Nashville GP – Syndication Server

IndyCar’s Nashville move from streets to speedway can – and must – work

Six oval races to close the second half of IndyCar’s 17-round season, with those six ovals spanning the last eight races. If you’re a fan of ovals, or Team Penske, the move of IndyCar’s season finale from the new street circuit configuration in …

With the loss of Texas Motor Speedway from the tour, IndyCar headed into 2024 with only four ovals to visit. The return of Milwaukee and its use as a doubleheader helped to bring the oval race tally up to six — along with the Iowa doubleheader, World Wide Technology Raceway trip, and the Indianapolis 500 — and with Nashville Speedway in the mix, the series has five distinct ovals and seven oval races to offer.

For those who hate street courses and have been lamenting the downsized presence of ovals in IndyCar, this announcement on Valentine’s Day might be received like a bouquet of roses. Fans of Roger Penske’s team must also be rejoicing as the team owned by the series’ owner has another oval where it can flex its muscles.

The last time IndyCar closed its season on an oval, Penske’s Will Power claimed his first championship back in 2014 at Fontana, and over the last two seasons, no team in IndyCar has been as dominant on ovals as the Captain’s squad. In 2022, Penske’s drivers won three of the five oval races, a tidy 60-percent sum, and if it weren’t for the failed suspension component that fired Josef Newgarden into the wall while leading with ease at the second Iowa round, it would have been four out of five.

In 2023, it was four oval wins from five oval races and an 80 percent victory rate for Penske; only Scott Dixon’s fuel-saving sorcery at WWTR prevented Penske from reaching 100 percent on ovals. As the team looks to defeat the reigning champions at Chip Ganassi Racing, which has been one of the series’ strongest performers on street courses, the Nashville change throws an interesting twist into how the title could be settled.

In light of the venue change, I’m sure IndyCar will add a Nashville test day or two to the calendar for its teams since the series hasn’t been there since 2008. Its concrete track surface was a tricky thing to master with the old Indy Racing League cars when the series made its debut in 2001 and it didn’t get much easier to tackle through the last race in 2008.

Nashville Speedway was a different animal for the IRL, and will present a similarly interesting challenge for the modern day IndyCar teams. Walt Kuhn/Motorsport Images

Tire degradation was extremely high at Nashville, so beyond a test for teams, I’d also expect the series to book time at the track with Firestone to work through a few downforce and compound options and refine the package with a few teams playing lead and follow and select the best fit for passing and tire life.

Another wrinkle to consider, if we assume IndyCar will stick to its mid-season introduction of its energy recovery systems, which are rumored to be on the cards for a July 5-7 debut at Mid-Ohio, is how the use of hybrid powertrains on a big oval to close the season — and potentially name a champion — will impact the event.

Since hybrids won’t be in play for May’s Indy 500, Nashville would serve as the biggest oval to feature the new ERS units made by Chevrolet and Honda and offer a 60hp punch of acceleration when the supercapacitor is charged. Nashville would also become the fastest oval where the new hybrids would experience the highest and most sustained speeds which, with new technology on hand, and provided the 2024 drivers’ title hasn’t been settled early at Portland or Milwaukee, will introduce big fears about ERS reliability determining who comes out on top at the championship finale.

It’s not as if ERS units couldn’t fail on the streets of Nashville, but nobody welcomes the idea of seeing if the hybrid powertrains can survive bigger stresses and demands to close the season than were previously expected.

And if you were hoping that all of the hype spun by IndyCar and the promoters of the Music City Grand Prix regarding the end-of-season shift from Monterey’s Laguna Seca road course to the revised and high-energy downtown Tennessee street race would be a huge boost for the series, both parties now have a lot of work to do to create the same atmosphere at one of IndyCar’s long-forgotten tracks.

Huge anticipation had risen among fans and teams for the new Music City GP in the heart of Nashville’s never-ending party; how exactly the series and promoter replicate that in the lovely Tennessee hamlet of Lebanon is both an unenviable task and a mystery.

The change also raises the natural question of whether the street race will return, but that won’t be known until the Tennessee Titans finish the new NFL stadium that’s due for completion and use in 2027. With the street course tied to portions of where the former and replacement stadiums live, a once-per-year IndyCar race has indeed been parked while the city’s big future income generator is prioritized during construction.

And to be fair, this is a failure of the promoter in charge of putting on the Nashville GP for IndyCar, and not something the folks at Penske Entertainment were directly involved in. Huge and ongoing internal issues within the Music City GP organization led to widespread firings in January, and Big Machine owner/event sponsor Scott Borchetta, who was a co-owner of the race, bought out his partners and has taken sole control of the event.

