Myles Rowe Wants to Make Indy 500 History

Myles Rowe came from last to first on the oval at St. Louis, a feat never before accomplished in Indy NXT history. He told his dad before the race he would win, no matter where he started. And then he did it, passing 23 cars in 75 laps, leading the most laps, and finishing well ahead of his own internal schedule. But the most revealing part of the conversation was not the pass count. It was how he thinks about preparation, balance, and the deliberate cultivation of a second life outside the cockpit.

The Race Plan Was Written the Night Before

Rowe described the night before the St. Louis race as unusually dramatic. He could not sleep. Instead of fighting the restlessness, he let his mind run through scenarios. “You run through scenarios like the race starts and everything. They kind of fall into your dreams,” he said. By the time he arrived at the track, he had a concrete plan: a certain number of cars to pass within the first ten laps, and a target of being in first place or challenging the top three by lap 60. He hit P3 by lap 40 and took the lead by lap 48. Once he realized he was ahead of schedule, he allowed himself to pace and manage the race rather than force it. The lesson is not about raw aggression. It is about using the anxiety of anticipation to build a detailed mental model, then trusting that model once the race begins.