Jamie Chadwick will get to test an IndyCar for the first time with the Andretti team in September, amid a crucial time in the championship’s silly season.
Three-time W Series champion Chadwick is in her second season of competing in IndyCar feeder series Indy NXT - formerly Indy Lights - and took an impressive first victory at Road America last month.
Her qualifying in particular has been a big improvement, something her race results beyond the Road America win and a podium on the Indianapolis road course haven’t always shown thanks to some misfortune.
What Jamie and the team have said
Chadwick described herself as "incredibly excited" about the test.
“I want to say a huge thank you to the team for this opportunity. It is for sure one I am going to relish.
“The NTT IndyCar Series remains my goal, so I cannot wait to learn as much as possible on that day at one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar.”
How it feels knowing I get to test in @IndyCar for the first time with @AndrettiIndy this September! 😁 Incredibly excited and a massive thank you to the team for the opportunity 🙏💪 pic.twitter.com/h1B9Q9LYms
— Jamie Chadwick (@JamieChadwick) July 31, 2024
Michael Andretti, team CEO and chairman, added: “It’s been a pleasure watching Jamie grow as a driver in our Indy NXT programme.
“The work she put in during the winter after her rookie season is obvious, and we’ve been impressed with the progress she’s made.
“The Indy NXT field is really competitive this year and what Jamie has been able to do is a testament to the level of skill and potential she has.
“We believe in rewarding hard work and results and are excited to give her this opportunity. We’re all looking forward to seeing what she can do in September.”
Chadwick's IndyCar seat chances
Chadwick is approaching the end of her second season in the support series - in most drivers' cases it would be logical to expect a move up to IndyCar or a switch elsewhere at that point.
However, Chadwick’s Indy NXT debut in 2023 doubled as her first season in US racing - and this has always been considered a long-term project to get Chadwick comfortable and up to speed.
Chadwick has always said she wants to earn any opportunity she gets on merit.
She is currently fifth in the championship with four races remaining.
If Andretti does decide it wants to promote Chadwick in-house, it would need to run an extra car, something The Race understands it is unlikely to do given shrinking from four cars to three for 2024 has had a positive effect.
Its three current drivers Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood are all under contract.
The team could certainly fund a fourth car for Chadwick but it feels unlikely at this stage, unless it is done in collaboration with others and with significant backing.
The other option would be to place Chadwick at another team, like Andretti did with Kirkwood at AJ Foyt Racing after he'd won the Indy Lights (now NXT) championship in 2021.
But Andretti already has a driver it will likely want to do this with in Louis Foster, who is 77 points clear in the lead of the championship and has won five of the last seven races.
Foster is on course for a title that would give him funding for a number of IndyCar starts and will be an extremely favourable proposition for teams.
There is certainly time to engineer this kind of move for Chadwick, although IndyCar’s seats are filling up for 2025. Only Dale Coyne, Ed Carpenter, Foyt, Juncos Hollinger and newcomer Prema likely have seats remaining, and all of those teams apart from Prema are currently fighting to remain in IndyCar’s top 22 in the championship, which is the difference between being awarded $1million at the end of the year and not.
Those teams tend to favour drivers with funding - with the introduction of the hybrid unit, costs have gone up and teams need to cover it somehow - or a very established track record. Chadwick may need to show more in her final four NXT races this season to make her case with any of them on merit.
And an additional problem is that there are many drivers on the market available vying for fewer seats, increasing the level of competition compared to previous years. Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi and IndyCar race winner Rinus VeeKay are among the drivers available even before you look outside the championship.
The final option is to do a third year of Indy NXT. Given Chadwick is still playing catch-up in terms of experience of racing in the US, a strong 2025 might unlock more options, and in a hopefully more preferable driver market than the fiercely competitive one happening now.
How good has Chadwick’s season really been?
Chadwick’s victory at Road America was incredibly impressive and came from a first series pole.
Her last five races have yielded top-10s, and while the Road America win didn’t kickstart a run of wins and podiums like some might have expected, incidents from earlier in the year are what are limiting Chadwick's championship position.
St Petersburg
Qualified 10th, hit by Josh Pierson to finish 20th
Barber
Qualified fifth, spun attempting an overtake at Turn 1
Indianapolis road course
Qualified sixth, ran fourth before a gear-shifting issue
Detroit
Qualified fourth, taken out by Yuven Sundaramoorthy
Being behind two rookies and 200 points behind a team-mate wouldn’t usually be the kind of form that gets you to IndyCar, but Chadwick has shown a marked improvement on 2023.
The next four races - and the test in an IndyCar at Barber - will likely be crucial in showing whether Chadwick can make the IndyCar grid on merit.