In a welcome sidebar, despite being told by multiple sources that Jason Rittenberry, who led the GP on behalf of its owners, was among the fired, he texted — after not returning a number of calls — to correct a note in my news story and confirm he was still centrally involved, which is a good thing. Along with Borchetta, his passion for the event has been a difference-maker.

The unique Music City GP circuit had its challenges, but also provided an atmosphere that will be difficult to replicate. Motorsport Images

But, in spite of knowing the behind-the-scenes story, it doesn’t change the perception of IndyCar being the series that, year after year, can’t get its stuff together and deliver on the things it says it will do.

With every racing series booked into their 2024 track schedules, finding a late and suitable replacement for the Music City GP wasn’t going to be easy; engaging with Speedway Motorsports Inc. to use the Nashville Speedway this year, and likely for a few more, does appear to be the best outcome in a situation filled with compromises.

The blowback on IndyCar, while undeserved, is the latest in a long line of setbacks that are very on-brand for the series where any steps forward are seemingly guaranteed to come with a few steps back.

Based on all I’d been hearing recently about the struggles going on with the Music City GP, I’m relieved to hear IndyCar will hold onto and have a race in Tennessee. From what some insiders were saying, the race was at risk of being lost altogether, so keeping the event alive deserves recognition.

While I don’t love losing a street course in order to gain an oval, I’m less concerned about where IndyCar ends its year and more focused on it delivering the excitement it deserves and full crowds it has lacked at Laguna Seca. That’s what the grand rebirth of the downtown Nashville street race was meant to solve.

Viewing the situation though my glass-half-full lenses, I’m rooting for IndyCar and Nashville’s promoter to deliver that same downtown energy to the speedway.

I couldn’t tell you how it will happen, because the speedway location won’t offer the possibility of pouring into the adjacent streets and bars and clubs to celebrate moments after the checkered flag waves, but there’s no doubt about the need to create something that comes close a half-hour east of where the big bash was meant to happen.

Daskalos wins GT America Nashville race 2, Holland gets fourth in a row

The GT America powered by AWS series waited all weekend for some sunshine and it finally had a dry run for race two at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Jason Daskalos in the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 turned a damage-inflicted third-place finish in race one to a clean win in race two on the 2.1-mile, 11-turn course. Meanwhile, in the GT4 class, Robb Holland in the No. 099 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport made it four in a row. Holland won back-to-back races in 2022 and paired the streak with back-to-back wins this year.

The SRO3 class was straightforward. From start to finish the top three never changed positions, though each may have taken a look at advancing on track. Following Daskalos across the start-finish line was race one winner Johnny O’Connell in the No. 2 SKI Autosports Audi R8 LMS. Memo Gidley in the No. 101 TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 walked into the weekend a points leader but he paired his race one second-place finish with a third-place finish in race two to hand the lead over to Daskalos. Mirco Schultis was one of the fastest on track; he and his No. 70 MISHUMOTORS Corvette C7 GT3 R started and finished fourth.

Alex Vogel in the No. 043 OnlyFans Racing with P1 Groupe by MRS Porsche 911 GT3 R advanced from seventh to fifth for the finish. He was followed on track by the No. 460 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Andy Wilzoch in sixth. The two capitalized on the late hit of Todd Treffert in the No. 41 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Treffert made contact with a wall while pushing through corners when he sustained the damage ultimately ending his race early.

Holland had the GT4 class under control for the duration of the race, but Ross Chouest in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin AMR GT4 kept him honest. Chouest was hot on the heels of Holland after a late yellow packed up the field. This yellow also gave Jason Bell in the No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 a look at Chouest. Bell overcame a tire issue on lap two that took him into the pitlane to change the back left tire. He capitalized on a wave around and yellow brought out by Rusty Bittle in the No. 7 Flatrock Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR. Once Bell rejoined the lead lap, he maneuvered his way through the field to the third-place finish.

Gray Newell in the No. 25 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 had a drama-free race to finish fourth. The No. 5 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4 R of Tony Gaples followed Newell on track to finish fifth in class. Nicholas Shanny in the No. 21 Carrus Callas Raceteam Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4 finished sixth in race two with Bittle unable to finish the race after his brush with the wall early on.

GT America powered by AWS rejoins the fuller SRO Motorsports America paddock at Road America Aug. 18-20, where the Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS, Pirelli GT4 America, TC America powered by Skip Barber and Toyota GR Cup North America return after a month-long hiatus. The races will be streamed live on the GT World YouTube page with an interactive stream on Twitch with host Ash Vandelay.

RESULTS

Palou: Everything went wrong in 2022; ‘This year is the opposite’

Alex Palou, IndyCar’s dominant points leader, says he’s trying to take advantage of the fact that fortune is smiling on him this year, in a complete reversal of his 2022 season. The 2021 champion suffered a torrid season in title defense, even aside …

Alex Palou, IndyCar’s dominant points leader, says he’s trying to take advantage of the fact that fortune is smiling on him this year, in a complete reversal of his 2022 season.

