Yuven Sundaramoorthy enters his second year with ABEL Motorsports boasting large expectations for the 2025 INDY NXT by Firestone season.
The 21-year-old Wisconsin native is climbing to the team leader role, taking the reins from departing driver Jacob Abel, who had a three-win season in 2024 that left him second in points.
Sundaramoorthy expects to continue where Abel left off.
“I definitely do,” Sundaramoorthy said if he feels like a team leader. “Different kind of expectations. Obviously, last year was a big learning year. This year I am trying to go in as the number one driver. That's the goal.
“Now, I'm the setup guy for tests. Jacob (Abel) used to do the dirty work there, but now it's me. So just kind of figuring everything out I can for the team.”
Sundaramoorthy, who had a pair of top-three finishes, four top-fives and eight top 10s as a rookie in 2024, is joined by sophomore teammate Myles Rowe, who competed for HMD Motorsports last season. The Abel team is expected to announce a third driver for its 2025 lineup soon.
Rowe, 24, won the USF Pro 2000 championship in 2023 and finished 11th in the series standings as a rookie last season, highlighted by seven top-10 finishes and two top-five results.
Sundaramoorthy brings confidence from how the 2024 season ended. The turning point of his rookie season came after a 14th-place result June 2 at Detroit.
Previously, he finished 12th, 21st, 20th and 21st, respectively. After Detroit, he had eight top-10 finishes over the final nine starts, including a career-best second in the season finale Sept. 15 at Nashville Superspeedway.
“It was Detroit,” he said. “It's a slow track with 90-degree corners where I didn't need to worry about the downforce. I could figure out how the car drives mechanically. That's what really did it for me. I understand the car just a little bit more now.”
Even more impressive for Sundaramoorthy was his was success on ovals. Performance on circle tracks admittedly was a weakness entering the 2024 season, but Sundaramoorthy finished 10th at Iowa Speedway, third at World Wide Technology Raceway, seventh at Milwaukee Mile and second at Nashville Superspeedway in 2024.
“I always struggled at the ovals in smaller cars,” he said referring to USF and USF Pro 2000. “But this team puts together such a great oval car. These cars at ovals are fun to drive, and Firestone has done a great job with the multilane racing. Hopefully I'm higher up in the championship next year, so I get a better qualifying spot for the ovals and don't have to work my way through the field.
“I think ovals are my big strong suit. I honestly think we can sweep all the ovals next year. My focus is getting a head start early in the season because I think if we've got a good lead after most of the road course races earlier in the year, we have no problem winning all the ovals. I have the confidence that the ovals, I just need to build up my confidence on the road courses. I think if we get a good start, it will go pretty well.”
The first five races next season are on road or street courses, beginning March 2 at St. Petersburg, Florida. The June 15 race at World Wide Technology Raceway is the lone circle track in the first seven rounds.
However, the June 12 race at Iowa Speedway sparks the first of three ovals in the final five races.
The 2025 season also will be the second year Sundaramoorthy, a 2023 University of Wisconsin graduate, competes without splitting focus with schooling. That was a dilemma for his psyche.
“Being in school also gave me the opportunity to rewind, like, not have to think about racing all the time,” he said. “Currently I go home, and I'm like, ‘I'm bored; I have nothing to do.’ And it's just, ‘Let's go to the gym; let's practice for the next race.’ Let's do stuff like that, where before I could unwind, turn it off and focus on something else and more stuff that I enjoyed.
“So, it has a double-edged sword in that space. I definitely have a lot more free time now, which is interesting. That’s something I haven't dealt with before.”