First Impressions: Nashville 2025

1. The balance between a dream and a nightmare is razor thin. Entering today, Josef Newgarden had been living a nightmare. The 2025 season somehow was worse than 2024 when it didn't seem probable it could be, but Team Penske had its worst season of the 21st century. Every race seem to come up snake eyes for at least one if not all three of Penske's cars. Newgarden appeared to be the most bitten driver of the season. 

Today started slow for Newgarden. He didn't rocket to the front, but he slowly climbed up the order from sixth on the grid. He actually lost a spot or two at the start. He hadn't rocketed forward at Milwaukee either, but he was in the picture for the victory late a week ago. Unfortunately for Newgarden, even when it appeared things were going his way, something always found a way to go wrong. Whether it be seat belts coming up done, mechanical issues, cars spinning into his path, Scott Dixon hitting him from behind, or not taking tires under the final caution while every car behind you does, Newgarden couldn't escape misfortune in 2025. 

That was nearly the case in the season finale. Newgarden overshot his pit box for his final pit stop after he was leading the race. Newgarden went from first to third after the pit cycle. It felt like another race had gotten away from Newgarden. However, in the closing laps, Newgarden passed Álex Palou, and he went onto battle Scott McLaughlin. 

McLaughlin had a good lead, but running wide in the middle of turn one caused McLaughlin to slide up the track and brush the barrier. Newgarden inherited the lead, but there would still be 12 laps between him and victory. 

For a year where it felt like Newgarden was always battling, even when he was only battling himself, Newgarden did not face extreme pressure in the closing laps. Of all the drivers to be breathing down his neck, it was Álex Palou, a driver who had been virtually flawless all season. On this day, Palou was good, but not good enough. There was no late lunge or attack for first. Josef Newgarden got to the checkered flag a little over a half-second ahead of the 2025 champion, and a great relief fell upon the Tennessean. 

The last two seasons have been particularly eye-opening for Newgarden and the Team Penske organization. Regardless of this result, there were still seven finishes outside the top twenty this season. Not all of those were his fault, but at least half were down to driver error. For a driver who went into the 2024 season saying he cut out distractions in the offseason to improve results, things took a nosedive, and while there have been victories, including a second Indianapolis 500 triumph since, things have mostly gone downward. 

If there is any hope for Newgarden, it is this victory can turn things around in 2026. For two years, he hasn't been close to a championship contender. We know he can be a champion. We know he is a great driver. This victory put Newgarden tenth all-time in victories on his own. He has already made his mark on the record book, but this slump has been hard to ignore. At least Newgarden and his team head into an offseason not thinking about a losing streak.

2. Álex Palou closes the season with a runner-up finish. Eight victories is damn fine. It was a number not reached previously post-reunification. Scott Dixon has never reached this number of victories in a season. Will Power has never reached this number of victories in a season, neither has Newgarden. We are going to look back on one lap at Mid-Ohio and one choice not to stop under the final caution at Milwaukee as the only things being between Palou and matching the record of ten victories in a season. Even though he didn't match the record, it was still a historic and tremendous season. 

Palou had 13 podium finishes. Only five times previously has a driver had at least 13 podium finishes in a season. His 14 top five finishes are only the ninth time a driver has hit such a number in a season. He began the season with six consecutive podium finishes. He ends the season with four consecutive podium finishes. What else do you want from the guy? 

This was a brilliant season, one of the best we have ever seen. Even on a day when you would think he should not have had a sniff of victory, Palou was the main challenger in the final laps. Palou had a cut tire 52 laps into the race. That should have been curtains on his 2025 season, and he should have had 90 minutes to shower off and prepare for a trophy ceremony. Instead, Palou was able to nurse the car to pit lane and essentially lose no time. 

Palou led after the final pit cycle, but he didn't have the power to control the race and soon fell behind McLaughlin. It wasn't Palou's day, but it didn't need to be. He had won the war long ago.

3. When Scott McLaughlin and Newgarden were running 1-2, all I could think about was as close as Team Penske was to a dream ending for this dark 2025 season, but if there was anything we should have learned from this year, it was more likely McLaughlin and Newgarden were going to get together battling for the lead and taking each other out than those two finishing first and second. If anything, the nightmare was the more apt ending to this season than the dream.

Within two laps of saying that, McLaughlin slid up the track and it looked like his race would be over. However, it was only a glancing blow, and McLaughlin was able to continue. He had lost his advantage, and despite having the alternate tire for the final laps, McLaughlin could not mount a challenge to Newgarden. McLaughlin actually found himself fighting for that final podium spot with Kyffin Simpson. McLaughlin pipped it in the closing laps.

McLaughlin ends as the winless Penske driver in 2025. None of the Penske drivers had a good season. McLaughlin had some better moments, but he spent the end of spring and start of summer unable to compete for victories. He made his own mistakes as well. It isn't a victory, but with a pair of third-place results to end the season, it should be momentum to carry into 2026 just like Newgarden will have with a  victory. 

4. I don't know how Kyffin Simpson finished fourth. Simpson didn't get mentioned at all until he was suddenly in the top five. He kept it clean obviously while others had issues. Simpson did start eighth today. It isn't like he was slow. He had a good car in this race. The way things shook out, he was on the verge of a podium on an oval, but he will surely take fourth. Entering this race, Simpson's best oval result was 13th. 

It is another odd result in an encouraging if not puzzling season from Simpson. There were plenty of races where he was in the top ten on speed. He was a little fortunate to have been fifth in Detroit and third at Toronto. He was better than last season, but he still had races where he was not comfortable. He also ran over Felix Rosenqvist at the start of the Laguna Seca race, and he was stubborn traffic in a few races when you wouldn't think that would be the case. It will be curious to see how 2026 plays out.

5. Conor Daly ends the 2025 season on a high-note with a fifth-place result. Daly didn't quite have the car to challenge for the victory today. He recovered from a woeful qualifying run to spend most of the race in the top ten. This is kind of the limit for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Even at Iowa where Daly had great pace, the team couldn't be counted on for pit stops to keep him in the picture. 

This is also the limit for Conor Daly. He debuted in 2013. His first full season was in 2016. The only teams he has never driven for are Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and Prema, the newest team on the grid. He has never finished better than 17th in the championship, and he was 18th this season. If he had done something impressive enough to warrant a promotion up to a better team, it would have come by now. Every year is a year-by-year basis for Daly. No one knows if he will be back next year at JHR. If he isn't, Daly is likely not going to be full-time in 2026. If he isn't full-time in 2026, I don't know if he will ever be full-time again. There are many young drivers ready to break through with a lot to prove.

6. Kyle Kirkwood ended the season with a good day in sixth. Kirkwood wasn't in the picture for race victory, but he didn't stumble down the order and end up 15th with everyone scratching their heads over what the hell happened. This was not a great end to what was a promising season. Andretti Global has a lot to consider after how this season ended. It had a team that had an outside shot at the championship halfway through the season. It should have at least had a driver finishing second in the championship considering Kirkwood had won three of the first eight races. 

Andretti Global should not feel satisfied with this season. It was far better than most. It was better than Team Penske's season, but the team faded in the second half, and no one wins championship when fading away.

7. Felix Rosenqvist turned a bad day around and was seventh, which got him sixth in the championship on tiebreaker over Colton Herta, somehow matching his best championship finish and it nipped Marcus Armstrong for best Meyer Shank Racing driver in the championship. 

I think sixth in the championship is flattering to Rosenqvist. We know he is quick and can be impressive. We also know he struggles to turn qualifying pace into race results. We know if he qualifies in the top five in ten races, likely only one of those races will see him as a threat for victory. It is frustrating because he could be a sneaky driver that can be an underdog and lift a mid-pack team to the top. He arguably has done that in his two years at MSR, but I don't know if the Felix Rosenqvist who is a regular contender for race victories and could one day be champion will ever come to light, which is something we all expected when he joined the series in 2019.

8. Santino Ferrucci recovered from a mistake of his own to finish eighth. The lap 83 caution for David Malukas and Louis Foster coming together while Malukas was in second already stung A.J. Foyt Racing. To add insult to injury, Ferrucci entered the pit lane access road in turn three when making his pit stop under that caution. However, cars enter pit lane off of turn four under caution at Nashville. Ferrucci was given a pit lane violation for improper entry, which it was, and he was sent back to 24th prior to the restart. 