The 2021 champion suffered a torrid season in title defense, even aside from the contract shenanigans between himself, Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow Mclaren. Not until the season finale did he clinch a victory – an utterly dominant display at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Yet this year he has accrued four wins, and has seen the cards fall his way strategy-wise on other occasions, too, resulting in an 84-point lead in the title race, with just four rounds to go.

The latest kiss from Lady Luck came in Nashville’s Music City Grand Prix. The race ran largely green, and given his early first stop under caution, it seemed inevitable that he would have to make a third stop. He fell almost 20s behind the lead battle between Kyle Kirkwood and Scott McLaughlin while desperately trying to save enough fuel to stay ahead of two-stopping Josef Newgarden – his closest rival on the points table.

Strategist Barry Wanser had just told Palou to forget fuel saving with 10 laps to go — that he’d have to pit as there were no cautions coming — when out came the race’s second yellow for a shunt for debutant Linus Lundqvist. Immediately the fuel situation eased; on the restart, there was another yellow, then red flag required to retrieve three crashed backmarkers.

A smiling Palou admitted that he’d never had a year such as this, adding: “I’ll try and [take] advantage of that because I know it’s not often. Last year we didn’t win a race until the last race. I thought that every race we had something wrong going on, on our strategy or race. This year is the opposite. I’ll take it.”

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The Spanish sensation shouldered the blame for a strategy call that so nearly went asunder.

“Yeah, we made a really aggressive call on that first yellow, like lap 13 or 14. We pitted,” he said. “It was the plan, honestly. We spoke about it. I was pushing for it. It wasn’t the right call today.

“We expected a lot more cautions throughout the race. We learned…we were super, super lucky today. Luck was in our favor because we were not going to make it. Then those yellows came.

“It was a very stressful race. I think I lost like five years of my life just trying to save fuel — a lot of fuel — and praying for a yellow. It finally came, which was…perfect for me.

“It was overall a really good day. Could have been a lot cleaner and a lot easier. We wanted to make it a bit too hard.”

Compared to Toronto, where he admitted to some good strategic fortune, Palou said the situation in Nashville was even more extreme.

“Today we were, like, done,” he said. “We couldn’t really save that much fuel: it was impossible. We were already saving and losing like 2s a lap, or 2.5s. They told me to go.

“We did one full lap of ‘going’ because we wanted to get some lap time, try and pass some cars that were, like, 20th or whatever. Suddenly the yellow came. I was like, ‘Yeah!’ Then another yellow that helped me a lot so I could at least be a bit more aggressive or defensive on the last restart.”

He later commented, “When you are on the side of wanting a yellow, it never comes. When you don’t want a yellow, it comes right away.

“In my vision, it was not coming. Everybody was on fuel saving. I don’t know why. Everybody was taking it easy. Then at the end I guess people started pushing. That’s when the yellow came. I was surprised.”

Kirkwood says Nashville win ‘redemption’ from Detroit, Toronto

Kyle Kirkwood said winning today’s third Music City Grand Prix at Nashville helps make up for Andretti Autosport Honda giving him good cars for other street races and being unable to capitalize. Kirkwood started eighth for today’s race, tracked …

Kyle Kirkwood said winning today’s third Music City Grand Prix at Nashville helps make up for Andretti Autosport Honda giving him good cars for other street races and being unable to capitalize.

Kirkwood started eighth for today’s race, tracked teammate Romain Grosjean in the first stint, and beat him on the overcut, and then enjoyed a superior strategy to get him to the front. Once in the lead, even dominant pole winner Scott McLaughlin could do nothing about the Andretti driver whose first win came back in April at Long Beach.

“It was phenomenal afternoon — we absolutely nailed everything, it felt like,” said the only driver to have won USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights on his way to IndyCar. “We had a great strategy. Car was extremely fast. Through the entire race, I feel like we were probably one of the fastest cars.

“Andretti Autosport, AutoNation Honda keep giving me a great car that’s good on street courses. This should be more than two wins, to be honest, on street courses, given the cars they’ve given me.

“I’m thrilled with this one here today. This is kind of redemption from last year. A dumb incident. Redemption from Toronto. Redemption from Detroit.”

He continued: “A lot of things happen in the pit strategy. The first pit stop, a lot of things happened there. I passed a few cars. Wasn’t a bunch. I passed Colton [Herta], [David] Malukas and I think Will [Power] technically for position. We kind of overcut Romain and got McLaughlin, and Palou pitted. I think that’s kind of what cycled us up there.

“It wasn’t like I drove through the field from eighth place. It was more like we played our strategy, played our cards right, did everything right when we had clean air. It cycled us up to the point.”

