Kyle Kirkwood won his second career pole position, and his first pole position on an oval in qualifying on Saturday for the Music City Grand Prix from Nashville Superspeedway. Kirkwood had a two-lap average at 201.520 mph. However, Kirkwood heads into Sunday's race after having an accident at the end of Saturday night's practice session. Kirkwood suffered a suspension failure in the final minutes of the session. Entering this weekend, Kirkwood is seventh in the championship. His championship position improved from 24th to 11th over his first two seasons in IndyCar. In his first pole position starts, Kirkwood won at Long Beach in April 2023.
Josef Newgarden starts his home race on the outside of row one after running two laps at 201.352 mph. Newgarden had finishes of 26th and 27th at the Milwaukee doubleheader. The only time Newgarden has had three consecutive finishes outside the top twenty was in his rookie year when he finished 26th, 23rd and 25th over Long Beach, São Paulo and Indianapolis. Those were the third, fourth and fifth starts of his IndyCar career. Newgarden could become the first driver to win a race after finishing last the race before since 2019 when Will Power won at Portland after finishing last at Gateway
Felix Rosenqvist starts on the inside of row two in third position. This is the seventh time this season Rosenqvist has qualified in the top five, but he has only three top five finishes and none since the end of April. After opening the season with five top ten finishes in the first six races with an average finish of 10.5, Rosenqvist has one top ten finish and an average finish of 14.5 over the last ten races.
Championship contender Will Power starts fourth, and after all the grid penalties shake up, he will have a 20-position advantage on the grid Álex Palou, as Palou starts 24th after applying a nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. Power must score at least 38 points to have a chance at a title. That means Power must finish second or better or at least three with three bonus points. When the green flag is waved to start this race, Palou's championship lead will be down to seven points.
David Malukas has car #66 starting in fifth position. In ten races with Meyer Shank Racing, Malukas has started in the top ten in seven of them, including five of his six oval appearances. However, Malukas has failed to finish on the lead lap in four consecutive races, and he has failed to finish in three of his five oval starts this season.
Conor Daly put the #78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet sixth on the grid, Daly's best starting position since he started third in the second race of the Iowa doubleheader. In five races with Juncos Hollinger Racing, Daly has averaged 15.6 points per start. Agustín Canapino averaged 9.909 points over his 11 starts in the #78 Chevrolet.
Patricio O'Ward will start seventh. The worst O'Ward started on an oval this season was eighth. He started eighth at Indianapolis and Gateway. Though O'Ward won the first Milwaukee, he has finished 15th or worse in four of the last five races while his average finish over that span being 16.6. He has retired from two of the last three oval races due to mechanical issues before the halfway point in the race.
Linus Lundqvist starts eighth, his third consecutive race starting in the top ten. Lundqvist started in the top ten in only two of the first 14 races this season. The Swede clinched Rookie of the Year honors for the 2024 season at Milwaukee. He became the second consecutive Chip Ganassi Racing driver to claim Rookie of the Year.
Colton Herta moves up to ninth on the grid after all grid penalties were served. Herta has three top five finishes in the last four oval races. Entering this season, he had two career top five finishes on ovals, and none since 2021. Herta is 13 points from third in the championship. Third in the championship would match his best career championship finish.
Rinus VeeKay closes out 2024 starting tenth, his best starting position since seventh n the Indianapolis 500 in May. In the last seven races, VeeKay has five top ten finishes and his average finish is 9.142 over that span. In the first nine races, the Dutchman had two top ten finishes and an average finish of 17.444.
Scott Dixon starts 11th, the third consecutive race he is starting outside the top ten, and the fifth time in the last six races. Dixon has led 98 laps through the first 16 races. He has led at least 100 laps in nine consecutive seasons and in 17 of the last 18 seasons. Dixon has led 247 laps in his career at Nashville Superspeedway, more than any other driver
Marcus Armstrong closes out his sophomore season starting in the 12th position. Armstrong has finished outside the top fifteen in four of six oval races this season, and his average finish on ovals is 19th. He has completed every lap in only one oval race in 2024. That was the first Iowa race.
Romain Grosjean starts 13th, one position better than where he started in the last race from Milwaukee. At 17th in the championship, Grosjean is in position for his worst championship result in IndyCar. He was 15th in his rookie season when he did not run three oval races. He is 26 points behind Marcus Armstrong in 15th.