Ferrucci did gain ten spots in about six laps after that restart, but he never really factored in again. He ended up finishing eighth and lost a few more spots after Robert Shwartzman blocked him in the final sprint to the finish. It was nice way to end a season after Ferrucci had been in a rut for almost two months. After four consecutive top five finishes to end May and cover the month of June, Ferrucci entered this weekend with his best finish being eighth over the last seven races, one of which he missed due to a warm-up accident in Toronto. He fell out of top ten championship battle. He was ahead of at least two Penske drivers for most of first half of the season, and he ended 2025 ahead of zero Team Penske drivers. 

No bragging rights earn, and not much more than 16th in the championship. There were a few bright days, but it is a dip from last season no matter how we try to shade it.

9. Callum Ilott got ninth, and Ilott ended the season with four top ten finishes in the final five races. That is a pretty stellar ending to a first season for Prema. Ilott had a rough start to the season, but he and Prema found their legs down the stretch. The team still has work to do. Prema's drivers are ending the season ranked 21st and 24th in the championship. It is far from a good season, but it is a promising end. Prema had three top ten finishes on ovals and it won Indianapolis 500 pole position. If someone had told you Prema would have achieved that on March 1, you would have had that person locked up for insanity.

For all the celebration around Ilott, he doesn't score many outstanding results. He had about three great races with Juncos Hollinger Racing, granted they were the three best days for JHR up to that point, but if there is one knock against Ilott it is he doesn't regularly finish 12th or 13th and sneak a top ten finish every three races. If you are sneaking a top ten finish every three races you have five or six top ten finishes a season. That could get you tenth or 11th in the championship. I don't know if Prema will be capable of producing that kind of car next year. Ilott is its driver though. Can it believe in him for much greater?

10. Alexander Rossi began the season with a tenth-place finish, and Rossi ended the season with a tenth-place finish. Rossi went a little off strategy in this race and it nearly backfired on him, but the final caution for McLaughlin running wide allow Rossi to make his final pit stop without losing a lap. 

Rossi didn't have great pace this weekend. Ed Carpenter Racing figured out a way to get into the fight. This is a little disappointing of a season because Rossi opened with three top ten finishes in the first four races. I didn't expect that kind of output to continue, but I didn't expect Rossi to spend basically three months being completely out of the picture. More of that is on the team than the driver. 

It is a bit of a recovery to end this season for Rossi, but we saw ECR finish strongly with Rinus VeeKay last year, and it didn't appear to do a damn thing because we are ending another season with ECR's cars finishing between 13th and 15th in the championship, where they have been since Josef Newgarden left a decade ago.

11. Colton Herta got a bit of a raw deal in this race. Herta was penalized for an unsafe release on his penultimate pit stop when he pulled out into the path of Jacob Abel, who was a lap down at the time. No contact was made, but this season IndyCar race control appeared to have loosened its grip on unsafe release penalties. Basically it became, if there is contact there will be a penalty. If there is no contact, there will not be a penalty. There was no contact in this case, and I thought Herta would not be punished. I got that one wrong. 

The problem is we saw inconsistent unsafe release penalties at Gateway where Felix Rosenqvist received one, and later in the same race David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin appeared to do the same thing as Rosenqvist and neither driver was reprimanded. What Herta did wasn't any worse than Malukas and McLaughlin at Gateway. 

We also have Herta getting a penalty for impeding a lapped car from getting into his pit box. I had thought lapped cars had to pit the lap after lead lap cars, but I checked the pit procedures section of the rulebook, and that is not listed. 

However, can we use some common sense? A top five car lost a chance at victory because of a lapped car making a pit stop. Those two parties should not be crossing paths on the pit lane, especially under caution. Herta didn't make Abel's terrible day any worse. It doesn't mean Herta can do whatever he wants on the pit lane, but it also a situation that should never present itself. 

Herta never recovered from that. He took tires under the final caution, and I thought he would gain some ground, but he gained about two spots. None of the drivers that took tires late shot up the order, which was a bit of surprise. I thought someone would have gained five or six positions, not enough to win but enough to make a good day a lot better. For Herta, it is 11th on day, seventh on the season, no victories, and this is a bit of disappointment when you consider he left Nashville last year as the race winner and second in the championship. 

12. Scott Dixon was 12th. Dixon backed into third in the championship. Christian Lundgaard retired due to a mechanical issue. Dixon ended the season with finishes of 11th, ninth and 12th. Not the greatest end to the season. He probably should have been in the top five at Portland. Dixon only had three podium finishes this season. It wasn't a spectacular year. 

He basically got third because he finished in the top twenty of every race. He was 12th or better in every race but when he was 20th at the Indianapolis 500. That is a Scott Dixon-esque bad season. He isn't going to win often, but he isn't going to have a slew of bad results. He is just going to finish eighth and ninth and pick off a few podium finishes here and there. This wasn't the highest note to end on. Dixon will be ok.

13. Why don't we give the final lead lap finisher his due and recognize Rinus VeeKay, who was 13th on the day, but he fell to 14th in the final championship standings? 

I don't know if anyone would have believed that VeeKay could finish 14th in the championship when the season began. Dale Coyne Racing's best finish over the entire 2024 season was 13th. This year, VeeKay had two top five finishes and seven top ten finishes. He finished 13th or better nine times. 

In VeeKay's career, he has finished 14th, 12th, 12th, 14th, 13th and 14th in the championship, and he has done that with Ed Carpenter Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. It seems like VeeKay will be back at Coyne next year. Silly season appears to have taken a sharp left turn into lunacy. VeeKay might be a hot commodity when it appeared he would be stuck in place when he is clearly ready for a greater opportunity.

14. Let's cover the Rookie of the Year battle here because Robert Shwartzman was 14th, and he was in the top ten before he got penalized for a block on Ferrucci. It was a clear block and it was a right call to penalize the Prema driver. Shwartzman went from a top ten position and ten spots ahead of Louis Foster, who entered the race only eight points ahead of Shwartzman, to 14th and Rookie of the Year was lost right there. 

For most of this season, it felt like Foster was the better rookie, even though Shwartzman had two top ten finishes. If Shwartzman had ended Nashville in the top ten, it would be hard to argue he wasn't the best rookie with three top ten finishes while Foster had none. However, one costly mistake took the honor from Shwartzman. He did well this year, but outside of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, there wasn't a moment where we were really astonished with how Shwartzman raced. Even his two top ten finishes mostly came down to attrition and pit strategy. He will get better, but we didn't see the next Álex Palou either.

15. Let's jump to Louis Foster because he was  part of probably the most notable moment in this race. Foster was a lap down and was traffic to the leaders. He was in front of David Malukas, who was second. Entering turn one on lap 83, Foster was low and he turned right to get separation from the yellow line to improve corner entry, but he veered into the path of Malukas.

Malukas moved up as well, but the two came together in turn one. Malukas' race was over. Foster received a drive-through penalty. 

Foster was at fault, but Malukas wasn't blameless. Malukas still made a risky move when he could have backed out of it. Foster didn't drive up and collect Malukas. Foster made it more difficult entering the corner. Foster was still on the yellow line when entering the corner. He could not have driven any lower. 

This has been my critique on Malukas for the last three years. He makes mistakes. This wasn't 100% on him, but he could have given it a beat with a lapped car and lived to fight another day. Backing out and waiting to try again the next lap was an option. He had plenty of space to third. Malukas was not in danger of losing a position. 

We weren't even halfway through the race. There was a lot of time to go. I don't know if Malukas has the attention-span to recognize that, and Team Penske apparently thinks he is the future. 

Malukas was taken to hospital for further evaluation after this accident, and he has been released. To be fair, we must recognize Malukas did finish 11th in the championship driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. He also only had five top ten finishes in 17 races. That is fewer than VeeKay, Rossi, Ferrucci and, most notably, Will Power.

16. Let's blow through the rest of the field beause the rest of the finishers don't really matter.

Marcus Ericsson's miserable season ends with a 15th-place finish. I not only think Ericsson is on a hot seat for 2026, I think if Ericsson's form does not improve through the Indianapolis 500, Andretti Global would make a midseason driver change. 

Sting Ray Robb was 16th. Yep. That is as good as it gets for Robb. We will see if he can still find the money to stay in IndyCar. Juncos Hollinger Racing will need money to keep the lights on. 

Nolan Siegel was the top Arrow McLaren finisher because Lundgaard broke down and Patricio O'Ward blew a tire while leading. More on O'Ward later, but Siegel is also on a hot seat for being a midseason replacement in 2026. I don't care how much of daddy's money Siegel is bringing to the team. McLaren cannot stand having two cars in the top five of the championship and another car that is 22nd. Théo Pourchaire probably could have cracked the championship top ten this season.

