Pierson scores breakthrough win in first leg of Indy NXT doubleheader at Laguna Seca

It was the result Josh Pierson dreamed of achieving during his three and a half seasons of training in the Indy NXT series. After 53 races without a win, the 20-year-old from Oregon started from pole position on Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and spent 35 laps in the lead — holding off championship leader Nikita Johnson at the start and on multiple restarts — to secure a statement victory.

Having gotten his start in LMP2 prototypes at the age of 16 in 2022, where he became the youngest competitor in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, his transition to Indy NXT for a partial 2023 season wasn’t easy, and it didn’t get much better in 2024.

By 2025, Pierson was able to rise and reach sixth in the championship, but despite earning two podiums, 2026 was shaping up to be a disappointment until he captured his first pole last weekend at Milwaukee and his breakthrough win in Monterey.

“That does a lot for confidence,” Pierson said. “I think it's just like the pole at Milwaukee, then coming into qualifying here. It's a big boost of confidence, a proof to myself that I can do it.”

For some who come from LMP2, the cars help young drivers to amass knowledge and mileage that accelerates their learning curve in other cars. Pierson says he’s found the opposite to be true.

“I feel like I struggled a lot coming over here from prototypes,” he added. “This car hasn't driven like what I'm used to. It's been a tricky thing for me to adapt to. I feel like now I'm really starting to discover what I need from the car, what helps me find the time and the speed.

“Before that, I feel like I was always kind of trying things, experimenting, never really finding my footing. I was just on the edge, but I could never find something that was stable ground and go from there. I feel like now being able to know more or less what I need from the car, also gelling well with the team and with my guys, everybody on my crew, on the 29 [Andretti Global] car, getting comfortable with them and comfortable working together. Honestly, just the amount of support I've had from everybody at Andretti has been amazing. I feel like I owe a lot of that to them.”

Pierson became a lightning rod for IndyCar’s new and more restrictive driver licensing criteria, where only the top finishers in the NXT standings receive preferred consideration to compete in IndyCar. Sitting 12th in the standings before his win, Pierson moved to 11th and could crack the top 10 with another quality run in Race 2 on Sunday, where he starts second.

“It's not my concern, right? I know a lot of people have put a lot of stuff out there about me. People seem to talk about stuff that I don't even know about,” Pierson said of the chatter regarding keeping him out of IndyCar due to his place in the NXT standings and the large budget his family is offering teams.

“So for me, it really hasn't been my concern. I've been able to focus on myself, do what I need to do to improve, find my footing. I feel like this has been a huge confidence boost, morale boost for the team coming off a rough year.”