2023 Indy NXT
The 2023 Firestone Indy NXT Series is the 36th season of the Indy NXT open wheel motor racing series and the 21st sanctioned by IndyCar, acting as the primary support series for the IndyCar Series. Known as Indy Lights before 2023, the championship was rebranded following its acquisition by Penske Entertainment, the owner of the IndyCar Series, in 2022. This rebrand coincided with the three lower support series, still run by Anderson Promotions, also changing their branding.

Linus Lundqvist, the reigning 2022 Indy Lights champion, became a free agent after the season, so he did not defend his championship.

Series news 

 On June 22, 2022, it was announced that after seven seasons, Cooper Tires would be replaced as tire supplier by Firestone.
 As part of the rebrand, the prize structure was changed. The champion will receive a sum of $850,000 to spend on tests at Texas Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as to run the 2024 Indianapolis 500 and an additional IndyCar race. The drivers finishing second and third in the championship will receive $125,000 and $65,000 respectively.

Team and driver chart 
All teams use Dallara IL-15 cars with an AER produced Mazda sourced 2.0 litre engine and Firestone tires.
The following drivers and teams compete in the series.

 Legacy Autosport planned to enter the series, but later confirmed it would not do so.

Team changes
 In July 2022, Cape Motorsports, a long-time USF2000 team with consistent success, announced they would enter Indy NXT for 2023. They won the 2022 USF2000 Driver's Championship with Michael d'Orlando.
 In September 2022, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced its return to the series after not competing in 2022 to focus on their IndyCar entry.
 In October 2022, Force Indy announced a collaboration with HMD Motorsports to co-run the No. 99 entry under the HMD Motorsports with Force Indy guise.

Driver changes 

 On September 7, 2022, new entrant Cape Motorsport announced their first driver to be Jagger Jones, grandson of Parnelli Jones. Jones made the step up directly from the USF2000 series where he came fourth in 2022, skipping the Indy Pro 2000 series.
 On September 15, 2022, HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing confirmed Josh Green, stepping up from Indy Pro 2000 after coming 6th in 2022 with Turn 3 Motorsports.
 On October 6, 2022, Road to Indy double-champion Christian Rasmussen announced he would leave Andretti and move to HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing for the 2023 season. His replacement at the team was later announced to be Jamie Chadwick, three-time W Series champion and the first female driver in 13 years to compete full-time in Indy NXT.
 On October 17, 2022, Rasmus Lindh announced his return to Indy NXT with HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing. He last competed in the series in 2021, coming 14th with Juncos Racing.
 On October 18, 2022, HMD Motorsports announced the signing of Josh Pierson for a part-time schedule alongside his WEC and IMSA campaigns. His signing completed HMD's eight-car entry, confirming the exit of Manuel Sulaimán and reigning champion Linus Lundqvist.
 On January 4, 2023, Andretti confirmed that James Roe Jr. would move to their team. He drove for TJ Speed and HMD Motorsports in 2022 and came 12th in the championship. Roe replaced Matthew Brabham, who returned to competing in the Stadium Super Trucks Series.
 On January 18, 2023, IndyCar team Dale Coyne Racing announced Andretti driver Sting Ray Robb as their 2023 driver for the No. 51 car. Louis Foster, 2022 Indy Pro 2000 champion, was signed to replace him.
 On February 3, 2023, IndyCar team A. J. Foyt Racing announced a multi-year deal with Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports driver Benjamin Pedersen, who came fifth in the 2022 season. 
 On February 8, 2023, Abel Motorsports announced Colin Kaminsky as their second driver alongside Jacob Abel. He made the step up after three years in Indy Pro 2000, achieving six podiums in that period. Abel Motorsports three other drivers would leave the series, with Antonio Serravalle moving to the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
 On February 25, 2023, Enaam Ahmed announced his move to new team Cape Motorsports. Ahmed stepped up from the Indy Pro 2000 championship after finishing the 2022 season in third.

Mid-season changes
 On March 14, 2023, Toby Sowery announced his return to the Indy NXT series. He last competed in 2021 and was signed by HMD Motorsports to replace Josh Pierson for the races at Barber, Detroit and Laguna Seca.
 On April 28, 2023, Rasmus Lindh announced he had parted ways with HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing due to funding issues.
 On May 5, 2023, it was announced that Reece Gold mutually parted ways with Juncos Hollinger Racing to join HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing in the No. 10 entry, replacing Rasmus Lindh.
 On May 10, 2023, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced that Rasmus Lindh would drive the No. 76 entry, thereby completing a swap between Lindh and Gold.
 On May 11, 2023, HMD Motorsports and Force Indy announced that Ernie Francis Jr. would be unable to compete in the third round of the championship because of a fractured wrist he sustained at the start of the Barber event. Francis returned to competition from round 4 onwards.
 Josh Green and Colin Kaminsky left the championship ahead of round 7 at Mid-Ohio.
 On July 18, 2023, Juncos Hollinger Racing announced the immediate termination of their contract with Matteo Nannini. Two days later, his replacement for Iowa was revealed to be Matthew Brabham, who came third with Andretti in 2022.
 Enaam Ahmed was absent from Iowa, bringing the grid down to 16 cars. In the same press release that announced former Cape Motorsports driver Matthew Brabham as Ahmed's substitute driver for the Nashville race, it was announced that Ahmed wouldn't return to the team for the remainder of the season. 
 On July 26, 2023, Abel Motorsports announced that USF Pro 2000 drivers Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Francesco Pizzi would be driving the No. 57 and No. 55 cars respectively for parts of the rest of the season. Both were announced to drive at Nashville and Laguna Seca, with Sundaramoorthy also doing the Portland race and Pizzi also doing the second Indianapolis race.
 On August 1, 2023, Juncos Hollinger announced Victor Franzoni to drive the No. 75, previously piloted by Nannini and then by substitute Brabham, for the remaining road and street course races. Franzoni last competed in the category in 2018, also for Juncos, and came fifth.
 On August 9, 2023, Cape Motorsports announced that USF Pro 2000 racer Kiko Porto would make his Indy NXT debut in the No. 47 car previously piloted by Ahmed and then by substitute Brabham, in the rounds at Indianapolis and Laguna Seca. Brabham once again filled in at WWTR.
 On August 21, 2023, Kyffin Simpson announced his absence from round 11 at WWTR due to the round clashing with the European Le Mans Series, where he competes for Algarve Pro Racing.
 Cape Motorsport was absent from Gateway as Kiko Porto prioritized his USF Pro 2000 campaign and Jagger Jones also did not compete, bringing the grid for the event down to 15 cars. Cape returned with one car for Jones for Portland.
 On August 31, 2023, Juncos Hollinger announced that Brabham would fill in for Rasmus Lindh at the last two weekends at Portland and Laguna Seca.

Schedule 
The schedule was released on November 3, 2022; with the only minor change from last season being the changed location of the Detroit round from Belle Isle to downtown Detroit. A small update to the schedule was announced on February 22, 2023: the Indianapolis doubleheader was split, with one race running on the GMR Grand Prix weekend and the other race moved to the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 weekend in August.

Race results

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship 

 Scoring system

 The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
 Every driver who leads at least one lap is awarded a bonus point, the driver who leads the most laps gets two points.

Teams' championship 

 Scoring system

 Single car teams receive 3 bonus points as an equivalency to multi-car teams
 Only the best two results count for teams fielding more than two entries

See also 
 2023 IndyCar Series
 2023 USF Pro 2000 Championship
 2023 USF2000 Championship
 2023 USF Juniors

References

External links 
 

Indy Lights seasons
Indy NXT
Indy NXT
Indy NXT