Tony Quinn Foundation Ambassador Callum Hedge was back in action at Mid-Ohio over the weekend for Round 8 of the 2025 Indy NXT season, bringing home another solid haul of points to keep his strong run rolling. Here’s how his weekend unfolded.
Callum arrived at Mid-Ohio in good form, having picked up back-to-back Top 7 finishes heading into the weekend. He was also returning to a circuit where he had plenty of experience and success.
He got his first laps of the weekend around the 3.862 km circuit during Practice 1 on Friday, immediately showing pace in the Abel Motorsports car. Callum set the third-fastest time of the session with a 1:11.2255, less than two-tenths away from the session best set by Andretti’s Lochie Hughes.
In Practice 2, Callum again showed his hand, finishing third for the second session in a row with a best lap of 1:10.1586, just a tenth off the top of the timesheets heading into qualifying.
In qualifying, Callum was drawn into the second group and spent most of the session inside the Top 3. However, with track temperatures rising, the Abel Motorsports cars found it trickier to match their earlier pace.
Callum ended the session in third with a best time of 1:10.2488, just under four-tenths off Caio Collet’s best. Once the groups were combined, Callum was confirmed to start from sixth on the grid.
In the race, Callum made a clean launch from the outside of Row 3 to slot into sixth through Turn 1, quickly latching onto the back of Josh Pierson and applying pressure in the early laps.
On Lap 4, a monster crash involving the Andretti pair of Sebastian Murray and Ricardo Escotto brought out the caution, with both drivers fortunately walking away uninjured, but causing a lengthy delay for clean-up.
At the restart, Juan Manuel Correa began applying pressure, but Callum held off the American and pulled away, refocusing his attention on chasing down Pierson ahead.
While he initially shadowed Pierson closely, he gradually dropped back, and when the chequered flag fell, after a shortened race distance due to the earlier delay.
Callum crossed the line in sixth, sealing his third consecutive Top 7 finish and his sixth Top 10 in the first eight races of the season.
This result sees Callum maintain seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, now 35 points behind Josh Pierson in fifth.
There’s no rest for Callum, as the series is straight back into action this weekend, heading to Iowa Speedway for the second oval race of the 2025 season.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment – Chris Owens
