Indy NXT

So Jamie Chadwick doesn't necessarily have to compete in F2 or those series to get the super license points.

Would also count her IndyCar stuff or Indy NXT or Formula 3 or other types of Formula series.

But we would still need to accumulate the super license points, of which I don't know how many she has.

But we know how hard that was for Colton, right? Right.

Yeah.

And then I finally got into Indy Lights, did okay there, and then Indy Lights, I get [laughs] finally find another-

Who'd, who'd you drive for in Indy Lights?

I drove for Medlen the first year, which was not a very good team.

Acquest the second year, which was their first year, was a good team, but first year in Indy Lights.

So, and then of all the luck, I mean, my rookie, my Indy Lights, when I got in, you know who was rookies with me? Tony Kanaan, Hélio Castroneves, Greg Ray, Cristiano da Matta, David Emp- I mean, like, holy shit, are you freaking kidding me?

[laughs]

Like, the year before, it was easy top three.

And I didn't have time, but you know, when something sticks at the back of your mind that maybe it's a bucket list item somewhere down the road.

And then a friend of mine in Indy here, he's an engineer, works for Sam Schmidt, Indy Lights team that my son ended up driving for.

He's from Australia, loves Formula One, forever asking me questions about the old days.

What was it like? Tell me who this was like.

Yep.

And then, you know, as, as most of us realize that kind of went on that path over there, you know, there's, there's not enough seats in F1, right? So at some point you have to consider what your options are outside of, of that little bubble, and I think you did an, an amazing thing in, in terms of, like, you realized that it's also very hard to get to IndyCar, so you wanted to prove yourself in Indy Lights, and we're gonna talk about that in a second.

But top of mind these days is Colton Herta, right? You know, a, a guy that was ultra-successful in IndyCar, finished second in the championship, has won eight races or whatever, 15 poles, and has gone over to F2 and, and by his own words, it's, it's been a huge struggle.

Can you kind of walk us through as a, as a very recent, um, transplant but going the opposite direction? Like, walk us through, like, the biggest differences between, like, a year in F2 and I guess a year in either IndyNext or IndyCar.

So kudos to you and your team and everyone for kind of having the balls to do that because, [clears throat] I mean, it- it's obviously paid dividends, um, you know, looking ahead to 2027.

But let's talk about 2026.

So you come off Indy Lights championship, you sign with Dale Coyne Racing.

Um, obviously a team that, you know, is constantly, you know, going through development cycles and, um, you know, doing, doing their best to, to improve but, you know, a, a smaller team.

And finally, we've got a lot to round up with.

Abby Pooling has announced she'll be testing with Andretti IndyCar and Indy NXT for their Firestone team, which marks her first time in IndyCar and first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

So very exciting to see her in an IndyCar car.

Do you rate her? I rate her.