De Tullio moves closer to season record with Portland NXT pole

Alessandro de Tullio’s march toward an Indy NXT by Firestone season record continued Saturday – by a tiny margin.

De Tullio earned his eighth pole this season – one shy of tying the all-time record for the IndyCar development series – in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry, holding off Andretti Global’s Lochie Hughes by 0.0033 of a second to earn the top starting spot for the Grand Prix of Portland. It was the fourth-closest duel for the pole on a road or street circuit in series history.

“Unreal,” de Tullio said. “This season has been, in terms of speed, amazing. I just can’t thank this team enough for giving me a great car. Every weekend, we’re always there, always fast. We’re constantly on the front row.”

Series rookie De Tullio, from Miami, has started first or second in 12 of the 14 races this season. He is trying to break the series record of nine poles set in 2018 by current NTT IndyCar Series star Pato O’Ward.

De Tullio’s pole-winning lap of 1m02.2006s came in the first qualifying group. He was forced to sit and watch half of the field try to topple his time, with series veteran Hughes falling just short at 1m02.2039s in the No. 26 Andretti Global entry on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course.

Max Taylor will start third after his best lap of 1m02.2347s in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car of Andretti Global. Championship contender Tymek Kucharczyk, who led practice Saturday morning, will join Taylor on the second row after his lap of 1m02.2268s in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry.

Jacob Abel, making his first series start since 2024, qualified fifth at 1m02.3116s in the No. 48 Abel Motorsports machine. Abel’s teammate Myles Rowe rounded out the third row at 1m02.3408s in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy car.

Kucharczyk, 25 points behind series leader Nikita Johnson, is the only one of the three main title contenders starting near the front. Johnson qualified ninth at 1:02.4178 in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Fellow rookie Enzo Fittipaldi, one point behind Johnson in second, will start 12th after his best lap of 1m02.5727s in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car.

The 35-lap race starts at 2pm ET Sunday and airs on FS1.

While the title fight rages, De Tullio will try to convert his Saturday speed into Sunday success, a rarity this season. He has just one victory – in March at Barber Motorsports Park – despite starting on the front row 12 times this season. He is seventh in the standings.

“It’s a little bit hard, as well, considering the speed we have and where we are in points and things that go on, it’s a little bit difficult to think about that,” de Tullio said. “But the important thing is we are there, we have the pace. On this side of things, it’s been a great season.”