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Kirkwood admitted that when he and Grosjean were running primary tires in the opening stint, he had no intention of passing him. It was switching to the alternate Firestone green sidewalled tires and nailing his out-lap that vaulted him ahead of the ex-Formula 1 driver.

“In the first stint, I told the team to tell Romain I’m not going to pressure him, we’re going to kind of cut through some people. It worked out in my favor that I saved some more fuel and I was able to overcut him and put in a really good lap on that pit. It worked out super well for us.”

Kirkwood said he’s uncertain why street courses have allowed him to shine — “I wish I knew exactly what it was so I could pin it down for the other places I go to, as well” — but then came up with an explanation.

“I think a lot of it has to do just with comfort around walls, adaptability. I feel like there’s some drivers that just have outright raw pace. I feel like I’m one of the drivers that can adapt to things really quickly. I might not have the super pace that some of these guys pull out of a hat randomly sometimes, but I adapt to tracks really well.

“That’s a reason why last year I come to new tracks and I’m already pretty quick. I think it just has to do with that — the track is always evolving, I feel like I’m already up to speed.”

Kirkwood also deflected criticism of Andretti Autosport for its up-and-down results in 2023.

“Honestly, the team has done a great job,” he insisted. “Every weekend we’ve gone into, I think we’ve done everything pretty much exactly how it should be played.

“I think we just had a lot of incidents this year, whether it’s my fault and I’ve done something dumb, or we got into something that was like a dumb incident that we can’t control. There’s been a lot of both, to be honest!

“Just executing. Today was just such a smooth race. Strategy played in our favor. I was hitting my marks the entire time and everything worked out well for us.”

Disappointed McLaughlin says Nashville restarts were ‘a joke’

Nashville polesitter Scott McLaughlin was left downbeat after being unable to convert his car’s pace into victory in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Although the Team Penske driver led the first 24 laps of the race, with Pato O’Ward’s Arrow …

Nashville polesitter Scott McLaughlin was left downbeat after being unable to convert his car’s pace into victory in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.

Although the Team Penske driver led the first 24 laps of the race, with Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren simply unable to keep pace, the field was bunched on lap 13 by a caution for an on-track mechanical failure for Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas. Alex Palou took the opportunity to pit, but the other front-runners did not, and while staying out was obviously the right way to go for the primary-tired runners, the teams whose drivers started out on alternate rubber were going to lose tire performance long before they ran out of fuel.

McLaughlin nonetheless pulled away from his pursuers on the restart, but the untimely yellow meant the field was still running close together when he finally had to cede his lead and pit. Thus he was buried in the pack, and when those who started on primaries such as eventual winner Kyle Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean made their stops, McLaughlin hadn’t found the clean air to make time on them, and they rejoined ahead.

What disappointed him in the closing laps is that, having passed Grosjean to run second, he didn’t have the pace in the two final restarts to tackle Kirkwood.

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“Yeah, yeah, I’m disappointed, but it is what it is,” said the former Supercars legend. “I think we had a really fast car today. That first yellow destroyed a few things… You hope it doesn’t come, but it came. You take it or lose your advantage, try to reset and go again. That’s what we decided — the latter.

“We did pretty well. We were able to come back a little bit, but overall Kyle just had that little shorter stop that he could do [and] away they went. I was trying to do my best to hunt him down at the end; I just had a poor restart.

“I had no temp in my rear tires for some reason. So annoying. I don’t know what happened; I didn’t change my procedure. I’m normally pretty good on restarts, but I was terrible. Got to do a little bit of study on that. I think if I was a little bit closer, I might have been able to maybe throw a little dive bomb at him. Unfortunately, couldn’t.”

McLaughlin didn’t like the new restart zone between Turns 9 and 10, as he felt it actually bred chaos, almost guaranteeing the shunt that caused a red flag before a four-lap shootout.

“I just think from a sport perspective, the restarts are a joke. I think we need to start on the start/finish line. We cannot pass until the start/finish line…You’re always going to have these clusters that cause red flags and make us look like…

“There’s no cadence. Once there’s a yellow flag on a street circuit, it’s just a free-for-all. People [dive-bomb]. We’re well within our rights to do that. If we want to have a pure race, we could have had a 10-lap shootout, me and Kyle there at the end. Instead we’re stop, start, stop, start. The action is fantastic. We just have no race.

“I think it happens at Long Beach. We talked about doing it — about not passing till the apex of the last corner… I think when it goes green, there’s kamikazes at the back that don’t care — well within their right to throw it inside when it turns green. That’s fine. But we just have this terrible stop/start, amateurish looking finish to races.

“I’m going to speak to Jay [Frye, IndyCar president] about it and [Kyle] Novak [race director]. We just need to go apex last corner or start/finish line – make a point where you can’t pass, just to get it going.

