Until now, the pair have been competing out of different camps – Hughes at Andretti and Power at Penske.

In 2026, Hughes will contest his second Indy NXT season while Power continues his two-decade-long IndyCar career.

This year, the pair will both race with #26 on their respective race cars.

Power previously flagged plans to help Hughes reach the top, having ascended the feeder series ladder with success.

As it stands, Hughes is the closest any young Australian is to reaching IndyCar.

“It’s been really cool so far,” said Hughes of working with his compatriot.

“It just feels easier talking to him because there is no Penske barrier or anything, like a different team. I feel like I can be a bit more open with him and hopefully him with me with certain stuff.

“When the season really starts, it will be really cool to be able to hopefully sit on his timing stand and see how he operates.

“To be just sitting next to him at lunch and show him an onboard or whatever it is, get his thoughts on things, the access is going to be a lot easier.

“I’m excited to get going.”

Hughes finished third in his rookie Indy NXT season.

Having trailed Dennis Hauger for the lion’s share of 2025, Hughes faded late and conceded second place to Caio Collet.

Hauger and Collet will step up to IndyCar this year with Dale Coyne Racing and AJ Foyt Racing respectively.

That leaves Hughes as the favourite for the title in his sophomore season.

So what’s going to make the difference in 2026? Hughes says his understanding of the Firestone tyre is the key.

“We started off very strong last year, even in testing we were always there. It was very small margins,” Hughes explained.

“I think staying present a bit more. Sometimes I can think a bit too far ahead.

“Also just accepting the fact that I had less experience in a bigger car, trying to learn from that rather than losing confidence or anything like that.

“I don’t know if there was a whole heap race craft-wise. Honestly, the biggest thing was getting that extra tenth or two on the new tyre.

“I look back at last year and there was a lot of time on used tyres. It was very close, and then we put the new tyre on and the more experienced guys could just get that tiny bit more out of it.

“I find in this series now, especially coming from the little series, you could qualify fifth or sixth and still win the race just because passing was a lot easier in those cars.

“These cars, passing it a lot more difficult. Saturday and qualifying means a lot more than it did previously.

“Making sure by practice two that you have the thing dialled in for one lap is very important.”

Indy NXT begins its season on the streets of St Petersburg on February 27-March 1.