INDY NXT by Firestone race winner Jacob Abel will drive the No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing car for the entire 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, team officials announced Jan. 13.
Abel, from Louisville, Kentucky, finished second in the standings in 2024 in his third season in the INDYCAR development series. He also broke through last season with his first three wins and first three poles in the series while driving for his family-owned team.
“It’s a lifelong dream come true,” Abel said. “I can’t thank everyone who’s helped out along the way enough. I’ve had a great relationship with Dale for the last couple of years, and I’m very thankful for the confidence he has in me.
“The team has some very experienced personnel joining and returning to the program, and I have full confidence they will deliver a great race car and help me learn the ropes of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. It’s going to be a fun but challenging journey, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Abel first tested with Dale Coyne Racing in fall 2023 at Sebring International Raceway in Florida, where he impressed team owner Dale Coyne.
“We have watched Jacob over the years and did an evaluation test with him at the end of the 2023 season, where he showed great promise in these cars,” Coyne said. “It will be good to run one driver in the No. 51 car for the whole season so that we can work on the consistency needed in the highly competitive NTT INDYCAR SERIES.”
Abel’s steady rise to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES mirrored his performance in INDY NXT by Firestone. He finished eighth in the standings as a series rookie in 2022, followed by fifth in 2023 and second behind champion Louis Foster in 2024. Abel joins INDY NXT rival Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Robert Shwartzman of PREMA Racing as candidates for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year award.
DCR’s No. 18 car remains the only open seat on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid as the season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday, March 2 (live, FOX, INDYCAR Radio Network) nears.
“Our plans for our second driver are coming along quite nicely, and we will have more news on that in approximately three weeks,” Coyne said.