“Look, I might be wrong. I might crash in Turn 1. What I’m saying — I’ve done it in Supercars. Formula 1 does it. Other sports around the world do it. It just gets the race going. Everyone is on cold tires. Someone is going to have a mistake.”

Milless attests to Kirkwood’s rapid development with Andretti

Veteran IndyCar race engineer Jeremy Milless has seen a lot of young talent develop in the cars he’s overseen, and after watching Kyle Kirkwood score his second NTT IndyCar Series victory of the year for Andretti Autosport, he’s come to appreciate …

“You could just tell in his voice today how he was super calm and knew he had it under control and no worries, right?” Milless told RACER. “Obviously he’s gaining confidence every weekend and knows that if it weren’t for a few mistakes that we’ve made this year, we’d have been in the top five in points based on where our pace has been. So if we can put all of this together, next year will be a really good year.”

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Kirkwood’s win at Long Beach — a runaway performance — was the first of the season for Andretti, and his second, secured in tricky conditions at Nashville that saw him keep polesitter Scott McLaughlin and championship leader Alex Palou in check with ease, was another testament to the strong technical bond he’s formed with Milless in just 13 races.

“From the start, we understood each other on the road and street courses,” Milless added. “We’re still learning each other on the ovals, so I think that’s where we need to button things up a little better. But we’re making progress for sure. On the roads and streets, he knows what he wants so it’s really easy to give him what he wants. Whereas on the ovals, he’s still learning exactly what he needs to have a good race car and qualifying car. So as he learns that, we can do a better job of giving him what he needs.”

Paired with the No. 27 Honda’s former driver, Alexander Rossi, Milless was a frequent race winner before a dry spell kept the car out of victory lane for nearly three years. Taking two wins with Kirkwood — the only triumphs for an Andretti IndyCar driver to date in 2023 — feels wonderful, but like most racers, Milless is greedy.

“It’s good,” he said, looking ahead to Saturday’s race on the Indianapolis road course. “But the best thing is to do two in a row. I would like to do that again.”

Street savant Kirkwood secures second IndyCar win in Nashville

Kyle Kirkwood drove a masterful race and Bryan Herta delivered a perfect strategy to beat Nashville pole-winner Scott McLaughlin and points leader Alex Palou to the checkered flag after a late-race restart. The young Floridian, who scored his first …

The young Floridian, who scored his first win at Long Beach this year, spent 34 laps in the lead of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, and was able to keep McLaughlin at bay following the red flag in a largely crash-free event. Palou, on an alternate strategy to those around him, was saved by a yellow, meaning he didn’t have to make a third pitstop and cede his third place to his closest championship pursuer, Josef Newgarden, who came home fourth, just ahead of 2022 Nashville winner Scott Dixon.

Trouble before the green flag for @12WillPower!

📺: @nbc & @peacock #INDYCAR // #MusicCityGP pic.twitter.com/I2yypmTa2S

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 6, 2023

Team Penske Chevrolet’s Will Power had a panicked pre-race moment as he discovered he was missing his earbuds on the grid so was late getting away from pitlane. He was allowed to resume his seventh place on the grid, second of the drivers – behind Romain Grosjean – to start the race on Firestone’s primaries.

As in the Indy NXT race in the morning, the original start was waved off as the 27-car field was packed up, but next time by, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin made a good start to stave off Pato O’Ward, while Colton Herta understeering at the first turn forced Alex Palou to back off a little, allowing David Malukas into fourth for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda.

On lap 3, Kirkwood passed Power for seventh, while Newgarden – like Power and Kirkwood, running on primaries – couldn’t prevent Lundgaard passing him for ninth at Turn 8.

By lap 6 of 80, McLaughlin held a 1.8s lead over O’Ward who had pulled 2s on Herta, who was 1s ahead of the Malukas-Palou-Grosjean-Kirkwood battle, which saw Palou slip ahead of the Coyne driver on lap 7.

Alexander Rossi pitted from 11th on lap 10, switching from alternates to primaries, the same lap on which Grosjean passed Malukas for fifth, signaling the primaries coming into their sweet spot. Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren) stopped next time by, while Malukas lost a further spot to Kirkwood before pitting.

McLaughlin had a 2.7s lead over O’Ward who had pulled 5s on Herta before the first caution flew. Malukas’ rear wing collapsed and gearbox seized shortly after leaving the pits.

When the pits opened, Palou came in to swap his alternates for primaries, but his principal rivals did not. When the field went back to green on lap 15, McLaughlin retained his advantage over O’Ward who had nudged him under yellow, but Herta suffered, losing out to teammates Grosjean and Kirkwood, and also Power, before being ushered down an escape road by Dixon. Herta then pitted.

