25 years and counting. That is how long Sam Hornish Jr. has held the record for being IndyCar’s youngest champion, having achieved the feat at 22 with Panther Racing in 2001. But Dale Coyne Racing’s latest recruit, an 18-year-old from St. Petersburg, Florida, is now on the hunt to snatch that crown as part of his ambition to be the youngest at everything.

Nikita Johnson, who became the youngest Indy NXT champion in 2026, was announced as one of DCR’s 2027 drivers on Tuesday morning. And in the Zoom press conference later that afternoon, he seemed as chill and full of confidence as a veteran driver speaking about his goals.

After his first IndyCar test at Barber in October, Johnson had declared that he wanted to be the “youngest at everything.” When EssentiallySports asked him about that goal on the call and whether beating Colton Herta’s record of being the youngest race winner (18 years, 11 months, and 25 days) seemed realistic in his rookie season next year, Johnson not only answered that question, but also stated that he wanted to be the youngest IndyCar champion and the youngest Indy 500 winner.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I forgot what age Colton was, somewhere around my age,” said Johnson. “Yeah, to be the youngest at something. Hopefully, youngest champion. I don’t know what the stats are on that… (youngest) Indy 500 winner.”

When told about Herta’s exact record, which he could beat by winning one of the first six races of 2027 before his 19th birthday on May 25, Johnson replied, “I’m going to have to get it done (smiling).”

To become IndyCar’s youngest champion and eclipse Hornish Jr.’s record, he would have three seasons or until the end of 2029 to do so. To match the three-time champ, he would have one more season after that. But let’s say Johnson fails to get that record. He would then have two more seasons (2031 and 2032) to eclipse or match Alex Palou as the youngest champion in IndyCar’s post-merger era (24 years).

To become the youngest Indy 500 winner, Nikita Johnson would have to break a record standing since May 30, 1952, when Troy Rutman won at age 22 years and 80 days. In the post-merger era, Alexander Rossi is the youngest winner at 24 years and eight months.

While the pursuit of these records is significant, in the hyper-competitive modern landscape, securing podiums alone is an uphill climb, let alone winning races. And at Dale Coyne Racing, which doesn’t have the best on-track record to flaunt in the recent past, besides being a successful launchpad for drivers like reigning champion Alex Palou, Johnson’s path to the top won’t be easy.

But in his case, there is a rather unique aspect of this partnership with Coyne that could yield unexpected success in his rookie year.

Johnson has a rare affinity for smaller teams. While most young drivers dream about driving for championship-winning outfits like Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing, the St. Pete native relishes the underdog feeling. He drove for Cape Motorsports in his 2026 Indy NXT campaign, a “small team” that gave him the feel of “family.”

It was a conscious choice because driving for bigger teams like HMD Motorsports in his 2025 NXT campaign and Hitech TGR in Formula 3 made him realize how simple it was to form synergy in smaller teams. And to his credit, the Cape partnership struck gold in 2026 as he won two races and stood on seven more podiums en route to the Indy NXT championship.

When EssentiallySports asked him whether it was the same quality that he felt at Dale Coyne Racing, Johnson replied:

“Yes, I do. I’ve always liked smaller teams. That’s how my whole career has been. I think we proved a lot of people wrong last year with Cape. They’re obviously a very strong team, but also a small team. Nobody really thought about us as being frontrunners.

“Dale Coyne has had a lot of success. It’s where I love to be. I feel very comfortable after the test. The team has a lot of passion behind it. I think it doesn’t matter how big you are, how small your team is; as long as everybody there loves to come to work, loves to come race on the weekends, and has a lot of passion, you can end up doing very well. I think we’re going to have a really good bond. I’m just excited to start working with them.”

Fortuitously for Nikita Johnson, he will make his IndyCar debut on home soil when the series opens its 2027 season on the streets of St. Pete on March 7. With support from sponsor ENVE, the 18-year-old will be the youngest driver on the grid unless DCR or Juncos Hollinger Racing go on to sign an even younger driver to fill the remaining vacancies, which is unlikely.

Johnson won at St. Pete in the 2026 Indy NXT season, finished every race in the Top 10, and completed all 656 laps of the season.

Despite his young age, Dale Coyne is relying on his variety of experience across Indy NXT, the USF series, Formula Regional in New Zealand, and GB3 and F3 in England and Europe. However, there is one unique change that Johnson touched upon for his rookie season: carbon brakes.

Before the Barber test, he had never driven a car with carbon brakes, and that will make up a considerable portion of his preseason program.

“With limited test days, we’re going to be working on that pretty heavily just to get on it,” he said during the presser.

The road to history won’t be straightforward, but Nikita Johnson’s rise seems like a fairy tale about to unfold. He was born on May 25, 2008, the day of the 92nd Indy 500. For as long as he races in IndyCar, the race will be on his birthday weekend or the day before it.

He feels he is in the “best place” at DCR for his rookie season, and for now, that is all that matters.