NTT INDYCAR SERIES NEWS CONFERENCE

November 10, 2026

Nikita Johnson

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: The driver lineup for the 2027 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season continues to be finalized. This morning it was announced that Nikita Johnson will be driving a Dale Coyne Racing Honda next year.

Nikita enters the season with partner support from ENVE and Only Bulls. I can only imagine that as a St. Pete native, the opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, can't wait.

Nikita, congratulations. Know you've been working on this for a while now. How thrilling is it to get the news out there and really start building towards March of 2027?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yes, thank you for having me. Yeah, very excited to get on track in March in my hometown for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Very thankful to have ENVE and Only Bulls on board.

Every interview people were asking, When is it going to be done? We were trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We finally got it all together. Now we're ready to go racing.

Just going to be training very hard and focusing on St. Pete and the start of the INDYCAR season.

THE MODERATOR: Last season you were the youngest-ever INDY NXT champion. You knew what the career path would be. Maybe you didn't know exactly the timing of it. Have you exceeded your own expectations? What do you need to do between now and March to make sure you're ready to go?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I always knew that I was going to try to do it one-and-done. I'm very humble, right? I wasn't going to beat on my chest and say it's one-and-done, right?

I definitely did work very hard for it. I'm happy that I was able to win at a really young age and be able to move on. We're just going to have to be, yeah, in the gym a lot and on the sim a lot just trying to get prepared for St. Pete and every single road course, street course and oval there is on that calendar. It's so diverse. We race everywhere really. Just got to be ready for everything, right?

THE MODERATOR: In one respect the hard work is behind you, but in many respects the harder work is now in front of you. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. What do you feel like from the time you've been in an INDYCAR is going to be the biggest challenge and transition?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I'd say from the test I just had to get used to braking. That was my first time driving with carbon brakes. Other than that, I've never driven a car with carbon brakes. Just getting used to that will not take a while, but need to get in the car. With limited test days, we're going to be working on that pretty heavily just to get on it.

I think before St. Pete, it should be out of the way and not an issue.

Q. How much are you looking forward to the Indy 500 versus everything else that comes along with your first INDYCAR season?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it a lot. The Indy 500 is the big one, right? For me there's a lot of history. I've always watched that because it's been on my birthday weekend. I was born on it. To be in it is a dream come true.

I also love ovals. Even though this is not exactly a regular oval, it is rectangular-ish a little bit, it's going to be very fun. I'm just excited to get out there in May and turn some laps.

Q. Between your conversations with Dale and the rest of the team, what would you say would make a successful rookie season for you?

NIKITA JOHNSON: For me, I look at it as getting a few podiums, which is always possible. It's going to be hard to get a win just because INDYCAR is such a challenging series. If you could get a win in your rookie year, I think that would be amazing.

How I really look at it is I believe Alex Palou finished 16th in the championship. A lot of rookies have a tough time in their first year. They finish like 18th to 20 something. My main goal is to be Rookie of the Year and top 15 or 16 in the championship my first year.

Q. How big of a jump did it feel like for you going from running in INDY NXT then running the test at Barber?

NIKITA JOHNSON: There was a little bit of a gap, but it didn't feel too big. A lot of people were saying that it was going to be a really big jump. I mean, it just felt like a little bit overall of everything. It wasn't extremely crazy, anything in particular. It was just the braking, had to get used to kind of warming them up, how the bite point on it was.

Other than that, people were going to be like it's extremely physical, you're going to be gone in a few laps. I made it through my first day really good. Obviously we're going to keep training, because the more fit you are the better and easier.

It wasn't too big of a jump. I think it was a natural progression how it should be.

Q. On the IMSA side, you're playing around in both shops. You also have access to a lot of different people, especially on the RLL side. With the preparation on the IMSA side, doing those pit stops, how much more better prepared do you feel handling pit stops, something you don't get in INDY NXT, to get up to speed?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I feel it's going to be just a slight change. I mean, I think if I didn't do IMSA and I didn't do any hop stops or cold tires on out-laps or anything like that, it would be for sure really difficult coming in at St. Pete.

I think I have a good baseline on how to do pit stops correctly, not mess up, do out-laps on cold tires. Obviously still going to have a lot to learn in an INDYCAR because it's a completely different beast than a GT. At least I have an understanding of what to do. I think it will be a little bit easier on me.