The highest runner who had already stopped was Rinus VeeKay, up to sixth place for Ed Carpenter Racing, splitting Power from Newgarden.

What was most alarming for the opposition was that leader McLaughlin had pulled 4s on O’Ward in just five laps since the restart, the No. 3 Penske proving exceptionally kind on its alternate tires. O’Ward, by contrast, was working hard to hold off Grosjean and Kirkwood, and he lost out to both of them on lap 22 after a huge lock-up as he came off the bridge. After Power and VeeKay got him, O’Ward got the hint and made his first stop.

McLaughlin’s lead was ebbing away when he stopped on lap 25 as Grosjean and Kirkwood were charging on their primary tires. Grosjean and Kirkwood ran 1s apart, 5s clear of Power, VeeKay (stopped already), Newgarden, Dixon and Marcus Ericsson.

On lap 28, Grosjean and Power pitted from first and third, and then it was time for Kirkwood, Newgarden and Dixon to stop. Grosjean came out ahead of McLaughlin, while Power lost out to VeeKay, Newgarden and Dixon, yet was ahead of O’Ward.

With everyone having stopped at least once, early stoppers Ericsson and Rossi were out front, and Palou, who had stopped under caution, was third. Third became first, when Ericsson and Rossi stopped on lap 33. Points leader Palou now held a 1.6s lead over Kirkwood, with Meyer Shank Racing’s IndyCar debutant Linus Lundqvist in third (he also stopped under the caution) until Grosjean and McLaughlin passed him.

In sixth ran rookie Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing and Jack Harvey (both also lap 14 stoppers), although the Argentine pitted on lap 37.

Kirkwood (alternates), Grosjean and McLaughlin were pressing Palou hard at half distance in this 80-lap race, but Palou didn’t need to stop until the end of lap 44 and he rejoined in 17th.

The Andretti Autosport driver was now able to eke out a small gap over teammate Grosjean who was watching his mirrors for his old foe McLaughlin. Three seconds covered the next six — Newgarden, Dixon, Ericsson, VeeKay, Rossi, Power and O’Ward, but it was Grosjean who felt the pressure first, running wide under braking for Turn 9 and McLaughlin was up into second. Dixon, meanwhile, chose that same lap to stop, and the following lap Newgarden stopped, while Rossi and VeeKay sideswiped on the run to Turn 9, and Power got around the pair of them. Race control would blame VeeKay for the collision and penalize him.

.@rinusveekay was penalized for avoidable contact after this contact with @AlexanderRossi.

📺: @nbc & @peacock #INDYCAR // #MusicCityGP pic.twitter.com/3rRm1y082Z

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 6, 2023

Kirkwood reported his tires were done, and pitted on lap 51, leaving McLaughlin out front. When the Andretti Autosport driver emerged from the pitlane, it was ahead of Palou. When McLaughlin stopped on lap 52, he came out behind Kirkwood but he, too, was ahead of Palou. Grosjean and Power stopped on lap 53, leaving Kirkwood out front, 2.5s ahead of polesitter McLaughlin. Palou in third was needing to run slow or hope for cautions to get to the end of the race. Newgarden was still just ahead of Dixon. Ericsson, Grosjean, O’Ward, Lundgaard and Harvey completed the top 10 ahead of Power and Helio Castroneves. Grosjean slipped ahead of O’Ward on lap 56, and the following lap the front-row starter also fell victim to Lundgaard.

Power passed Harvey for 10th on lap 59 and started homing in on O’Ward, while nearer the front, teammate McLaughlin remained 2.5s adrift of Kirkwood with 20 laps to go. With a dozen laps to go, that gap was out to 3.5s, but the desperately fuel-saving Palou had fallen some 18s down before being informed he should give up trying to run in economy mode – a third stop would be necessary. Or would it?

Out came the second caution on lap 70; debutant Lundqvist had struck the wall terminally. This was a blessing for Harvey who had lost his front wing on a wall and was able to pit under caution.

The restart on lap 74 between Turns 9 and 10 saw Kirkwood get a good jump on McLaughlin, but toward the back there was a collision between Rosenqvist, Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen of AJ Foyt Racing who all ran long at Turn 11.

With 75 laps complete, the race was red-flagged, the drivers boiling in their cockpits in hot and humid conditions, and they readily welcomed the fans and water bottles from their teams.

With one warmup lap before the restart, the drivers had four racing laps remaining, potentially. Grosjean was sent around Ericsson for sixth under yellow, race control’s response to Ericsson blocking the Frenchman on the previous restart. Grosjean was the only driver on alternates for the restart, but they were worn.

At the green flag, Kirkwood immediately pulled away from McLaughlin to the tune of 1.4s, the polesitter having to keep his eye on Palou. Further back, Castroneves demoted his former teammate Power for 10th. Next time by, O’Ward demoted Lundgaard, and Power regained 10th.