Devlin DeFrancesco was 18th, the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing finisher. I don't know where DeFrancesco goes from here. I guess it depends on what RLLR does when the driver market opens up. Graham Rahal was experiencing car issues from practically the start of the race. Rahal was multiple laps down early and he ended up five laps down in 22nd. 

17. Marcus Armstrong was also penalized for blocking and this cost him a top ten finish. Armstrong wound up 19th. It also cost him a top six championship finish. Armstrong still will finish eighth in the championship in an incredible year for Meyer Shank Racing with both its drivers in the championship top ten. I bet MSR would have been thrilled to get one driver in the championship top ten. To get both, and have both cars finish ahead of all three Team Penske cars was likely unthinkable when the season started. MSR should be celebrated more for this season.

18. Speaking of Team Penske, Will Power was shot out of a cannon around the midway point, and it looked like he was set to be fighting for his second victory of the season. Then Power overshot his pit box on his penultimate pit stop, he stalled trying to leave and he lost a lap. Power could not recover and he finished 21st. 

Power will turn 45 years old on the day of next year's season opener from St. Petersburg. At some point, Team Penske will need to move on, but I don't think now is time with the driver Penske is prepared to hire. If it was an obvious upgrade, maybe Penske would have a case. It does feel like that team is about to make a downgrade for the sake of change.

19. Jacob Abel was 23rd, ten laps down. I am going to give Abel some benefit of the doubt because he was driving for Dale Coyne Racing and while Rinus VeeKay was 14th in the championship, this is the same team that could not finish better than 13th last season. The resources at Coyne are scarce on a good day. That second car might not be good, but it also might not be that bad. I don't know if it is Abel or the car or the combination. Abel didn't look bad in Indy Lights even if he didn't do anything to make you think he was a star of the future. I cannot see how he will be back in 2026. 

20. Patricio O'Ward suffered a right front tire failure while leading. O'Ward was the class of the field and he had led 116 of the first 127 laps. If O'Ward doesn't experience the tire failure, I think he wins the race. I don't think Newgarden was going to be able make the moves to pass O'Ward. I don't think Palou is a factor in the final pit cycle. If O'Ward doesn't have the tire failure, he makes his final stop and emerges clear of the competition. There is no worry of anyone jumping him in the pit cycle. 

O'Ward was pretty critical of Firestone after the failure. It has been a tough two years for Firestone at Nashville. I will say Nashville is probably the worst surface IndyCar races on, especially among ovals. Look at the bumps in the middle of turn four! IndyCar hasn't hit a bump that bad since the train tracks in Baltimore. No track should be all-concrete. There are only three ovals in the world that are all concrete. Nashville shouldn't be all concrete. 

Firestone could bring the hardest tire possible to Nashville and prevent this problem, but the racing will probably suffer. I forgive Firestone a little bit, but by next year Firestone should have this figured out and we should have tires that wear without having to worry they will fail. 

I will throw Lundgaard in here because three laps before O'Ward's spin, Lundgaard came to pit lane with his mechanical issue. What a sour turn for Arrow McLaren. Lundgaard was in good position to get third in the championship prior to this problem. Fifth in the championship is still really good in year one at McLaren. 

21. And we end with the driver we began with last week. Christian Rasmussen was first last week, and he was the first out this week. In turn two on the opening lap, Rasmussen was running high and he lost the back end, sending him into the wall. For all the risks he took last week, it bit him immediately in the next race. 

The victory last week gives Rasmussen a mulligan, and he still finished 13th in the championship despite today's result. We can laugh about it now, but next year will be key for Rasmussen and ECR. It will be year three together. Results must take a leap, something that has proven to be difficult for ECR to do.

22. I have written quite a bit for this finale, and I still have more to say.

I liked the multiple tire compounds. Maybe we should just do it at all the oval races as well as the road and street courses.

I forgot Nashville was running multiple compound and I think we all forgot about it until about Thursday. 

This is something IndyCar could have promoted. After Portland, or even after Laguna Seca, IndyCar should have promoted what was to come over the final few races. We all knew the championship was likely going to be clinched early. In the middle of an off-week, IndyCar should just get ahead on what is to come over the upcoming races. It could have been mentioned and celebrated weeks ago that Nashville would have multiple tire compounds.

This is what NASCAR does well. It takes the most inconsequential crap and makes it something worth talking about. Whether it is the All-Star Race format in the weeks leading up to that race, the in-season tournament, the throwback weekend at Darlington when they did the throwback weekend or visiting a new racetrack, you know something is coming two or three or four weeks before it will happen and the drumbeat of attention will slowly grow louder. 

That is easy to do and it cost no money. IndyCar must learn how to talk about itself. I don't need social media posting videos about how the drivers peel a mango or if they can name all the seven dwarfs from Snow White. Talk about you! Talk about the racing! And bring the drivers into the discussion. Some of IndyCar's awareness problem is down to IndyCar being unaware about itself. 

23. For all the displeasure we saw this year, I thought IndyCar ended on a good note. We had five good races to end the year after an Iowa weekend that was disappointing even if the races were better than we expected. 

Toronto saw a new winner in the season, and with how the cautions fell we had Dale Coyne Racing on the door step of a victory. Laguna Seca was a good race even if Palou smoked the competition. Portland was a great story with Power winning, Palou clinching the title and there were a number of drivers who had their best races of the season. Then we had Rasmussen taking a surprise victory in a really good race at Milwaukee, and today you had Newgarden getting off the snide in another lively race. 

This wasn't a perfect season, but for all the complaints we heard early in 2025, we aren't hearing those now. We ended with five different winners in the final five races. For the 16th consecutive season, IndyCar had at least seven different winners. We had 15 different drivers finish on the podium, the most since 2015. 

There are still things for IndyCar to work on, but we can at least acknowledge the positives. They are there even if you think there are none. 

24. It is odd going into this offseason. A month ago, it felt like very little would change. Now, it feels like things are going to be shaken up drastically. Forget Malukas knocking Power out of Penske, now Colton Herta is going to Formula Two, Álex Palou is a driver of interest for Red Bull, and Romain Grosjean is interested in a full-time return to IndyCar!

I honestly thought we were looking at an offseason where five or six seats were going to change. We still aren't going to see 14 or 15 seats change, but I don't think this offseason is going to be as simple as Malukas going to Penske, Power going to some team he doesn't really want to be at, Dennis Hauger getting a chance at Dale Coyne Racing, and then Juncos Hollinger Racing finding someone to help fund the program along side Sting Ray Robb or finding two new drivers to keep the team afloat. 

It should be an anticipated offseason, but it also feels like we are bound to see some illogical moves. 

25. At some point we will find out the 2026 calendar and whether or not IndyCar is running a combination with NASCAR at Phoenix, how the spring gap will be filled, when and where IndyCar will be racing in Canada, if Mexico City formalizes and if Iowa is retained or IndyCar moves on. We will have plenty of time to talk about that and more.

May the six-month offseason begin!

Morning Warm-Up: Nashville 2025

Patricio O'Ward closes out the season as the final pole-sitter of the 2025 season, as O'Ward ran a two-lap average around Nashville Superspeedway at 202.621 mph (47.2607 seconds). It is O'Ward's seconds pole position after Thermal Club. It is his first career pole position on an oval. It is O'Ward's seventh career pole position, but he has never won from pole position in his career. In five of his first six pole positions, he has finished in the top five. Since the start of last season, O'Ward has nine top five finishes in 11 oval races. Seven of those have been podium finishes. The pole-sitter has not won the season finale since Colton Herta won at Laguna Seca in 2019. In the last five season finales, the race winner has started eighth or worse.

David Malukas will start second for the second consecutive race as Malukas was 0.1636 seconds off O'Ward's two lap average. His eighth-place finish last week at Milwaukee was the first time he has finished in the top ten when starting on the front row. Malukas has three top ten finishes in his last five starts. He had two top ten finishes over the first 11 races of the season. Nashville will be the 60th start of Malukas' IndyCar career.

Christian Lundgaard has his best starting position on an oval in third, 0.2127 seconds off his Arrow McLaren teammate O'Ward. Lundgaard has three top ten finishes this season on ovals. In his first three seasons in IndyCar, the Dane had two top ten finishes on ovals. He is still looking for his first top five finish on an oval. Lundgaard is also looking to claim third in the championship. He is on 426 points, seven points behind Scott Dixon.