Q. You mentioned Alex Palou, one of the several drivers Dale Coyne took in, developed into a heavy hitter. How much confidence does that give you?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, it gives me a lot of confidence that we'll do well. I think we worked really good together at the test. I'm very happy with everyone in the team. Everybody is just amazing. It seems that they care so much about the car and racing in INDYCAR.

Even though we're going to be a small team, I think there's a lot of passion behind us. Same like with Cape. I think we're not going to prove people wrong but do pretty good things together, same how we did with Cape.

I'm just very excited to get it rolling and I wish it was March already.

Q. With Dale, how long have you been in contact with him, around the team, and what have you done in the time frame since?

NIKITA JOHNSON: It's been a lot. I always say putting the pieces of the puzzle together, that's what it's basically been since winning the championship in Laguna, was securing the budget to run and all that, getting everybody on board, making sure all the deals are right, everybody's happy with what's in the contract. It just takes a while.

We've been working at this for a good little bit. I can't thank everybody at Dale Coyne for making the process super smooth, everybody at ENVE and Only Bulls. It's been a pretty easy thing to do with the contracts. I'm very happy that everybody is getting along and pushing for the same goal, to do great next year. So it's very exciting.

Q. You mentioned in July that you chose Cape because it was a small team, it felt like family. Is that how you feel about Coyne, as well?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yes, I do. I've always liked smaller teams. That's how my whole career has been. I think we proved a lot of people wrong last year with Cape. They're obviously a very strong team but also a small team. Nobody really thought about us as being frontrunners. Dale Coyne has had a lot of success. It's where I love to be. I feel very comfortable after the test.

The team has a lot of passion behind it. I think doesn't matter how big you are, how small your team is, as long as everybody there loves to come to work, loves to come race on the weekends, has a lot of passion, you can end up doing very well.

I think we're going to have a really good bond. I'm just excited to start working with them.

Q. After your test you said your goal was to be the youngest at everything, to be the youngest winner in INDYCAR. Is that realistic at all?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I forgot what age Colton was, somewhere around my age. Yeah, to be the youngest at something. Hopefully youngest champion. I don't know what the stats are on that. Indy 500 winner.

Q. 18 years, 11 months.

NIKITA JOHNSON: I'm going to have to get it done (smiling).

Q. You won the championship without taking a single pole last year. Is it that you prioritize Sunday over Saturday or was there something specific that you just didn't qualify as well as you wanted to?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I mean, we just had problems in qualifying sometimes last year. Just kind of one of those things for a few reasons. We always hit back a lot harder and always found the setup.

Just being with a small team with two cars, it was a lot harder to find the setup than having four or eight cars. We kind of struggled with that a little bit last year.

Cape did such an amazing job to figure out the setup and make sure we were going to go forward and get the best points that we could on Sunday, so...

Q. What does it mean to you that you finished in the top 10 in every race and finished every lap? What does that say about how you're going to approach this season?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, pretty happy with it obviously. I was happy to bring the car home in one piece, let everybody from the team relax, not have to rebuild the car every time out there, like some drivers.

That's going to be my goal for next year, as well. Racing is expensive. INDYCAR is expensive. I do everything to keep them in one piece, make smart decisions. Hopefully come back every time after the race without having too much damage, right?

I was just talking to my dad. It was kind of funny. This is going to be the best day on social media today. At some point next year everybody is going to be hating on me for a crash here or there (smiling).

I'm going to try to be smart and keep myself in good positions and not crash.

THE MODERATOR: Dale would really appreciate if you could keep the crash damage to a small limit.

Q. Dennis Hauger was the INDY NXT champion in 2025. He became a Dale Coyne Racing driver in 2026. A similar step for you. How important is that reference for you in order not just to arrive in INDYCAR but also to stay in INDYCAR, maybe the most difficult thing for a rookie?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, it's going to be training really hard, working the best I can with the team, doing everything in my power to be the best on track.

My goals are, like I said, I'm not really looking too much on what the past drivers at Dale Coyne did. This year my goal is seeing what Alex Palou did when he was at Dale Coyne, hopefully trying to match that in my first year.

Yeah, the goal is obviously to be Rookie of the Year because that's a good thing to have, then being in top 15 or 16 my first year. Those are my goals. I'm going to do everything I can to achieve that.

Q. Next season is very special because INDYCAR is going to Europe, to Barcelona. How excited are you with this new adventure?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Very excited. I love Barcelona. I've been there two or three times in winter testing. As you know, it gets pretty cold. I went to Spain and Portugal for testing in F3. It's definitely one of my favorite tracks over there. Very excited to go back.

