Kucharczyk Scores Maiden INDY NXT Win at IMS
Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Tymek Kucharczyk, the first Polish driver to compete in the INDY NXT Series by Firestone, took his first career win in the series, Saturday, in Race 2 of the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader an the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“Absolutely amazing,” said Kucharczyk. “To do it here at IMS is absolutely special. I remember testing here for the first time in November, and my engineer told me, man, we're going to win some races next year if you do this serious.
“It's pretty special that it happened here. Obviously I have a lot of Polish fans as well. So a cool experience.”
Starting fifth, Kucharczyk took the lead when from row starters and Andretti Global teammates Max Taylor and Josh Pierson slid wide at the first turn, allowing the series rookie to slip past and take the top spot and lead all 30 laps of the race.
“I just braked in my normal spot like I thought, and all of the cars in front appeared to overshoot the corner, and I just made use of that,” said the driver of the No. 71 entry from HMD Motorsports. “Didn't expect myself to jump into P-1. I knew I would charge forward and try to maximize what I can on lap 1, lap 2, because these are pretty much the only real opportunities to overtake.
“It was quite lucky, but at the same time, you have to help your laps. Really grateful to end up in the position where I should, then it was just to manage the race, manage the gap. We had a pretty cool scrap with Max for a couple of laps.
“Yeah, at the end it was just trying to maintain the gap, trying to maintain the pace.
Matt Fraver/Penske Entertainment
“It's pretty obvious that Max was really, really quick from lap 1,” Kucharczyk continued. “We both had new tires. I knew about it. We pretty much cleared the rest of the field. So it was just between both of us.
“Yeah, there was obviously quite a bit of a pressure. I knew I had to focus on my exits. So every time it was just about braking line and preparing the exit. Then obviously the Push to Pass is really important for us, and I tried to save it as much as I can.
“It was quite long of a race for me,” Kucharczyk conceded, “but at the same time, I felt like I have pretty much everything under control. The first few laps are obviously a bit tricky with how close you can stay when the tires are still pretty fresh, pretty grippy. Later on it was just about managing my exits, managing my tires. Yeah, just kept the pressure on.
“I never felt like after lap 3, lap 4 I was under very big pressure. I just knew exactly what I have to do.”
The only driver to score a top-five finish in each race this season, Kucharczyk says the Speedway’s 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course compares favorably to tracks he’s raced on in Europe.
“Pretty much all of the European style tracks we have on the calendar is pretty smooth. The curves are quite low most of the time. The grip level is quite high.
“So it is, let's say, a bit more natural for us Europeans to jump in and be on it. At the same time, it's one of the few tracks I go to test last year -- well, pretty much the only track. So coming into this weekend, I knew what to expect. I knew what I have to do to be quick. So that was quite a big help.
“Yeah, other than that, let's say the road course, Indy Road Course is just more type of track that is natural to go out and just push to its limits, and you know what to expect. That's more European style, I would say.”
Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment
While Kucharczyk may be an unknown to US race fans, he has a following back in his home country with a film crew from Poland documenting his weekend at the Speedway.
“Obviously as the first Pole racing here, it's pretty new. We're off to a fresh start. I have lots of support from Poland back in Poland, and also here in America we have a big, big Polish community in the U.S. It's pretty cool to see all the Polish flags around the truck and to see them cheering for me.
“It's an important factor as well for a driver to have, let's say, big back, big following, big fan base. I'm really grateful for that.
“It's a cool factor, but at the same time, when you're in a race car, you've just got to focus on racing. We drop everything what's going on with the media stuff and just focus on winning races.”
With his win, Kucharczyk now trails Cape Motorsports with ECR driver Nikita Johnson by just three points heading to the Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of Detroit on May 31.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.