Kirkwood got his lead out to 2s, but McLaughlin pegged it back next time by while being chased hard by the revitalized Palou. The Long Beach winner held firm to win by 0.7633s, with Palou easily holding off his closest championship pursuer Newgarden to claim third. Dixon was fifth, untroubled by Grosjean, Ericsson, O’Ward, Lundgaard and Power.

Having not scored a top five this year besides his Long Beach win, Kirkwood is now a two-time victor, while Palou’s lead over Newgarden is out to 84 points with four races to go.

RESULTS

O’Connell wins SRO3 class at Nashville as Holland continues GT4 winning streak

The clouds seemed to part for just enough time to complete Race 1 for the GT America powered by AWS series at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Johnny O’Connell took home his first win of the year in the SRO3 class and Robb Holland made it …

Due to rain the starting grid was set by the fastest lap times of practice 2. This made Jason Daskalos in the No. 27 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 the polesitter in the SRO3 class. Holland and his No. 099 Rotek Racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport was awarded the pole for the GT4 Class.

The drop of the green flag brought the drama with O’Connell in the No. 3 SKI Autosport Audi R8 LMS lunging for the lead from third. He quickly overtook Mirco Schultis in the No. 70 MISHUMOTORS Corvette C7 GT3 R for second. Daskalos was busy building a five-second lead over the field when Alex Vogel in the No. 043 OnlyFans Racing with P1 Groupe by MRS Porsche 911 GT3 R ran into trouble. He safely made it to the run-off and continued the race.

Todd Treffert faced a similar fate in the No. 41 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. He also found room in the runoff of a corner to keep damage out of the equation. Shortly after leader Daskalos came together with lap traffic. While attempting to continue he made contact with a wall, causing minor damage. The damage didn’t stop Daskalos from catching back up to a second-place Memo Gidley in the No. 101 TKO Motorsports Mercedes-AMG. His misfortune did hand over the lead to O’Connell who went on to build an 11-second lead.

Gidley inherited second place when Schultis took to the runoff prior to the halfway point in the race. Daskalos and Gidley put on a nail-biting show for the fans through nightfall. Daskalos would best Gidley with 11 minutes remaining in the 40-minute battle. O’Connell went on to win Race One followed by Daskalos and Gidley.

The GT4 class had a more cut-and-dry race. Holland, who won both races in 2022, proved to be just as competitive. He maintained the lead from green to checkered flag without issue. He built a nearly nine-second lead over Jason Bell in the No. 2 Flying Lizard Motorsports Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 who ran a perfect race himself. He built a gap of 13 seconds over third place Ross Chouest in the No. 50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4.

Chouest had equally as clean of race with the closest competition being that of fourth place Nicholas Shanny in the No. 21 Carrus Callus Raceteam Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra GT4. Shanny advanced a position after Gray Newell in the No. 25 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 brushed a wall and was caught in a corner with Daskalos. Newell went on to finish the race seventh in class.

Rusty Bittle, a native Tennessean, in the No. 7 Flatrock Motorsports Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR finished the race fifth after starting sixth. This was his first race of the 2023 season. Tony Gaples advanced from seventh to sixth in his No. 5 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro GT4 R.

The action continues Sunday, Aug. 6 with Race Two set to go green at 3:35pm CT. Fans can watch the live stream on the YouTube channel GT World. Join the conversation on Twitch with host Ash Vandelay.

RESULTS

Zilisch goes last to first again en route to TA2 win in Nashville

Connor Zilisch once again drove his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro from last to first, rebounding from a technical infraction to win in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series race on the streets of Nashville. For the second time this season, the young gun started last on a street course and passed every single car on the track to ultimately stand on the top step of the podium.

\While Zilisch experienced the best possible outcome in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, points leaders Brent Crews and Thomas Merrill faced disappointment when an early crash took both out of contention, opening the door for Zilisch and Rafa Matos to make gains in the championship fight.

Following a record-breaking lap in Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Crews led the field to green in his No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang, with Nathan Herne beside him on the front row in his No. 29 CUBE 3/Berryman Ford Mustang and Merrill behind him in the No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang. Both Crews and Merrill got off to a great start, with Merrill immediately passing Herne after the wave of the green flag. The championship contenders dominated the first two positions, with Crews leading the first 10 laps, and Merrill taking over the point position on lap 11.

Unfortunately, disaster struck for the two leaders on lap 17 when a competitor at the back of the pack spun and came to a stop just past a blind corner. That driver was hit by another competitor behind him, and the two stopped cars blocked a majority of the track. Merrill and Crews turned the corner at full speed without warning and made heavy contact with the stationary vehicles and each other, with both sustaining major damage to their race cars.