This time being a faster car, I know the fans are going to be amazing out there. I just can't wait.

Q. You are the first driver from Dale Coyne Racing, but the second driver hasn't been announced. From your side, what would you like to be the relationship between you and your teammate? Which kind of profile do you want to see as your teammate?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, just hope that we get along. Most likely we will because I'm a pretty chill person and nice. So far I've gotten along with most of my teammates. Hopefully they like oversteer because I don't like going with understeer. That's a key for me (smiling).

Yeah, like I said, someone we can get along together well because at the end of the day my goal is to obviously get top 15 or 16 in the championship. If I have a good teammate, as well, we can both make the car better throughout the practices. If we can both help each other and get the car in a better window, where both can benefit and the team will benefit.

Hopefully I'm a good teammate and we can work together a lot and make each other better and extract the most we can out of the year.

Q. Does becoming the youngest INDY NXT champion add pressure to immediately perform when you come into the series? How will you adapt to that?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I didn't hear the last part, but it was very fun to be the youngest. Obviously win it in my rookie year. I was very thankful to have such an amazing team behind me, Cape Motorsports, and Cape brothers. Everyone there are pretty much family at this point. Even though we were the smallest team, we showed what we can do.

Yeah, passion, I don't want to say obsession, but when you work really hard for it. I was just very thankful to be with them, yeah. It was just the first step, right? Now we're on to another adventure. We just got to keep moving forward, right?

Q. You've mentioned what you would view as a successful rookie campaign. How are you going to go about achieving that next year?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I'm just going to prioritize keeping the car in one piece. Any points is better than no points. I think when you look at INDYCAR racing, sometimes it gets pretty crazy, right? Sometimes as long as you finish, you're going to pick off a few positions.

Just going to be all about bringing the car home, not making any of the boys in the shop work too hard. I'll also be working very hard off track in the Honda sim, the sim sat my house, working out as much as I can. Fishing every once in a while. People think it might not help, but it's a good mental break and also kind of physical being in the sun all day.

I'm going to do the best I can to prepare myself and keep the car in one piece on the race weekends.

Q. Dale Coyne has a great reputation for developing young drivers. How much did Dale's proven track record influence your decision to choose the team?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, pretty much from everyone I talked to, Dale Coyne is probably the best place you can go for your rookie season. Everyone there is very welcoming. A lot of rookies have gone there. Just completely enjoyed the space, love the team.

Yeah, I learned a lot. He was also pretty much the first person to congratulate me after I won the championship. I respect people like that. Dale is just such a good guy. He's very down to earth. He's extremely smart about the car. I can talk to him about anything engineering-wise on the car.

It's just a real very, very good team, very good group of people. Yeah, everything about it led me to choosing them and them choosing me, so I'm very thankful for it.

Q. Looking ahead to the 2027 season, do you already have a specific preparation plan in place? What areas will you be focusing on the most to make sure you're as ready as people?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I have a few. Can't say too much. I think through the testing that we'll do on road courses, just keep dialing in the carbon brakes 'cause obviously I'm very new to that. Never had that besides the Barber test. I'm just going to be working off track very hard to put myself in the best position to be in mentally, physically, and everything that goes on with it to extract the most out of my on-track work.

Just going to do everything in my power to be the best I can. Throughout the season I'm going to still train very hard, work with the team when we're not racing to figure it out. That's just it: just hard work. It's going to be fun, and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. If we look beyond the championship points or the finishing positions, what would make you look back at your rookie season in about a year saying that it was a successful year, that you took a step forward as a driver?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Hmmm... I haven't really thought too much about that one. Maybe getting like a top 10 in St. Pete, doing really well in qualifying, getting used to the reds because you don't get a lot of time on that. You kind of drive them for the first time in St. Pete. Getting used to the red compound. Just starting the Indy 500, qualifying for it. That would be really high up on my bucket list.

Q. You have a lot of support in the St. Pete market. You've been a big part of fan events. How special is it to know that you're making your INDYCAR debut at home?

NIKITA JOHNSON: It's very special. I've been looking forward to it ever since I knew this was going to happen. Made my debut in pretty much every series at St. Pete. It's very cool to kind of have this tradition keep going, right?

Just had a lot of support from all my friends and family around here. Even just people that live here know that I'm from here. Just a lot of good support, a lot of good people here, very strong community. Everybody looks after each other, especially after all the hurricanes we went through and all that. Even the race weekend.