Santino Ferrucci drops to 14th on the grid due to a nine-spot grid penalty fo an unapproved engine change. Ferrucci was fourth in both Milwaukee races two years ago. He is attempting to become the first A.J. Foyt Racing driver with three consecutive top five finishes since Eliseo Salazar had three consecutive top five results over the 2001 Indy Racing League season finale and the first two races of the 2002 season.
Marcus Ericsson will start 15th, the ninth time in 17 races Ericsson has started outside the top ten. He started outside the top ten in nine of the previous 22 races to the start of this season. Ericsson has an average finish of 20.1667 on ovals in 2024, and he has retired from half of the oval races this season.
Pietro Fittipaldi is the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing qualifier in 16th. This is his second-best starting position on an oval. He started 15th at Gateway last month. Fittipaldi has finished outside the top fifteen in 11 of 16 races this season.
Kyffin Simpson wraps up his rookie season with a 17th starting spot position. This is Simpson's second-best starting position of the season after 12th at Road America. He has finished off the lead lap in four consecutive oval races and in five of the last six races overall.
A nine-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change has Scott McLaughlin starting 18th. McLaughlin had started on the front row of every oval race this season. McLaughlin is looking to finish third in the championship for the second consecutive season. Last year, he scored 488 points. He is 13 points off matching his 2023 points total.
Graham Rahal starts on the inside of row ten. Rahal is 18th in the championship entering Nashville, and he can finish no worse than 18th. This would be his worst championship finish since he was 19th in 2014. This is the third consecutive season he will finish outside the top ten in the championship. Rahal is two points out of 17th and 11 points out of 16th.
Jack Harvey rounds out the top twenty starting position. This is the third consecutive race Harvey has qualified inside the top twenty and he qualified inside the top twenty for all five of his oval races, though a back injury prevented him from starting the second Iowa race. Harvey was 14th in the second Milwaukee race. It was his best finish on an oval since he was tenth in the 2021 Gateway race.
Christian Lundgaard occupies 21st on the grid. Lundgaard is 37 points outside the top ten entering the finale. Last season, he had a victory, four top five finishes and nine top ten finishes. Entering this year's final, Lundgaard has one top five finish and five top ten finishes, but he was ninth in the first Milwaukee race two weeks ago, his best career oval result.
Katherine Legge has herself up to 22nd in the grid after a number of grid penalties were applied. Legge led two laps in the second Milwaukee race two weeks ago. It was her first laps led since June 4, 2006 when she led 12 laps at Milwaukee in what was her fourth career start.
Sting Ray Robb had a mechanical issue cause his qualifying run to end prematurely, but he will start 23rd after the grid penalties are sorted, the 32nd time in 34 IndyCar races Robb is starting outside the top twenty. Robb is holding onto 20th in the championship. He is looking at a three position improvement from 23rd in the championship last year.
Álex Palou's nine-spot grid penalty puts him 24th, his worst starting position since the first race of the 2021 Belle Isle doubleheader, 59 races ago. By starting 24th, this is the fourth time in six races Palou is starting outside the top ten. Palou will clinch the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series championship with a finish of ninth or better. He has finished ninth or better in 71.25% of his IndyCar starts.
A nine-spot grid penalty knocks Christian Rasmussen down to 25th when the field rolls off this afternoon. This is the third consecutive race Rasmussen has started outside the top twenty, and he has started 23rd or worse in all four of his oval races this season. Rasmussen has finished 16th or better in all three of his oval starts this season.
Another nine-grid spot penalty has knocked Alexander Rossi to 26th starting spot. Rossi has not finished in the top five of a season finale since he was fifth at Sonoma in 2016. That was Rossi's second career top five finish after his victory in the Indianapolis 500.
After a practice accident and subsequent engine change, Nolan Siegel will start last as he was unable to participate in the qualifying session. Siegel's accident came on his sixth lap of practice. He ran 14 laps in the final practice last night. In five oval starts, Siegel has an average finish of 15th with his best finish being seventh at Gateway.
NBC's coverage of the Music City Grand Prix from Nashville Superspeedway will begin at 3:00 p.m. with green flag scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 206 laps.
