Beeton Confronts Stati in Pit Lane, Hughes Claims Podium

Tensions boiled over in the Portland International Raceway pit lane after Sunday's Indy NXT race. Cameron Beeton was caught on camera marching toward Josh Stati and grabbing him before HMD Motorsports crew separated the pair. The clash came after a late-race incident between the two drivers.

According to Beeton's social media post, the cause was an incident at the final corner. Replays showed Stati baulking Beeton, forcing the #45 wide. "Bumpy ride this race. Taken out lap one and got severe damage," Beeton wrote. "Recovered from P24 [to] P12. Then hit by a car that was a lap down. Cheers for that mate. Anyway, finished P13. Eventful one, pace was good even with a damaged car. Sh*t happens."

The race was won by Alessandro de Tullio of AJ Foyt Racing, ahead of Australian Lochie Hughes for Andretti Global. De Tullio led all 35 laps, which began chaotically with Beeton spinning at the chicane after contact with Matteo Nanini.

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Hughes challenged de Tullio for the lead into Turn 1 but copped a whack from teammate Max Taylor instead. "The start was pretty hectic," said Hughes. "It's kind of a lottery here in turn one. It's like 60 percent of the time it works every time. Just tried out-braking Ale on the outside. Didn't really work, which I expected, just the inside being so strong here."

Hughes admitted he might have had a shot at the win if not for lapped traffic. "We came across a back marker, which was Ale's teammate," he said. "He got out of the way pretty nicely for [de Tullio]. Blue flags, but wasn't getting out of the way, whatever. That kind of ruined our race a little bit. Happy to be back on the podium."

With this result, Hughes sits fifth in the standings with three races remaining. The series returns on August 31 (AEST) at the Milwaukee Mile.