Just a very strong community. I just love that everybody looks out for each other. I'm very excited to have my debut in front of everyone. Hope everyone can make it out and say hi. I'll talk for a second. I'm going to be busy this year, but plan on saying hi to everyone that comes out.

Q. You won in basically every series coming up the ladder. How does that past success impact your confidence coming into St. Pete?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I know St. Pete really well. Most of the tracks on the calendar at this point I know very well. I've been driving them for a few years. It definitely boosts my confidence quite a bit because I know it really well and I'm able to be walk the track two, three weeks before. I get a little advantage.

Yeah, just very fun and very excited to have my debut there. I don't know if I'll win it in my debut like a few of the other classes, but we can always try and hope for that, though. We'll see what happens.

Q. You will be the third driver born in Florida on the INDYCAR grid from 2020. First one was Oliver Askew and recently Kyle Kirkwood. Did you compete with Oliver and Kyle in the karting era?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I was always a few years younger than them. I think I only competed with Askew once in a shifter. He was in a different class. I used to joke that I beat him when I was 12, but that's because he broke down in the shifter (smiling).

Yeah, other than that I never raced against them, but I always saw them around the paddock. Good to have familiar faces.

Kyle came to my first-ever F4 race in Palm Beach in 2019 or 2020. It's going to be cool to race with a few people I've known for a while.

Q. Obviously the season has not started yet, the next season will be the last year with this package of INDYCAR. Do you have some idea about in mid-season on the space available to study the '28 package?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, I saw the '28 package in Sebring when they did the test I'm not sure how long ago. It looks like a really good car. I'm excited about it.

What I'm most excited for is that I get my rookie year out in the old car, then it's kind of a level playing field to speak with the '28 car. I don't have to go into new car, new series, new tracks, I can just focus on learning a new car.

That was one of the big things why we pushed really hard to go win INDY NXT this year in one year, get my rookie year before the new car comes out.

Q. No. 18 or 19 on your car?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I'm not too sure yet. I believe I'm the 19, but it's just a number. I think I'd rather than the 19 'cause because I'll race more next year as a 19-year-old than an 18-year-old.

Q. The fact you ran with Cape, going through the ladder system, here you are with Dale, I know the options were limited. Why does this fit so well? Why is the preference small teams for you?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I seem to get along with everybody on a small team better. I don't know. I just like being the underdog a little bit. That's how I always like being. I like being humble and not being noticed by everyone, just doing my thing.

Also I feel like when you have less people, sometimes it doesn't get overcomplicated, lost in the talk. That's just my view on it. Everybody has their own take on it, right?

At least what I love with Dale Coyne is everybody there has a lot of passion for it. I can already tell from only working with them one test day and being in the shop one day. They have an extreme amount of passion for this. They love it so much.

I just really hope that I'm able to give them a few podiums next year and a few good points so we can celebrate their hard work because they work really, really hard.

Q. If you end up having some good runs with a small team like this, everyone is going to notice if you start kicking their ass. With next year, is it going to be something similar to what you did with INDY NXT, where you also ran IMSA? Do you see yourself running IMSA or only focused on INDYCAR next year?

NIKITA JOHNSON: I'm solely focused on INDYCAR, but I'm not opposed to being in Daytona. I love Daytona. It's a really fun race to go do. Yeah, any other races that people want me in during IMSA, hopefully they contact my manager and my family and we can sort something out 'cause I'll drive anything. I love to go race. Doesn't matter what I'm racing, as long as I'm on track I love it.

Q. Effectively you're open to it but you don't have anything set?

NIKITA JOHNSON: Yeah. Open to it, just need something to happen for Daytona.

Q. You're not any stranger to being the youngest driver in a lot of circles, being on pretty small teams. How has your relationship to racing changed to when you started versus now?

NIKITA JOHNSON: It's a great question. Usually don't get that asked a lot. Probably more passion now than ever. Every time you move up a car and a class, it gets even more competitive and faster and everything and more physical. I'm a very competitive person. I'm driven by it. Every time it gets tougher and more competition, I love it. So for me it gets more passion every year.

Some people, when they make it to professional sports, now my hobby or something I like is as job and I'm having to go do this, having to go do that. I don't think that way. I love doing it. I love doing all the media, doing all the events, racing. For me it's not a job. I still have a lot of passion for it.

I just can't wait to get started, go racing, hopefully kick some butt. Yeah, I just love it.

THE MODERATOR: We'll leave it there for now. Nikita, congratulations. Signed, sealed, delivered. See you on the grid in March.

NIKITA JOHNSON: Thank you, everyone.