Cape Motorsports powered by ECR driver Nikita Johnson earned the 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone championship on Sunday in Laguna Seca. After finishing on the podium for both races of the double-header, the 18-year-old secured the title in his rookie season.

Coming into the weekend, Johnson was three points ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi in the title race. Johnson started higher up the grid for the first race of the title-deciding weekend, and moved further forward quickly. By time the field had gone through the Turn 2 hairpin, the #21 car was already up to third. Then he inherited second when the driver ahead was given a penalty for causing a collision.

Johnson was able to keep second place for the remainder of the event, and finished six positions ahead of Fittipaldi. Johnson’s points lead grew to 19 after the first round.

Matteo Nannini started the first race in the mid-pack, and did his best to stay out of the hectic battles for position. He settled into 12th, then moved forward on a restart when others took their battle into the gravel. Nannini made another clean pass a lap later, and eventually his #20 entry crossed the line in 11th position.

For race two, the two Cape Motorsports drivers lined up on the third and fourth rows. Just as the green flag was waving, a large crash from the front row filled the track with smoke ahead of the charging field. Both Johnson and Nannini were able to avoid the carnage and drove through the chaos with no damage.

Both drivers advanced forward one more position due to a penalty handed down from race control for the accident. Johnson once again took second place and held onto the position expertly for the remaining laps, only pushing the limits as much as necessary to defend against attacks from behind. He finished in second place while Nannini ended the day in seventh, helping give the team another double top 10 result.

By winning the 2026 INDY NXT championship at just over 18 years and three months old, Johnson becomes the youngest champion in series history. He earned two wins, nine podiums, and finished inside the top 10 for all 17 races. His lowest finish of the year was eighth. The final points tally was 585, which was 29 points ahead of his nearest competitor. Johnson was the only driver in the field to finish all 656 laps of the season, showing awareness of his surroundings at all times.

Cape Motorsports finished the season with one 1-2 finish in Nashville, two double podiums, and six double top 10 finishes. It is the team’s first INDY NXT by Firestone championship in its fourth year competing in the series, which is added to the total of 14 USF2000 championships won over the past two decades.

Dominic Cape:

First and foremost, I want to thank Nikita and his brilliant family who are a big part of our team and family, along with Michael.

It has been a tremendous year, and I honestly said before the season started that I could feel this team turning a corner, much like we did all those years ago in USF2000. I felt we had the right drivers and, just as importantly, the right people around them to make something special happen.

A big thanks to Ed, Ted and Tim, the whole ECR team and Jay at JHDD for everything they have done for our team this year.

Thank you to Matteo and his family, ENVE and their support, Mark and all the ENVE guys.

Reg completely overhauled our engineering department over the winter and installed some amazing tools for us to use, he also did a wonderful job all season with the 20 and 21 cars. Nicholas put every setup on the cars and, somehow, also managed to eat an extraordinary amount of candy along the way.

And then there are all the guys Emilio, Jeremy, Ali, Brendan, Ian, Louis, Jim, Damien, Larry, Mathew, MDO, Devlin and Kevin. What can you say? They simply never stopped. The hours, the commitment and the determination they showed throughout the year were incredible.

This championship was a complete team effort. It came from a relentless pursuit of getting better every single weekend and refusing to settle for anything less than what we knew the team was capable of. I’m incredibly proud of every person who played a part in it.

Finally, a huge thank you to AER, Firestone, INDY NXT and the INDYCAR Series for all of their help and support throughout the season. Championships are never won by one person. This one belongs to the entire Cape Motorsports team.

Nicholas Cape:

I think people come into your life at certain points. Nikita came at the right time for us. We’ve been working hard for these four years, unbelievably tough times. Nikita came at the right time. He was ready, we were ready. We gave 110 percent.

I just want to thank everybody on our team, the family and everything. Our boys did an amazing job, amazing job all year. It’s absolutely phenomenal. Unbelievable team effort from our lads who are in the trenches every day working. Incredible job, every one of them.

It was a brilliant year. Hard to put into words. Obviously we’re ecstatic. Ecstatic for my brother [Dominic], engineering, everybody. Incredible job this year!

Nikita Johnson:

Yeah, just been an incredible year. We’ve been one of the fastest everywhere we’ve gone to. By far the most consistent out of everyone, in my opinion. Even if we weren’t the fastest in practice, we always got there by qualifying, no matter what. We never let a bad first day dictate our weekend. We always came back from wherever we unloaded in FP1. I think that’s what made us so strong.

I just can’t thank the Cape boys enough. They’ve always worked so hard all year. I mean, 110, 120 percent. Busted their butt all year to go and win this championship. Even though it’s an individual sport, at the same time it’s not. I wouldn’t be here without this whole team.

Matteo Nannini:

Happy to have concluded an overall positive 2026 season. We had our highs and lows but we always showed competitive pace. Great work from the cape boys on the 20 car for never giving up during the hardest times.

A special thank you goes to my sponsors, ENVE and all the people who made it possible. It wasn’t easy to manage both teams and driving myself too but we are just getting started.