Starting from fifth, Beeton was told the race had gone green when in fact it hadn’t.

The HMD Motorsports driver jumped the start and passed all four cars ahead of him and drove into the distance.

“At the start of the race, on the radio, [my spotter] goes ‘Green, green, green’, which means we go – so I went,” Beeton explained in an Instagram post.

“Apparently it wasn’t green. Miscommunication, things happen, we got a penalty, stop and go for 30 seconds, so I got sent to last and almost a lap behind.

“The Safety Car at the end saved us a little bit. I was able to catch the field and went from P22 to P15 in the last two laps of racing.

“Unfortunately, these things happen. It’s part of racing.”

Beeton’s massive lead was short-lived. An incident behind him brought out the Safety Car as Colin Kaminsky came out worst off in the accordion effect of the start.

There was more drama at the first turn as pole position winner Alessandro de Tullio copped a hit from Tymek Kucharczyk and was forced to take to the run-off.

The race was an eventful affair, with several stoppages for incidents.

After the first clash, racing resumed with 16 minutes left on the clock. Enzo Fittipaldi led Kucharczyk while Max Taylor and Juan Manuel Correa battled over third.

Taylor eventually got by Correa and soon had dispatched Kucharczyk.

Another Safety Intervention bunched up the field, which set up a three-minute dash to the chequered flag.

A mistake by Fittipaldi opened the door for Taylor to go through with two minutes left on the clock.

Further afield, Australia’s Lochie Hughes finished fourth amid the carnage from eighth on the grid for Andretti Global.

“Decent points day today,” said Hughes.

“Obviously, not the result we wanted, but starting eighth, there was only so much we could do.

“Drove back to finish fifth, which is good points, but unfortunately, I only had less than 10 racing laps to make up those positions because of the yellows. Damage limitation today.”

Compatriot Nicolas Stati finished 21st for Cusick Morgan Motorsports after a fuel pump failure dropped him from 12th.

“Looking like a top 10 finish before an issue ended the race — the fuel pump failed on the last lap,” said Stati.

“We were carrying damage after getting hit from behind, but kept pushing. Nevertheless, we showed strong pace.

“Did some good overtakes to move forward. But in the end, today wasn’t our day.”

Indy NXT continues at Barber Motorsports Park for a double-header on March 29-30 for the Grand Prix of Alabama.