Álex Palou closes the season from fourth starting position. Palou ends the season with the best average starting position at 3.352. This will be the 14th time he has started in the top five in 2025. Palou has clinched the most laps led in a season as he enters the finale 434 laps ahead of Josef Newgarden in second. With 33 more laps led, Palou would become the 16th driver to lead at least 800 laps in a season. If he leads 133 laps, it would be the sixth time in IndyCar history a driver led at least 900 laps in a season.

Scott Dixon is a spot behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate starting fifth. Dixon enters this weekend third in the championship. It is only Dixon's third top five starting position of the season, and the first since he started fourth at the Indianapolis 500. He enters the weekend third in the championship, and Dixon has finished in the top three of the championship in 15 seasons previously. He has finished third in the championship six times in his career.

Josef Newgarden is taking sixth on the grid. Newgarden has finished on the podium in the season finale in four of the last five seasons, and in five of eight seasons with Team Penske. Newgarden is looking to end a 20-race winless streak. It is his longest drought since the first 54 starts of his career. His previous longest drought at Team Penske was ten races over the final five races in 2019 and the first five races of 2020.

Nolan Siegel will start seventh for the finale. This is his first time starting in the top ten since he was eighth in the first Iowa race. Siegel has failed to finish three of the four oval races he has started this season, and he was not cleared for the second Iowa race after his accident in the first race of that weekend. He has finished outside the top fifteen in his last five starts and in ten of his first 15 starts this season.

Scott McLaughlin takes seventh on the grid, and this snaps a streak of six consecutive races starting outside the top ten. McLaughlin's third-place finish at Milwaukee was only his second podium finish of the season. He was third at Barber Motorsports Park in May. The New Zealander is looking for his fourth consecutive finish on the lead lap. His longest streak of lead lap finishes this season is three.

Kyffin Simpson has his best starting position on an oval in eighth. Entering Nashville, Simpson is 18th in the championship on 250 points. Last season, he was 21st in the championship on 182 points. He can finish no worse than 19th in the championship, but he could finish as high as 13th. He has finished 20th or worse in the last three races. His best oval finish this season was 13th in the second Iowa race.

Felix Rosenqvist will start ninth. In his first six seasons in IndyCar, Rosenqvist has two top five finishes and four finishes outside the top ten in the season finale. Three of those results have been 18th or worse. Last year, Rosenqvist was the first car out of the race after an accident on lap 56. In the last 11 races, Rosenqvist has five top ten finishes and six finishes outside the top fifteen.

Will Power rounds out the Team Penske cars starting tenth. This is the seventh consecutive race Power is starting in the top ten. He had started in the top five in the last four races Power has finished outside the top twenty in five races this season. He had only five finishes outside the top twenty over the 53 races prior to the start of this season.

Kyle Kirkwood is on the inside of row six. Kirkwood has finished outside the top ten in five of the last six races. He has finished outside the top ten in all three oval races during that stretch. He has only led laps in one of the last seven races after he had led laps in four of the first nine races. No matter what happens in the finale, Kirkwood cannot finish worse than fifth in the championship.

Santino Ferrucci is starting 12th. Ferrucci has finished outside the top ten in his last two oval starts. Only twice previously has he gone three consecutive oval races without a top ten result. The first was in 2020 over the Texas season opener and the Iowa doubleheader. The next time were the final three oval races in 2023, the Iowa doubleheader and Gateway. 

Colton Herta will be right behind his Andretti Global teammate Kirkwood in 13th. In seven season finales contested, Herta has either won the race or finished outside the top ten. He has won the finale three times. The most season finales won in a career is four, which Johnnie Parsons, A.J. Foyt and Tom Sneva has achieved. Last year, Herta won from ninth at Nashville. He won the 2021 season finale from 14th starting position at Long Beach.

Marcus Ericsson makes it three Andretti Global cars within four spots of each other on the grid. In the last five races, Ericsson has finished 19th or worse in four of them, and his average finish over this span is 18.6.  Ericsson is 20th in the championship entering the final race. His worst championship finish was 17th in his rookie season in 2019. Ericsson has yet to be the best finishing Andretti Global car in a race this season.

Marcus Armstrong is starting 15th. This is the fifth time in six oval races Armstrong is starting outside the top ten. Despite this fact, he has three top ten finishes on ovals this season, including his tenth-place finish last week in Milwaukee. Armstrong has finished on the lead lap in nine consecutive races. Armstrong has clinched the best finisher at Meyer Shank Racing. He has been the top MSR nine times over Rosenqvist.

Nolan Siegel will start 16th for the finale after taking an nine-spot grid penalty due to an engine change after final practice. Siegel has failed to finish three of the four oval races he has started this season, and he was not cleared for the second Iowa race after his accident in the first race of that weekend. He has finished outside the top fifteen in his last five starts and in ten of his first 15 starts this season.

Robert Shwartzman takes 17th on the grid. Shwartzman is eight points behind Louis Foster for Rookie of the Year honors. Shwartzman has finished within five positions of Foster in five consecutive races. In the last three races, Foster has been the better finisher. Shwartzman will start this race six spots ahead of Foster. Foster has finished ahead of Shwartzman in nine of the first 16 races, including three of the first five ovals.

After suffering an engine failure at Milwaukee, Callum Ilott has a nine-spot grid penalty, and this knocks Ilott to 18th on the grid for an all-Prema row nine. Ilott's best oval classification this season was 18th at Gateway. He has finished outside the top 20 in nine races this season, including in four of five oval races. Gateway is also the only race where Ilott led this season.

Alexander Rossi has the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet starting 19th. Rossi had one top ten starting position in the final 12 races of the season. Rossi has finished fifth and fourth in the last two races. He hasn't had three consecutive top five finishes since May and June of 2023 when he was in the top five of both Indianapolis races and Detroit.

Sting Ray Robb starts 20th. It is the second time in three races Robb is the top starting Juncos Hollinger Racing driver. It is the fourth time he has been the best JHR starter this season. Robb has finished 20th or worse in all five oval races this season. Entering the season finale, he has an average finish of 19.75. Last season, his average finish was 19.17647. For Robb to improve his average finish from last year, he must finish ninth.

Graham Rahal leads an all-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing row 11. This is the sixth time Rahal has started outside the top 20 this season. Three of those were on ovals. Rahal has been running at the finish of every race this season. He has never had a season where he has finished every race. Last year, he started 19th and finished 23rd at Nashville.

Devlin DeFrancesco is starting 22nd. DeFrancesco is coming off his 50th career start at Milwaukee. He was 16th, the best finishing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car. The only other time DeFrancesco has been the best finishing RLLR car this season was at the Indianapolis 500. He has finished in the top 20 of the last three races, his matching longest streak of the season.

Louis Foster makes it tic-tac-toe, three RLLR cars in a row on the starting grid with Foster starting 23rd. This is his worst starting position of the season Foster is currently 21st in the championship on 203 points, but he is the top rookie in the championship. The last time a rookie did not finish in the top twenty in the championship in an IndyCar season was in 1986.

Conor Daly is starting 24th. It is the fourth time in the last five races he has started outside the top twenty. It is also his worst oval start of the season. His previous worst oval start was 15th at Gateway. Daly is 15 points from 17th in the championship and 28 points from 16th. Daly has never finished better than 17th in the championship in his IndyCar career.

Christian Rasmussen won last week at Milwaukee, but a nine-spot grid penalty at Nashville knocks him to 25th starting position. After the fourth race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, Rasmussen was 19th in the championship. He enters Nashville 12th in the championship and 12 points outside the championship top ten. Ed Carpenter Racing has not had a championship top ten driver since Josef Newgarden was fourth in 2016.

Rinus VeeKay leads Dale Coyne Racing as DCR's two cars take the final two spots on the grid. Twenty-sixth is VeeKay's ninth time starting outside the top ten this season. Three times has VeeKay started outside the top twenty but finished inside the top ten. VeeKay has never finished in the top ten in a season finale. Last year, he was 12th at Nashville, his best season finale result.

Jacob Abel rounds out the grid in 27th. It is the sixth time Abel is starting in last place this season. His best starting position was 20th at Detroit. Abel has finished outside the top twenty in four consecutive races and in 13 of 15 starts this season. His best finish this season was 11th in the second Iowa race.

Fox's coverage of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix from Nashville Superspeedway begins at 2:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 225 laps.

Best of the Month: August 2025

I swear August was the fastest month yet. It could be down to the lack of racing. A few series were on holiday. They will be resuming shortly and we will get our busy period into autumn, but championships will soon be coming to an end. A notable one is ending this weekend. We are about to enter the final third of the year. Days are already getting shorter. It is a bittersweet time of the year.

