For the second consecutive year, Scott McLaughlin starts on pole position for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix from the streets of Nashville. McLaughlin ran a 74.6099-second lap in the final round of qualifying, 0.3296 seconds faster than Patricio O'Ward, who will start second. This is McLaughlin's first pole position of the season and the fourth of his career. Two of McLaughlin's four career victories have come from pole position. The New Zealander is looking for his third consecutive top five finish. McLaughlin has not had three consecutive top five finishes since a five-race run last season from the second Iowa race through his Portland victory.
Patricio O'Ward starts on the front row for the second time this season. O'Ward started second at Road America. O'Ward has an average finish of 18.5 through the first two Nashville races. The only drivers with a worse average that started both races are Jimmie Johnson, Takuma Sato and Dalton Kellett, three drivers that are not entered this weekend.
Colton Herta ended up 0.6317 seconds off McLaughlin and that will slot Herta third on the grid. This is the sixth time Herta has started third in his career. In the first five occasions, he finished worse than third, including finishing fourth in three of those races and finishing outside the top ten in the other two. Herta has led the most laps over the first two Nashville races, but all 39 of those laps led came in the 2021 race.
Álex Palou was 0.6363 seconds slower than McLaughlin and Palou takes fourth starting spot. After failing to finish in the top ten in his first three street course starts, Palou has 12 consecutive top ten finishes in street races. His Detroit victory in June was his first street course victory, but he has six podium finishes and eight top five finishes during that span. His average finish in the last 12 street course races is 4.1667.
David Malukas starts in the top five for a second consecutive race as Malukas occupies fifth on the grid. After opening the season having finished better than his starting position in the first three races, Malukas has finished worse than his starting position in eight of the last nine races. The exception was Malukas going from 12th to sixth at Mid-Ohio.
Romain Grosjean rounds out the Fast Six participants. This is Grosjean's best starting position since he was third at Detroit. Grosjean's average finish in 14 street course starts is 15.857. He has only three top ten finishes in street races, a pair of runner-up results in the last two Long Beach outings and a fifth at St. Petersburg in 2022.
For the third time this season, Will Power will start seventh. Power was only 0.0865 seconds short on making the final round of qualifying. Power has finished on the podium in the previous two races this season where he started seventh. In seven consecutive seasons, Power has finished in the top five in the 13th race of the season. That includes two victories and six podium finishes.
Kyle Kirkwood joins Power on row four after Kirkwood was 0.1122 seconds off the Fast Six. Kirkwood made it out of the first round of qualifying in all five street course races this season, and he made the Fast Six three times. The Floridian has led only one lap since he won at Long Beach, leading 53 laps in the process. That one lap came at Detroit.
Josef Newgarden is going for his third consecutive victory, but he will have to earn it from ninth on the grid. This is only the second time in Newgarden's career he has won consecutive races. The other time was in 2017 when he won at Toronto and Mid-Ohio. In the race following Mid-Ohio, he was second at Pocono. It is the last time Newgarden has had at least three consecutive podium finishes. He actually had four consecutive podium finishes in that 2017 run. After finishing second at Pocono, Newgarden won at Gateway.
Alexander Rossi rounds out the top ten on the grid. Rossi is aiming for his third top five finish on a street course this season. Rossi has not had at least three top five finishes in street races in a single season since he finished in the top five in all five street races in 2019. He went from 12th to fourth at St. Petersburg and from 13th to fifth at Detroit earlier this season.
Linus Lundqvist makes his IndyCar debut from 11th position driving the #60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. This was only the second time Meyer Shank Racing made the second round of qualifying this season. Simon Pagenaud started eighth at Detroit. Lundqvist won in Indy Lights last year at Nashville. It was his final victory in his championship season. Three of his five victories were on street courses last year.
After having an accident in the final minute of the second round of qualifying, Scott Dixon will start 12th. The only other time Dixon started outside the top ten this season was at Road America where he started 25th. Dixon will be making his 318th consecutive start today at Nashville. This ties Tony Kanaan's most consecutive starts record. Dixon has started every race since August 1, 2004 at Michigan. At that point in his career, Dixon had four career victories, had not won a race in over a year, and he had one championship. Dixon is the only driver to finish in the top five in both of the first two Nashville races.