Merrill’s Mike Cope Race Cars team managed to keep him on the racetrack and just one lap down, and he ultimately finished 21st. Crews was off the racing surface for 10 laps, relegating him to a 27th-place finish.

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Herne was fortunate enough to miss the melee and took the green flag as the leader when racing resumed on lap 23, followed by Matos in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang. Meanwhile, Zilisch had been impressively picking his way through the field behind them, and was scored fifth at the restart. The 17-year-old broke into the third position in only three laps, and after hard battles with Matos and Herne, he took over the lead on lap 31.

Once Zilisch was at the front of the pack, he checked out, leading the final seven laps and crossing the finish line first, followed by Herne and Matos. Behind them, Adam Andretti in the No. 6 Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro and Adrian Wlostowski in the No. 3 Hawk Performance/AMT Motorsport Ford Mustang passionately contended for fourth place. After swapping positions repeatedly, Wlostowski was able to make the pass stick on the final lap, coming home fourth with Andretti behind him.

“That was wild, to say the least,” said Zilisch from the podium. “I can’t say enough about my team. They believe in me, they trust me, and they work so hard for me. I couldn’t be more grateful for Silver Hare Racing; they do such a good job. Maurice and Laura Hull gave me the opportunity of a lifetime to come out here and race cars and fulfill my dream.

“This is one of the events I’ve always wanted to win. To come out here and get that win is super special to me, and I’m sure it’s special to my team as well. They invest a lot, being away from their families. It feels so good to be up here and get this win for my team. Also, each and every fan here is awesome. We are nothing without the fans. I’m proud to put on a show for you guys and I hope your hearts were beating as fast as mine.”

Jordan Bupp in the No. 27 Nacarato Truck Center/Averitt Express/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro, who finished sixth and earned the COOLSHIRT Cool Move of the Race, was making his first Trans Am start in two years. Bupp has been fighting cancer for the last nine months and was recently declared cancer free. His last time on the track was at the 2021 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, where he finished 10th.

“I am so happy to be here and happy to be healthy, thank God,” said Bupp after the race. “It just feels like home being back with all my friends here. I miss my wife and kids back at home, but they’ll be excited to see this on TV. I got a top-six out of this race this year, so we keep making progress. We’ll come here next year and try to do top three. There isn’t much I can complain about on a day like this.”

The re-broadcast of Saturday’s race will air on MAVTV on Thursday, August 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series next heads to Watkins Glen International on September 7-10.

RESULTS

‘It feels good to do this for Simon’ Lundqvist says after Nashville Fast 12 performance

The dream IndyCar debut continues for Linus Lundqvist who rocked qualifying on Saturday at Nashville after earning a start in the Firestone Fast 12 for the heavy-hearted Meyer Shank Racing team. Everyone from team owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer to …

The dream IndyCar debut continues for Linus Lundqvist who rocked qualifying on Saturday at Nashville after earning a start in the Firestone Fast 12 for the heavy-hearted Meyer Shank Racing team.

Everyone from team owners Mike Shank and Jim Meyer to the crews of the Nos. 06 and 60 Honda, the MSR organization has been in a funk since the scary crash that has sidelined Simon Pagenaud since the end of June. And thanks to Lundqvist’s run that earned 11th among the field of 27 drivers on the starting grid, the team felt joy and happiness for the first time in a long time.

“It feels good to do this for Simon and for every person and every company associated with this team,” Lundqvist told RACER. “I know how much of a hard time they’ve had since the crash, and Simon was helping me coming into the weekend to get ready with some phone calls giving notes and tips–and we’ve been texting—and it’s helped really quite a lot.

“I had no idea what to expect in qualifying, so that we even made it made it through the first group there was the best possible outcome for us. I’m just over the moon at the moment.

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With the run to 11th, Lundqvist also secured the No. 60 entry’s second-best start of the season, bettered only by Pagenaud’s 8th-place performance in qualifying at Detroit. MSR teammate Helio Castroneves will open the 80-lap race in 17th.

Despite the giant learning curve to overcome, Lundqvist has been fast and composed since the start of practice, and for those who watched the Swede utterly dominate last year’s Indy Lights championship, his remarkable pace and laser-focus should not come as a surprise in his maiden IndyCar outing.

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a very, very long time, and in my mind, I’ve been ready for a very long time,” he said. “So to get this opportunity, I’ve had this moment play in my mind so many times that now that I’m actually here, it feels a little bit surreal. But also, this is what I’ve been expecting, so I think that helps.

“And the team has done a tremendous job to make me feel at home, both within the car but also outside of the car, and the engineers are very good at making me feel comfortable in the car and getting to grips on an IndyCar weekend. It’s been a pretty tough time for the team, so seeing them smiling means a lot.”