Relief Drivers Should Get Credit

Parker Kligerman took the checkered flag last Friday night at Daytona International Speedway in NASCAR's second division. Kligerman took over the #88 Chevrolet from Connor Zilisch under the first caution as Zilisch is recovering from a fractured collarbone after he fell in victory lane a few weeks ago at Watkins Glen.   

In NASCAR national series history, it was the 20th time a winning entry featured a relief driver, but like the first 19 times, Kligerman's name will not show up in the record book. As has been the custom in NASCAR statistical gathering, all stats only count toward the starting driver. The starting driver could complete one lap, come in pit lane and have someone else relieve them for 199 laps. That relief driver could lead 195 laps, win the race, and the relief driver’s name will never be mentioned in the box score. The victory, the laps led, the glory go to the starting driver. 

It is time to reverse that practice and update the record book as so. 

Kligerman took to the track and faced the risks all drivers face on track. If he had been fatally injured in the race, people would say he was in the race, record book be damned. It would be disrespectful for the record books to omit such a thing. If you are racing, you should get credit, whether you started or not. 

Zilisch started and gets the points, but he didn't lead the final ten laps. He didn't make the passes and the blocks to win this race. He already didn't get the stage points and playoff points earned because Kligerman was in the car. They both can get credit for the victory, but Kligerman should get credit for what he did, and the same is true for every relief driver that came before him. 

Did you know Richard Petty twice drove winning entries as a relief driver and one of those was in place of David Pearson? Did you know Petty also had James Hylton drive in relief of him in an entry that won a race? Did you know A.J. Foyt finished first as a relief driver? Did you know there was a Cup race where the winning entry had not one but two relief drivers, and all three are among the most legendary names of NASCAR's two decades!? 

You probably didn't because the record book and box scores of the past do not acknowledge such things, and that is a shame. We are not getting a full representation of history. Did you know in Benny Parsons' 1973 championship season, the only race he won came with help from a relief driver? We are wrongly being denied the full story because of an archaic view of stats keeping. No one knows who John Utsman is, and his contributions very well won a driver his only championship. If it wasn't for Utsman's 170-plus laps of driving, Parsons might not have won at Bristol, and the championship very well could have gone to Cale Yarborough as only 67 points separated the two.

It might be retroactive, but it is right and it is best to give the full story of the races, and not neglect a part because it is easier to ignore it. 

Formula One acknowledges when multiple drivers won a race sharing an entry. IndyCar does, but not fully. IndyCar should do the same for the four Indianapolis 500s where the winning entry had a relief driver, but the relief driver did not finish the race. In the two occasions where the finishing driver was different from the starter, the record book acknowledges those. In 1924, L.L. Corum (starter) and Joe Boyer (finisher) are co-winners, and in 1941, Floyd Davis (starter) and Mauri Rose (finisher) are also co-winners. 

But the record book fails to accurately acknowledge Cyrus Patschke, who ran 32 laps in relief for Ray Harroun, but Harroun ran the final 98 laps in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. The record book misses Don Herr running at least 37 laps in relief for eventual winner Joe Dawson the following year. 

Corum and Boyer should be sandwiched between two other sets of co-winners. In 1923, the 1919 Indianapolis 500 winner Howdy Wilcox ran 47 laps in relief for Tommy Milton. Milton returned to the car and ran the final 51 laps to the finish. Wilcox even led 41 laps in relief. In 1925, Peter DePaolo won the race, but Norman Batten ran 22 laps in the #12 Duesenberg. 

We are better served when we properly recognize all those who competed in the race. We can have starts and we can race participations in the record book. We acknowledge the winners and acknowledge who actually led the laps. 

It will change a few things. Would it feel odd that Richard Petty would have 202 NASCAR Cup Series victories instead of 200? Yeah. It makes the 1983 Miller High Life 500 from Charlotte Motor Speedway as his 200th win on paper, but we all remember what happened at the 1984 Firecracker 400. After all, Petty won that Charlotte race with an engine that exceeded the legal size. NASCAR let the win to stand. 

This doesn't have to change everything though. If you are giving relief drivers credit for the victories then what about points? Should those be split between the drivers? I think the status quo can remain, and the starting driver gets all the points. I don't think you need to split points. Drivers already compete in NASCAR events and are ineligible to score points based on what championship they declared. The rule can stay that the starting driver only receives points, but the relief driver gets credit for the laps led and the finishing position. 

We aren't changing history. We are properly acknowledging the history. It happened. People saw Richard Petty finish first. People saw Parker Kligerman win, and Denny Hamlin win after taking over from Aric Almirola at Milwaukee in 2007. It is wrong to tell people everything they saw never happened by ignoring it from the record books. 

A few numbers will change, but we will adjust. After all, NASCAR finally acknowledged a victory for Bobby Allison after over 53 years of saying it didn't count to the record book. If NASCAR can acknowledge that, it should be able to properly acknowledge relief drivers because they took to the racetrack and faced the risk just as every driver who started the race. 

We should celebrate that on August 2, 1959, Ned Jarrett started a race before having Junior Johnson stepped in for a relief spin and later Joe Weatherly got in the car. They should all have a victory count toward their names, not just Jarrett.

Along with Utsman, a driver who only started 14 Cup races, should get a victory for his contributions to Parsons' victory in July 1973, Friday Hassler should be acknowledged for helping Charlie Glotzbach win at Bristol in 1971, which was Glotzbach's final Cup Series victory. 

These tidbits should not be hidden on the surface only for a few minds to remember offhand. They should be explicit in the record book and easy for people to see and know. We should want everyone to know this stuff or at least easily find it. An accurate history only helps everyone tell the stories of the past and know what happened instead of letting things slip under the rug because for some reason we have decided it is easier to neglect what everyone saw. 

September Preview

As a child, one event of curiosity was the Suzuka 1000 km. If it wasn't for Gran Turismo, I wouldn't have known the race existed in all likelihood, but a video game gave it a stage, and it was understood as the biggest event in Super GT. The same way the United States has the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 or France has the 24 Hours of Le Mans or Australia has the Bathurst 1000, this was seen as Japan's big race. 

Obviously, the distance of the Pacific Ocean and almost all of the continental United States put a lot of space between me and the event. The time zones didn't help. It wasn't broadcasted in the United States. It wasn't an option at a crazy hour of night, but you hear the stories and you appreciate what the race is. 

In 2017, the last Suzuka 1000 km was held as a part of the Super GT championship. Bertrand Baguette and Kosuke Matsuura won for Nakajima Racing. The race was replaced with a ten-hour event that counted toward the Intercontinental GT Challenge. It was different, and it took out the local flair of the event. It became another GT3 endurance race. It did well. Notable names entered, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the event was lost. For the last few years, things did not fall in place for Suzuka to return to the IGTC calendar. 

This year that has changed and the Suzuka 1000 km is back. A 173-lap race is scheduled for Sunday September 14. It will be the fourth round of the 2025 IGTC season. The Indianapolis 8 Hour closes out the five-round championship the following month. 

This return is bringing out a banner collection of drivers. 

Kamui Kobayashi will be in the #00 Merecdes-AMG GT3 with Super GT GT300 champions Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi.

Johor Motorsports JMR will enter the #2 Corvette for Nicky Catsburg, Scott McLaughlin and Alexander Sims. 

Porsche has four cars in the Pro class. Among its drivers competing are Laurin Heinrich, Alessio Picariello, Kévin Estre, Patrick Pilet, Laurens Vanthoor, Klaus Bachler and Sven Müller. 

BMW has entered two cars with Team WRT that feature Augusto Farfus, Dan Harper, Max Hesse, Raffaele Marciello, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts. 

Honda's latest projected star, Kakunoshin Ohta, is ironically competing in a Mercedes-AMG with Team Craft-Bamboo Racing, but his co-drivers are Maximilian Götz and Ralf Aron. Maxine Martin, Luca Stolz and Mikaël Grenier are in the other Craft-Bamboo Pro entry. 

And that is just the Pro class.

Heart of Racing Team has Ian James, Alex Riberas and Zacharie Robichon in a Bronze class Mercedes-AMG. Richard Lietez will be in the Bronze class driving a Porsche. American Neil Verhagen is also competing in the Bronze class in a BMW.

Ben Barnicoat will lead Craft-Bamboo's Pro-Am Mercedes-AMG. Giancarlo Fisichella will also be in the Pro-Am class in the LM Corsa Ferrari.

It is a pretty impressive list of drivers for this race, and I think it is good that such an event is returning. It isn't the specialty of the Super GT calendar, but it is nice that marquee event is back. 

Other events of note in September

The NASCAR playoffs begin.

