When Hudson Potter first got to race in USF Juniors last season at Road America, he described himself as nervous when he entered the car in Wisconsin for the first time.

Potter, 16, gathered experience in open-wheel cars throughout 2023 racing in the Florida-based Formula Inter series but had only stepped into the USF Juniors car twice prior to the race weekend.

The weekend at Road America and the final three races of the season that Potter also contested at the Circuit of the Americas were a precursor to his 2024 season, where the Lexington, Kentucky native will drive in the USF Juniors series for Jay Howard Driver Development. The young driver was enthralled by the taste of wheel-to-wheel racing he got at that level in 2023.

“I was really nervous because those are the first two official races that I have ever done that were really competitive,” Potter said. “My confidence was not very high, but other than that, I really enjoyed driving and didn’t think I did too bad for my very first race.”

Potter finished 11th out of 16 drivers in his opening race. It would be Potter’s best finish of the season but he would manage to improve his finishing position in each of his three races at Circuit of the Americas from 14th to 13th to 12th.

Long before he ended up in open-wheel racing, Potter began his career karting on dirt in the local area on tracks including nearby Clay City Raceway in Powell County, Kentucky. Him and his family were not aware for a while that karting on asphalt would be an option for them when Potter first started out.

“Dirt karting was the closest thing we had, so we started off with that,” Potter said. “I think it really prepared me for asphalt karting just for the fact that it’s really loose and you’re constantly readjusting the car.”

Potter acknowledged that his time spent on dirt has helped him develop his aggressiveness in karting as he eventually moved away from racing on dirt.

This transition would also involve racing more in Indiana. Potter won a championship at Whiteland Raceway Park and also got experience racing at New Castle Motorsports Park, a proving ground for many drivers who would eventually ascend to the USF Pro Championships.

Potter’s rise to the USF Pro Championships himself was propelled through a partnership with A14 Management, a management company owned by Formula One driver Fernando Alonso. A14 recommended driving for Jay Howard Driver Development, the same team that client Michael Costello drives for in USF2000.

Last month, Potter got to test on the new Continental Tire alongside other USF Juniors drivers at Sebring International Raceway. Potter said that he was racing with a broken finger during the test but that did not stop him from managing to come within two hundredths of a second of session-leader and USF Juniors race-winner Jimmie Lockhart in the fifth session.

“Anytime I’m in a car, I just want to consistently get faster and faster,” Potter said. “I knew I had a broken finger and I knew I should have come out earlier, but I was going for first place.”

Potter will be the first to point out the aspects of his racing that he wants to improve on throughout the course of 2024. One skill that the driver singled out was his confidence.

Confidence is something that he said comes from more driving and more experience. Potter said that as the season progresses, that skill will come naturally.

“Having confidence in your ability to save the car if it starts to slide out or if it’s a little bit loose,” Potter said. “I think knowing that I’ll be able to save that, it will really increase my confidence.”

Potter is one of five drivers scheduled to race for Jay Howard Driver Development in the USF Juniors series in 2024. The season is set to kick off when the series travels to NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, Louisiana from April 5-7.

Potter said that while he knows he is capable of a great result, there is a bit of uncertainty that comes with the first race of the season.

“Maybe (I’ll be) a bit nervous,” Potter said. “But I have a lot of confidence in myself that I’ll be able to do pretty decent that first race weekend.”