Caio Collet and Dennis Hauger are trading punches in the fight for the 2025 INDY NXT by Firestone championship.

Collet reignited the title race with a dominant doubleheader sweep July 26-27 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He followed that momentum by earning pole position last weekend at Portland International Raceway. But Hauger responded with a decisive counterpunch, charging from third on the grid to overtake Collet into Turn 1 on the opening lap and never looking back, capturing his sixth win in 12 races this season.

“Championship drive,” Hauger was told on the radio.

With two races to go, Hauger holds a 54-point lead, essentially one race’s worth of points.

“We know we have the pace, we know we have the team and the car,” Hauger said. “It’s just about keeping calm, not overstressing and doing what we’ve been doing. I made a mistake at Laguna Seca, and if I hadn’t crashed, I think we could’ve been on pole and maybe even won. In the end, it’s the small things that matter.”

The final two rounds at the Milwaukee Mile (Aug. 24) and Nashville Superspeedway (Aug. 31) are both on ovals, a discipline where neither driver has won yet, suggesting the final outcome is far from decided.

Coming into the year, ovals were expected to be a major question mark for Hauger. The Norwegian had never raced on them before arriving in the U.S. during the last offseason. Instead of faltering, he’s thrived by starting from pole in both oval races and leading 64 combined laps, even if a win still eludes him. He finished second to Myles Rowe in the last oval race, in mid-July at Iowa Speedway.

“We’re building step by step,” Hauger said. “It’s definitely a different style of racing, but we’re progressing every weekend. We were close last time.”

With a win in the latest race on his side and a healthy but not insurmountable cushion, Hauger is trying to manage expectations while still pushing for wins.

“There are two more races, both on ovals, and I think we can keep building momentum,” he said. “I only put pressure on myself. We know what we have to do: keep it clean and aim to win. If we do that, the rest will take care of itself. Honestly, I think they’re the ones under more pressure.”

That puts the burden on Collet to strike again – and soon.

Realistically, the second-year HMD Motorsports driver needs at least one win in the final two races to keep his slim championship hopes alive. But Collet insists he’s not feeling the weight of the moment.

“I didn’t expect to be in this position, to be honest,” he said. “At midseason, we all thought the championship already had a name, and it was his. But we kept fighting. Racing is never over until it’s over.”

Collet's resurgence began in earnest at Laguna Seca, where he swept both races while Hauger endured his worst weekend of the year, crashing in practice and again in Race 2, finishing a season-low 16th. Hauger’s 76-point lead shrank to 42 heading into Portland, where he extended it slightly with another victory. The 54-point margin with two races left is steep but not insurmountable.

“I think Laguna made the championship alive again,” Collet said. “It wasn’t that I had a perfect weekend – just that the opportunity presented itself, and we took everything we could from it.

“Those wins gave us a chance to fight until the end. Now we’ve got to grab that with both hands.”

Collet has won three of the last six races, a run that elevated him from a long shot to a legitimate contender. But he knows the challenge ahead.

“There’s definitely pressure to keep winning,” Collet said. “He’s done a great job all year, and I don’t see him finishing outside the top three. So, for us, it’s simple, we have to try to win and chip away at the gap.”