Formula One resumes. 

The FIA World Endurance Championship will hold two rounds as that season will end quickly. 

IMSA has its race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

MotoGP will head to Asia. 

Track Walk: Nashville 2025

The 17th and final race of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season will be held at Nashville Superspeedway, as the 1.333-mile concrete oval hosts the final race for the second consecutive season. We enter the finale with four different winners in the last four races, and a new winner this weekend means we will end the season with seven different winners. IndyCar has had at least seven different winners in 15 consecutive seasons. There have been seven different winners in the nine races held at Nashville Superspeedway, and there were six different winners in the first six races held at the venue. 

Coverage

Time: Coverage begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday August 31 with green flag scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET.
Channel: Fox
Announcers: Will Buxton, Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Georgia Henneberry and Jack Harvey will work pit lane. Chris Myers will host pre-race coverage. 

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Saturday:

First Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)

Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. ET 

High-Line Practice: 4:45 p.m. ET (30 minutes)

Final Practice: 5:30 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 2:45 p.m. ET (250 laps)

FS2 will cover every Saturday session. Race coverage will be on Fox. 

The Final Oval Race

Nashville is the sixth and final oval race of the season, and through five oval races there have been four different winners. Three drivers have finished in the top ten of all five oval races, and they are the top three in oval points. Any of those three drivers could end the season as the unofficial oval champion.

It should not be a surprise that Álex Palou has the most oval points. The man who clinched the IndyCar championship with two races remaining, won the Indianapolis 500 as well as seven other races and is the only driver to have won multiple oval races this season, has scored 211 points from the first five oval races. 

Palou is 13 points ahead of Patricio O'Ward, who won the first Iowa race. The last driver mathematically eligible to be the top oval driver is the most recent winner, Christian Rasmussen who won at Milwaukee and is 43 points behind Palou entering Nashville. 

For Palou to clinch the oval championship, all he will need is to finish second with at least two bonus points. While Palou has won two oval races, he has finished second, fifth and eighth in the other three races. O'Ward could finish level with Palou on points, victories and second-place finishes. The tiebreaker would go to O'Ward as his next best oval result is third. He has not finished worse than fifth on the ovals this season. 

Rasmussen must win at Nashville to have any chance at the oval championship. Along with a victory, he would need Palou to score ten points or fewer, which can be achieved with a finish of 20th or worse, and Rasmussen would need O'Ward to score 23 points or fewer, which can be achieved with a finish of ninth or worse.

With his Milwaukee victory, Rasmussen became the 300th different winner in IndyCar history, and the first new winner in over two years. He is just the fifth driver since reunification to have his first career victory come on an oval and the first since Patricio O'Ward did it at Texas in 2021. Rasmussen's victory last Sunday was Ed Carpenter Racing's first victory since Rinus VeeKay won the 2021 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It was ECR's first oval victory since Josef Newgarden won at Iowa in 2016.

Rasmussen has a chance to make another bit of history. The last driver to have his first two victories come in consecutive races was A.J. Allmendinger in 2006. Allmendinger had his first three races happen consecutively over Portland, Cleveland and Toronto. The most recent driver to have his first two victories come in consecutive races and both occur on ovals was Sam Hornish, Jr., who had his first two victories come in the first two races of the 2001 Indy Racing League season at Phoenix and Homestead. No driver has ever closed a season with his first two victories coming in consecutive races. 

Outside of the top three, David Malukas is fourth in oval points on 143, nine points ahead of Scott Dixon. Santino Ferrucci has 116 points, three ahead of Marcus Armstrong, four ahead of Christian Lundgaard and five ahead of Conor Daly. 

Despite his poor start on ovals, Josef Newgarden has recovered and is tenth in oval points on 105, two more than Felix Rosenqvist. Though he won at Gateway, Kyle Kirkwood has only 92 oval points, 51 of those from his Gateway victory. Kirkwood was disqualified from the Indianapolis 500 and relegated to 32nd. His other oval finishes this season have been 26th, 18th and 12th. 

Scott McLaughlin has scored 84 oval points, two more than Robert Shwartzman and three more than Rinus VeeKay. Alexander Rossi has scored 76 oval points while last year's Nashville winner Colton Herta has only 75 points from five oval races this season, and Herta has yet to finish in the top ten on an oval. 

Louis Foster is hoping to end his rookie season with his first career top ten finish. Foster has 69 points from the first five oval races, which is two more than Will Power and eight more than Marcus Ericsson, who rounds out the top twenty. 

Kyffin Simpson (59), Devlin DeFrancesco (57), Graham Rahal (57), Jacob Abel (42), Nolan Siegel (42), Callum Ilott (39) and Sting Ray Robb (39) are the remaining order of the oval point standings.

Palou could become the first driver since 2010 to score the most points on ovals and the most points on road/street courses in the same season. O'Ward has twice scored the most points on ovals, doing it in 2021 and 2022. Rasmussen could become the second Ed Carpenter Racing driver to score the most oval points. Newgarden did it for ECR in 2016.

Season Finale Notes

For the second consecutive season, Nashville Superspeedway is hosting the IndyCar finale, and it is the first time the same oval has hosted the finale in consecutive seasons since California Speedway in Fontana, California hosted the final race for three consecutive years from 2012 to 2014. This is the first time an oval has hosted the finale in a year when the championship was already decided since the 2005 Indy Racing League season. Fontana also hosted that finale but Dan Wheldon had clinched the championship in the previous round at Watkins Glen.

Honda has won the last four season finales with three different drivers. Colton Herta won the 2021 season finale at Long Beach and last year's season finale at Nashville. Chip Ganassi Racing had won consecutive season finales in 2022 and 2023 with Álex Palou and Scott Dixon respectively. Both those races were held at Laguna Seca.

Herta has won three season finales in his career. He won the 2019 finale at Laguna Seca. Among active drivers, the only other one with multiple season finale victories is Dixon. Dixon has won three season finales. Along with his 2023 Laguna Seca victory, Dixon won the 2010 finale at Homestead, and he won the memorable 2015 finale at Sonoma, which allowed Dixon to win the championship on tiebreaker over Juan Pablo Montoya.

Since 1946, three drivers have won at least four season finales in their careers. Johnnie Parsons was the first to do it. Parsons won the 1948 finale, and then he won three consecutive finales from 1950-52. A.J. Foyt was the next driver to win four season finales. Foyt won the final race in 1960, 1965, 1971 and 1975. Tom Sneva matched Parsons' accomplishment of winning three consecutive season finales over the 1980, 1981 and 1982 seasons. Sneva's fourth finale victory came in 1984.

The only other active drivers with season finale victories are Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Power won the 2013 finale at Fontana. Newgarden won the 2020 finale at St. Petersburg.

Simon Pagenaud is the most recent champion to cap off his season with a victory in the final race. Pagenaud did that in 2016 at Sonoma. The Frenchman is also the most recent driver to win consecutive season finales. He won the final race of 2017 as well, which was also held at Sonoma.

The final race is not too late to get your first victory of the season. Álex Palou's only victory in 2022 came in the final race from Laguna Seca. This remains the most recent season Palou did not end up as champion. Prior to Palou, Tony Kanaan was the most recent driver to have their one and only victory that season come in the final race. Kanaan did it in 2014 at Fontana. Prior to Kanaan, Ed Carpenter won the season finales in 2011 and 2012, and each victory was Carpenter's only of the season.

Carpenter's victory at Kentucky in 2011 also doubled as his first career victory. He is most recent driver to close a season with a first career victory. Since 1946, 13 times has the season finale produced a full-time winner. Other notable first-time winners to come in the season finale were Tony Bettenhausen in 1946, Parnelli Jones in 1961, Dan Gurney in 1967 and Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2003.

A few notable names never won the season finale. Bobby Rahal has the most victories in IndyCar history to have never won a season finale. Rahal won 24 races in his career. Emerson Fittipaldi won 22 times, but Fittipaldi never won a season finale either. Of the drivers to compete post-World War II in IndyCar, the drivers with the next most victories to have never won a season finale are Scott Sharp and Patricio O'Ward. Both drivers have won nine times in their respective careers, but neither won a finale. O'Ward still has a chance to remove himself from that list.

Will Power Appreciation

The end of every season is not only the conclusion to a single year of racing. Intentionally or unintentionally, other things will end when the final race is over. Partnerships, sponsorships, and even driver contracts. 

