By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Imagine you were planning a trip across the country and the four stops on the trip were as follows: St. Petersburg, Birmingham, Ala., Indianapolis and Detroit.
Now imagine the trip was going to be responsible for some of your earliest impressions of the United States as a whole and only then will you begin to get an understanding of the reality Dennis Hauger is living in as he makes his way through his rookie campaign in the INDY NXT series.
Consider it a crash course on US living, if you will.
And he’s loving it.
“It’s been a really cool experience,” Hauger said. “It’s a bit different over here compared to Europe and the way the team works is also a bit different, so it’s been all about getting used to all those things, but I think I’ve found a good balance and it feels really natural being over here with the team.”
It’s a comfortability that appears to have translated over to the racetrack for Hauger in the early stages of his American open-wheel career.
Just four starts into his debut season in INDY NXT, Hauger has already captured three race wins, four top tens and 109 laps led. His laps led total is more than double that of his next closest competitor.
And after he narrowly beat out teammate and championship rival Lochie Hughes for the pole Saturday afternoon in Detroit, he has three poles in five opportunities.
It’s the level of performance he had pictured when he initially signed on to drive for Andretti Global, a move he said he made because it was in the best interest of his career.
“This was a really good opportunity for me to join Andretti and get a seat in the INDY NXT series,” Hauger said. “Obviously you still have to deliver and do the work to get the results, but so far it’s been going well and I’m happy with the position we’re in to be fighting for the championship.”
At this stage in the INDY NXT season, it’s beginning to look like a two-horse race for the title between Hauger and Hughes as the rookie teammates prepare to do battle once more on the streets of Detroit for 40 laps on Sunday.
Hughes is the only driver outside of Hauger to win a race this season and he’s the only driver in general to finish on the podium in every race so far this season.
But judging by Saturday’s pole run, Hauger is once again ready to bring the fight to Hughes on race day, this time on a track he says is different from any other he’s competed on up to this point in his career.
“We’ve got a few repaved places here and there, but there still has to be like 250 manhole covers around this track,” Hauger said. “So it’s pretty insane, but it’s one of the things that makes this track unique and tricky for the drivers as well, so I’ll just push through it and I’m keen to see how it feels in the race.”