Photo credit: Joe Skibinski | Penske Entertainment

Representing his sponsors, Josh Pierson had a stuffed tiger accompany him in the paddock during the opening race of the Indy NXT season on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

During the race, he pounced like one.

Pierson’s climb through the field on the Streets of St. Petersburg was impressive for HMD Motorsports, having made it from nineteenth on the grid up to ninth over the course of the 44-lap race.

But while Pierson got lots of recognition for this drive, including an award for making up the most places, I think people may not understand just how impressive his drive really was in the context of the series and track.

Sure, he was assisted by a few incidents, but throughout the history of the Indy NXT series racing in St. Petersburg, nobody in the last seventeen years has secured a top-10 finish starting as far back on the grid as Pierson did. You’d have to go back to Logan Gomez in 2008 to find a comeback which matches Pierson’s.

Additionally, only three times has that feat occurred at all in the series across 2024, in part due to increasing field sizes. Jay Howard was the last driver to achieve this feat in the series in any race, at Kansas in 2009.

His tall task was initiated by an electrical issue during qualifying which prevented Pierson from putting down a lap.

As with most street courses, it is difficult to make moves forward at St. Petersburg. Each of the top four drivers in the race: Dennis Hauger, Caio Collet, Lochie Hughes and Myles Rowe all finished in the exact same position they started in.

Pierson made up six of his ten spots on the opening lap alone, staying out of trouble of an incident in the opening corner, ducking to the outside and keeping his car damage-free to move up to 13th place. Battling for position on the ensuing laps, he got past teammate and fellow teenager Nikita Johnson and eventually past Seb Murray on the a lap 14 restart to knock on the door of the top-10.

After getting past Ricardo Escotto and taking advantage of a late-race incident, Pierson moved up to ninth to cap off one of the best climbs through the field that Indy NXT has seen in recent years, and a great way to save the opening weekend for the 19-year-old.

Josh Pierson and the rest of the Indy NXT grid will be in action in their next race on May 4th at Barber Motorsports Park at 11:30 a.m. eastern time on FOX Sports 1.