We could be heading into Will Power's final race with Team Penske, a relationship that dates back to the 2009 season. Power was hired to fill in for Hélio Castroneves, who was in the middle of a tax evasion trail. Power started the 2009 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in the #3 Team Penske Honda from sixth position and he finished in that same spot. At the next race in Long Beach, Power started the weekend in the #3 Honda, and was fastest in first practice, but Castroneves was acquitted during practice and was on his way to California to return to competition. Despite this development, Team Penske entered an additional car for Power, the #12 Verizon Honda, the number Power has used ever since. 

It might have been a different car, but Power qualified on pole position. He led 16 laps but would ultimately finish second. With Castroneves back, Power's schedule scaled back to a part-time entry. He was scheduled to run six additional races. After finishing fifth in the Indianapolis 500, Power was third at Toronto and then he won from pole position at Edmonton. He would finish ninth at Kentucky, but his abbreviated season was cut short even earlier after Power collided with the parked car of Nelson Philippe in practice from Sonoma. 

Despite fracturing two vertebrae, Power was announced as a full-time driver for the 2010 season. He won the first two races of the season in São Paulo and St. Petersburg. 

Power has made 271 starts with Team Penske and Nashville should be his 272nd start with the organization. He has won 42 times for Team Penske, the most-ever in IndyCar competition. Among all of Team Penske's drivers, Power ranks fifth behind only Brad Keselowski, Mark Donohue, Scott McLaughlin and Joey Logano. 

Power is one of ten drivers to win an IndyCar championship with Team Penske. He is one of six drivers to win multiple IndyCar championships with the organization, and he is the most recent Penske driver to claim the title having last done it in 2022. In 16 full seasons with Team Penske, Power finished in the top five of the championship 13 times, including in 11 consecutive seasons from 2010 through 2020. He never finished worse than ninth in the championship with Team Penske. 

In 2018, Power was responsible for Team Penske's 17th Indianapolis 500 winner. He is one of 13 drivers to win the race for the organization. 

While setting a number of marks within the annals of Team Penske's history, Power was able to make an imprint on IndyCar in part due to his time with Penske. He is currently fourth all-time in IndyCar victories with 45, and he is only seven victories behind Mario Andretti for third. Power's 71 pole positions are an IndyCar record, and he is one of five drivers to have at least 100 podium finishes in a career. Power enters this weekend tied for fourth all-time in top five finishes with Hélio Castroneves. Each driver has had 142 top five finishes in their careers. 

Power's first career start came on October 23, 2005 at Surfers Paradise in a third entry for the Derrick Walker-run Team Australia. In the #25 Lola-Ford-Cosworth, Power started 11th, but finished 15th after having an accident after completing 29 laps. Nashville will mark the 319th start in his IndyCar career, eighth all-time, and one behind Al Unser in seventh.

Potential Championship Bests and Worsts

The final race of the season means some drivers are on the brink of their best seasons in IndyCar that are full of personal bests. Others are on the verge of their worst seasons with hopes that one good race can flip the script and lead to a happy ending to an otherwise dismal year. 

Patricio O'Ward might not be taking home the Astor Cup as champion, but he has locked up second in the championship, a personal-best. His previous best championship finish was third in 2021, though he went into that finale with a chance at the title before retiring due to mechanical issues. 

Christian Lundgaard is guaranteed a personal-best in the championship regardless of what happens in Nashville. The worst Lundgaard can finish is fifth, and his previous best championship result was eighth in 2023 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Lundgaard has a personal-best six podium finishes this season, including three runner-up finishes.

As long as Kyle Kirkwood starts the Nashville race, he will clinch his best championship finish, although the only drivers who can pass him in the championship are Colton Herta or Marcus Armstrong, and that would require either driver winning with the maximum 54 points. Kirkwood could finish as high as third in the championship. Scott Dixon is currently third on 433 points, seven points ahead of Lundgaard and 28 points ahead of Kirkwood. 

Marcus Armstrong enters the final race of the championship tied for sixth on 352 points with Colton Herta, and they are five points ahead of Will Power. Armstrong was 14th in the championship last year in his first full season. He has 11 top ten finishes this season, another best.

Along with Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist is ninth in points and six points behind Armstrong. Though Rosenqvist could only match his personal-best championship finish of sixth, either Rosenqvist or Armstrong could give Meyer Shank Racing its best championship finish for a driver. They also have a shot at giving MSR its first-ever double championship top ten finish. 

David Malukas fell out of the championship top ten after finishing eighth at Milwaukee, but he is only eight points out of tenth. This season will be Malukas' best championship finish. His previous-best was as a rookie in 2022 when he was 16th. 

In five seasons with Ed Carpenter Racing, Rinus VeeKay never finished better than 12th in the championship. In VeeKay's first season with Dale Coyne Racing he enters the final race 25 points out of 11th and 33 points out of tenth. VeeKay has finished either 12th, 13th or 14th in the championship in every season of his career. He could drop to 15th, which would be his worst championship finish. VeeKay is only 18 points ahead of Santino Ferrucci in 15th.

Sandwiched between VeeKay and Ferrucci is Alexander Rossi on 276 points. Rossi is currently in line for his worst championship finish in IndyCar. He has never finished worse than 11th in the championship, and that was in his rookie season in 2016. Rossi has eight consecutive championship top ten finishes. For Rossi to finish at least 11th in points, he will need to make up at least 36 points on David Malukas.

Josef Newgarden will not have his worst championship finish, but he could have his second-worst championship finish if results do not go Newgarden's way. He enters Nashville 16th on 265 points. His second-worst championship result was 14th in his sophomore season in 2013. Newgarden is 22 points outside of 13th. No matter what, 2025 will go down as Newgarden's second-fewest top five finishes in a season. He enters with two but could end with three. His worst season was as a rookie in 2012 when he had zero top ten finishes let alone any top five results. 

Marcus Ericsson will likely have the worst championship finish of his IndyCar career. Ericsson is 20th on 219 points. His worst championship finish was as a rookie in 2019 when he was 17th, but he missed the Portland race that season due to responsibilities as an Alfa Romeo Sauber reserve driver. Ericsson is 33 points from 17th and 36 points from 16th. 

Callum Ilott has a slim shot of avoiding his worst championship finish as a full-time driver. In 2022 and 2023 with Juncos Hollinger Racing, Ilott was 20th and 16th in the championship respectively. He enters this year's finale 23rd on 196 points. 

No matter what, Louis Foster and Robert Shwartzman will end the season with their best championship finishes in IndyCar. That is the beauty of being a rookie. However, only one of these two drivers can be Rookie of the Year. Foster is the top rookie entering Nashville in 21st on 203 points, and he is eight points ahead of Shwartzman. 

Foster has yet to finish in the top ten this season while both of Shwartzman's top ten finishes came on ovals. Through the first 16 races, Foster has finished ahead of Shwartzman nine times, including in the last three races, and Foster has finished ahead of Shwartzman in three of the first five oval races. 

Indy Lights

Dennis Hauger clinched the 2025 Indy Lights championship with a race remaining after he finished second at Milwaukee. Hauger became the seventh Andretti Global driver to win the championship, and the second in as many years following in the footsteps of Louis Foster. 

Hauger enters the finale with six victories this season and ten podium finishes from 13 races. He has finished first or second in six of the last seven races. He has finished second in the last two oval races, and he has started on pole position for all three oval races this season. He ended up finishing fifth at Gateway.

It is not unusual for the Indy Lights champion to have not won on an oval. Neither Kyle Kirkwood nor Linus Lundqvist won an oval race in either of their championship seasons in 2021 or 2022 respectively. In fact, five of the last nine Indy Lights champions did not win an oval race in their title seasons. 

Caio Collet will not be champion, but he will be second as Collet is 59 points ahead of Lochie Hughes. Collet is coming off his second-worst finish of the season. He was seventh at Milwaukee, only the second time he has finished outside the top five all season. 

Hughes has 436 points, and he is 29 points ahead of Myles Rowe. Salvador de Alba picked up his first career Indy Lights victory at Milwaukee, and de Alba has 374 points in fifth, 19 points ahead of Josh Pierson. 

Callum Hedge's strong finish to the season continues. Fourth at Milwaukee was Hedge's fourth consecutive top five finish and he is now ten points behind Pierson for sixth in the championship. Niels Koolen has 262 points in eighth, 11 points more than Jack William Miller. Jordan Missig has 249 points, 17 points more than Bryce Aron, who is coming off his best finish of the season as Aron was fifth at Milwaukee.

The Indy Lights season concludes with a 65-lap race around Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday August 31 at 11:35 a.m. ET.

Fast Facts

This will be the tenth IndyCar race to take place on August 31, and the first since last year when Patricio O'Ward won the first race of the Milwaukee doubleheader.

