Arlington, TX (March 20, 2026) – Round two of the 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone championship took place at the long-awaited Grand Prix of Arlington, racing through the streets of Arlington and around the iconic AT&T Stadium home of the Dallas Cowboys and Globe Life Field home of the Texas Rangers. The inaugural event proved to be a tricky one as Abel Motorsports worked to get a handle on the brand-new circuit while dealing with the harsh winds that Mother Nature through the team’s way.
Scoring his first top-10 of the 2026 season, Jordan Missig feels like progress was made on the No. 48 machine and credits the strategy that he and the team worked on ahead of the 30-minute race that helped propel him to 10th.
“Arlington was such a super fun and really a neat track to be able to drive on and race. From the bumps going down the back-stretch to the different passing zone it had to offer, it really was a challenging track to get the hang of,” said Missig.
“With the race being shortened due to the strong winds that rolled into Arlington, my team and I knew that we had to make the most of the short amount of time if we wanted to move up the grid and we did just that. We managed to pick off about seven spots to get ourselves a top-10 and good points moving to round three and four at Barber Motorsports Park.”
Colin Kaminsky came to Arlington with a sense of optimism after a difficult kickoff to the 2026 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg, but due to an incident on the start outside of Kaminsky’s control, that optimism was wiped away before the race really started going.
“We had an absolute bummer of a day last Sunday. Our race was cut short through no fault of our own. From my point of view, I had eyes on the pole sitter, he never accelerated to start the race and then the track went green. It caught a lot of cars off guard and there was a massive stack up causing me to hit the car in front of me.”
“We had a good idea that if we kept it clean we were going to be able to fight towards the top-10, but instead we ended up in the melee. Brutal ending for the No. 57 Slick Locks Abel Motorsports crew because they worked early and late hours all weekend in Arlington and deserved better,” exclaimed Kaminsky.
Thankfully for Kaminsky and the Abel Motorsports crew, it’s a quick turnaround from Arlington to Barber so Kaminsky is already moved down the road ready for rounds three and four.
“We have Barber Motorsports Park double-header coming up next week and it is going to be all systems go to be fighting inside the top-10 from the jump. Time to get back on track, no pun intended.”
Echoing the sentiments from his teammates on the impressive facilities that surrounded the track, 17-year-old Max Garcia was thoroughly impressed by the experience.
“I really enjoyed racing at the Inaugural Arlington Grand Prix, what a fantastic facility! It was crazy to be racing around AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field, just such a cool backdrop for a racetrack,” said Max Garcia.
After a difficult weekend on track, including some things outside of the teams control, Garcia knew that all he could do was continue to keep his head down and push for every spot he could get.
“It was a challenging weekend for us on the 12 car, but I’m really proud of the effort that the entire Abel Motorsports group put in. There was definitely some positives to take away from Arlington that we can take directly to rounds three and four at Barber Motorsports Park. I can’t wait to get back in the car and continue learning and making progress.”
Starting the year off with back-to-back top-10 finishes, Myles Rowe is thankful he avoided the opening lap chaos and managed to collect good points towards the 2026 championship.
“I’m really happy to come away from Arlington with some points, especially after narrowly avoiding being taken out at the start of the race. I’m really happy we were able to avoid that and keep collecting some points,” stated the Georgia native.
As Rowe looks ahead to the Barber Motorsports Park, knowing that he will have a tremendous amount of family support has him especially excited for the racing ahead.
“We have some things to work on heading to Barber, but I’m really excited to get back to Alabama. It’s almost like a second home track with all of my moms family being from there and coming out to support me. Time to get another good result on this 2026 schedule.”
The 2026 INDY NXT by Firestone season rolls on to rounds three and four at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds Alabama. The weekend kicks off with practice one on Friday March 27 live on FOX Sports 2. Qualifying and race one highlight Saturday March 28, with the 35 lap race being shown live on FOX Sports 1 beginning at 1:00pm ET. Race two on Sunday March 29 will be shown live on FOX Sports 1 with coverage beginning at 11:00am ET. Keep up to date with all things Abel Motorsports by following the team on social media, @abelmotorsports, or by visiting www.abelmotorsports.com