Evagoras Papasavvas, Lochie Hughes, and Max Taylor were all either making their Indy NXT debut or contesting their second-career race at Barber Motorsports Park this past weekend.

All three drivers competed in the USF Pro Championships last season, winning races at every level. Hughes graduated to Indy NXT on scholarship after winning the USF Pro 2000 title, while Papasavvas and Taylor combined for six USF2000 victories.

And all three finished inside the top seven in Indy NXT this weekend. The only driver ahead of Papasavvas and Hughes was FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger. If not for a qualifying penalty that dropped him to the back, Taylor may well have joined them in a 2-3-4 sweep at a track where neither USF2000 nor USF Pro 2000 even race.

Stories of drivers like Michael d’Orlando, Kiko Porto, Braden Eves, and Simon Sikes are familiar to those who follow the path to IndyCar — talented champions who, despite proving their worth, weren’t able to make the jump to Indy NXT. 

Sikes will be running in USF2000 this weekend in Indianapolis, a series he won the title by over 100 points over Nikita Johnson and Lochie Hughes in.

With the cost of a full-season Indy NXT seat sitting around $1.2 million and expected to rise to $1.5 million in the near future, the question must be asked: Is the talent gap worth the price tag?

Indy NXT continues to play a vital role in the development of American open-wheel drivers. The series features four ovals, higher horsepower, and tracks that mirror the IndyCar calendar — areas where USF Pro Championships have limited overlap. (Currently, their only oval race is the 0.686-mile Indianapolis Raceway Park, though series officials have expressed interest in adding more.)

But that vital experience comes with an inflated cost. A cost that, due to the small number of teams in Indy NXT, can be driven even higher by competitive demand. If drivers are willing to pay more, teams can charge more. 

And the problem is only growing.

This year’s USF Pro 2000 grid doesn’t just include Taylor — who’s already proving his pace at the next level — but also features Max Garcia and Alessandro de Tullio, two highly accomplished young stars with clear IndyCar potential battling for the title.

de Tullio has spoken openly about his funding challenges, including stepping away from car racing for two years to regroup financially. And even if he were to win the USF Pro 2000 title, he’d still face a massive hurdle: the scholarship.

At $546,500, the USF Pro 2000 scholarship covers less than half the cost of most Indy NXT rides — and roughly the same amount by which those rides have inflated since 2019. We are quickly approaching a future where even the champion can’t afford to move up.

If that happens, it won’t just damage one driver’s career — it threatens the credibility of the entire system.

If this funding gap continues to grow, one of American open-wheel’s greatest assets — the scholarship ladder — may no longer be able to do its job. Even the most deserving champions could find themselves stuck — not because of talent, but because of budget.

Indy NXT will always be essential for preparing drivers for IndyCar. But if the cost of preparation becomes unreachable, we risk losing more than great prospects.