Christian Lundgaard missed out on advancing from group one by 0.0093 seconds, and Lundgaard will start 13th. The Dane did not have a top ten finish at the Iowa doubleheader. The only time Lundgaard has gone at least three consecutive races without a top ten finish was the first five starts of his IndyCar career.
Felix Rosenqvist was closer than Lundgaard to advancing from the first round of qualifying. Rosenqvist fell 0.0039 seconds shy of advancing, putting the Swede on row seven. After opening the season with seven consecutive top ten starting positions, this is the fourth time in the last six races and the third consecutive race Rosenqvist has started outside the top ten. The McLaren driver has finished worse than his starting position in eight of 12 races this season.
Graham Rahal was 0.0933 seconds shy of advancing from group one, and Rahal will roll off from directly behind his teammate Lundgaard in 15th. This is Rahal's best street course starting position this season. His previous best was 20th at St. Petersburg. Rahal has gone 13 races without a top five finish. It is Rahal's longest drought since 14 races from Pocono 2013 through the 2014 Indianapolis 500.
Marcus Armstrong missed out on advancing to the second round of qualifying for only the third time this year, and he will start 16th. Armstrong was 0.1032 seconds shy of advancing from group two in the first round. The New Zealander has not finished worse than 11th on a street course. This is his worst street course start this season.
Hélio Castroneves takes 17th on the grid. Castroneves was ninth and 13th in the first two Nashville races. The Brazilian has won three times when starting outside the top ten, but all three of those were on ovals, two of which were his first two Indianapolis 500 victories. The other was Chicagoland in 2008.
Callum Ilott will be to Castroneves' outside at the start on row nine. Ilott's only time starting in the top fifteen this season was 15th at Barber Motorsports Park. Ilott has finished outside the top ten in eight of his nine career street course starts in IndyCar. Six of those have been finishes outside the top fifteen.
Rinus VeeKay starts on the inside of row ten. This is VeeKay's worst starting position since he started 19th at Long Beach. VeeKay has not finished in the top ten on a street course since he was sixth in the 2022 St. Petersburg season opener.
Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top twenty, his worst starting position of the season. Ericsson had started in the top ten in eight consecutive races. The only other time Ericsson has been the worst Chip Ganassi Racing starter this season was at Texas when he started 16th.
Santino Ferrucci qualified 21st, his fifth consecutive race starting outside the top twenty. Ferrucci was outside the top twenty at the end of both Iowa races two weeks ago. The Nutmegger has never finished outside the top twenty in three consecutive races in his IndyCar career.
Jack Harvey starts 22nd for the second consecutive race. Harvey's most recent top ten finish was tenth in last year's Nashville race. His average finish in the 15 races since then is 19.7333. Only twice has Harvey started outside the top twenty and finished in the top ten. He went from 23rd to tenth at Austin in 2019 and he went from 25th to seventh at Long Beach in 2021.
Agustín Canapino starts 23rd for the second consecutive race. Canapino has finished inside the top fifteen in three of the first four street races this season. In two of those three races he started inside the top twenty. Canapino has finished on the lead lap in three of four street races this season.
Sting Ray Robb finds himself starting 24th. Robb has yet to start in the top twenty in his IndyCar career. He has finished inside the top twenty in three of four street races in 2023. The Idahoan was runner-up in last year's Indy Lights race at Nashville.
Benjamin Pedersen brought out a red flag before he even completed a lap in the first group of qualifying, and due to that red flag, Pedersen will take 25th on the grid. The Dane has started either 25th or 28th in the last four races. Pedersen has been classified in 27th in the last three races.
Devlin DeFrancesco ended up 26th on the grid, his worst starting position of the season. DeFrancesco has finished outside the top twenty in three consecutive races and in seven of the first 12 races this season. His best finish this season was 12th on the streets of Detroit.
Ryan Hunter-Reay will start 27th, his second time starting 27th this season. Hunter-Reay found himself starting 27th at Road America. Hunter-Reay was fourth in the inaugural Nashville race in 2021. It remains Hunter-Reay's most recent top five finish.
NBC's coverage of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix begins at noon with green flag scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 80 laps.
