap schedule to a timed event at the halfway point.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the clock hit zero, Johnson\u2019s lead reached over a second.\u00a0<\/p>\n This was his third win in St. Petersburg \u2014 most recently in the 2024 USF Pro 2000 \u2014 and his first win driving for Cape Motorsports. \u00a0<\/p>\n Johnson will have a chance to secure another win in the Grand Prix of Arlington<\/a> in Arlington, Texas from March 13-15.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Firestone-2026-Sunday-097-1024x683.jpg\")
Tymek Kucharczyk responded when questioned about his alleged fear of butter during the post-race press conference with \u201cI just don\u2019t like butter.\u201d
Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Firestone-2026-Sunday-001-1024x683.jpg\")
For the majority of the race, Johnson and Taylor were close competitors, racing neck and neck at some points.
Photo by Makenna Wozniak | The Crow\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t Post Views: 98
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Written by: Dominic Feo<\/a> on March 2, 2026.
Last revised by: Alisha Durosier<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite not being old enough to drink in the United States legally, Nikita Johnson, Max Taylor, and Tymek…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-175512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}