This will be the tenth different circuit to host an IndyCar race on August 31.

The only track to host multiple races on August 31 is Elgin Road Race Course located in Elgin, Illinois. Elgin hosted two races on August 31, 1912. Ralph DePalma won both, a 254.1-mile race that took over three hours and 43 minutes, and then he won a 304.92-mile race that took over four hours and 24 minutes. The Elgin track was 8.47 miles in length. 

This is the first IndyCar season to end in the month of August since 2015. The only other season to end in the month of August was 2014.

At 225 laps, 299.925 miles, this will be the longest race ever held at Nashville Superspeedway.

The average starting position for a Nashville winner is 4.667 with a median of 4.5.

Fifth on the grid has produced the most Nashville winners, three. Fourth has won twice. First, third and sixth have all won once. Last year, Colton Herta won from ninth.

Fifth starting position has not produced a winner since Will Power won at Road America last season, 26 races ago.

The average starting position for the oval winners this season is 6.2 with a median of sixth.

Both Iowa winners started in the top five. The three non-Iowa winners started outside the top five. 

The driver who led the most laps only won once in the first nine Nashville races. That was Scott Dixon in 2007, who led 105 of 200 laps on his way to victory. Herta led 24 laps in last year's race.

The average number of lead changes in a Nashville race is eight with a median of nine. 

The most lead changes in a Nashville race was 11 in 2001 and 2005.

The fewest lead changes in a Nashville race was three in 2004.

The average number of cautions in a Nashville race is 5.111 with a median of five. The average number of caution laps is 41.333 with a median of 37.

Every Nashville race has had at least three cautions. 

The most cautions in a Nashville race was eight in 2002 and 2003. 

Four of nine Nashville races had at least 25% of the laps run under caution.

Predictions

Álex Palou makes up for the missed opportunity at Milwaukee, and Palou gets his ninth victory of the season at Nashville. Andretti Global puts two cars in the top ten. Josef Newgarden will finish at least five spots worse than his starting position. Will Power will finish at least four spots better than David Malukas. Louis Foster holds on to claim Rookie of the Year. The first caution comes after the first pit cycle, and it will involve a driver outside the top fifteen in points. Christian Rasmussen experiences a slight hangover. Scott McLaughlin does enough to secure a top ten championship finisher. The final lead change will occur prior to 35 laps to go. Sleeper: Felix Rosenqvist.

Musings From the Weekend: What Happened to the Love of Racing?

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking. 

There was a Daytona race that did not go to overtime, and there was a four-wide finish for first as the playoff field was set for the Cup Series. A relief driver won and probably should get credit for his efforts. The biggest news from the week in NASCAR was the schedule was released and the Truck Series will be joining IndyCar at St. Petersburg in 2026. MotoGP visited a new circuit. There was some late-race drama in Germany. Virginia hosted a GT-only party. Christian Rasmussen took a stunning victory, but we stare at the final week of the IndyCar season, and there is a question that I have had bouncing around my head.

What Happened to the Love of Racing?

It is something when two series are experiencing existential crisis simultaneously, and neither realize it. 

NASCAR went through another week contemplating its championship format, who is championship-eligible, what constitutes a good season, what it means to be a champion and whether it is doing things the right way. 

IndyCar entered its penultimate race of the season as its final two races happen over consecutive weekends with a championship already decided and wondering what the draw will be for these races since the biggest prize is already claimed. 

Those who are proponents of NASCAR's current format and want the championship to be guaranteed to be decided as late as possible used IndyCar's current state as evidence against a full season aggregate to decide a champion. If the system was that popular, then people would tune in for the IndyCar race from Milwaukee. Since the IndyCar championship was already decided, is there any reason to tune in? 

Such a mindset does bother me because if you are a fan of a series or motorsports in general, what happened to tuning in for the series and the race itself?

We all care about the championship and it is the overarching prize for the entire season. It does keep us watching until the very end, but motorsports holds a unique place in the sports world. The championship could be decided, but each race can stand on its own. The points are one thing, but each race has a winner and do not require the full championship picture to convey importance of that event. Each team is trying to win whether or not the championship is within reach or not. It is competition and a chance to be the best, even if only for one day.

The championship might be claimed, but no one is mailing it in. 

In IndyCar's case, all 27 cars showed up to Milwaukee even though Álex Palou could not be caught, and we saw one of the best races of the season. Palou has nothing to race for except pride and a place in history. He went at 100% and had an incredibly dominant day. Christian Rasmussen could not win the championship and has not been mathematically eligible to win the champions for quite some time, but he didn't just toil around in 15th for 250 laps.

Each race is a chance to beat the competition and take that pride in winning on that day. Every driver and engineer and crew member go into a race looking to be better. They aren't thinking about what they have. They are looking for what it will take to get more on that day. 

As we saw at Milwaukee, Palou still wanted to stomp the competition even if he has nothing left to prove this season. Rasmussen still took a chance at an opportunity to win a race. To some, there is nothing left to play for, but all that mattered to Palou and Rasmussen was this one day. They wanted to win that race and they put on a breath-taking battle. They didn't need the allure of a championship to race hard and try to beat one another. 

We love when a championship goes the distance. It is special to see two or three or four drivers push each other and be near equals over a six or seven or ten months. The drivers push each other and raise the bar on the competition, but sometimes one driver is head and shoulders above the rest. We saw that with Palou this season, but that same ability to thrash the competition is what made A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser and Rick Mears the legendary figures we currently revere. In some seasons, you just have to appreciate greatness. 

For some, a decided championship makes the races irrelevant. I have never felt that way. I have never felt like there isn't a reason to tune in because the championship was over. I watched Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen all have seasons where the final result was inevitable, and yet there was still a reason to watch the next race. I didn't know what was going to happen. There was a strong inclination on how the result might go, but what happens between the green flag and the checkered flag is not pre-determined. We will find out what will happen in real time, and it could be incredible. 

If you love motorsports then I would believe you can see a race for what it is on its own. It is a race. A grid of cars will line up and complete over a scheduled distance. Who cares what will happen in the championship? Let's just enjoy that day. And even if the race winner cannot win the championship, we never see them celebrate any less. It is still meaningful. It is still earned. No one gets out of the car and acts like they won a race where most were not trying. Everyone is still chasing a victory. 

Where did that love of racing go? 

The status of the championship shouldn't be that much of a determining factor over whether or not you will tune in. I understand why people would feel differently, but there are only a finite number of races each season. A series might have 20 races if we are lucky. IndyCar cannot seem to have any more than 17. Choosing to skip two is missing 10% or more of the season. It isn't baseball where there are over 2,000 games. It isn't basketball or hockey where there are over 1,000 games. It isn't even the NFL with its 272 regular season games, 285 if you include the playoffs. If you just watch IndyCar, Formula One and the NASCAR Cup Series, you only have 77 chances to watch. Add in MotoGP grand prix and you still have not hit 100 races. 

Each series must have a fan base that will love a series no matter what is at stake. In the 21st century, that is likely harder than it has ever been. I cannot know what it was like to watch races in the 1960s or 1970s, but it is easy to believe that was a time period where people went because they just loved seeing the cars on track. They wanted to these speed machines in person and be in awe. There were so few opportunities to see them. Motorsports wasn't all over the television screen. The chance to watch on television or see it in person was special. You couldn't let the championship get in the way of watching the drivers push the limits of speed and safety. 

We are spoiled, not only in our abundance of access to series all around the globe, but in ability to indulge in these series to a point where we believe we know everything, from which technical regulations lead to less than thrilling racing to how races should be lined up on the schedule to maximize viewership. At some point, it might be easier to step back and enjoy what happens on the racetrack. 

It is ok that the championship might be decided though there are still races to run. You can watch. You can enjoy it. There is no need for it to feel like a waste. It might be better to tune in and just have to worry about what happens over those 200 or 250 laps without much care of the larger picture. 

Champion From the Weekend

Dennis Hauger clinched the Indy Lights championship with a runner-up finish at Milwaukee.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Christian Rasmussen, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Hungarian Grand Prix, his seventh consecutive victory and his tenth of the season. Márquez also won the sprint race, his seventh consecutive weekend sweep and his 13th sprint race victory in 14 races. David Alonso won the Moto2 race, his first Moto2 victory. Máximo Quiles won the Moto3 race, his second victory of the season. Mattia Casadei swept the MotoE races.

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup race from Daytona, his second victory of the season Connor Zilisch is credited with victory in the Grand National Series race after Parker Kligerman finshed first on the track driving in relief. It is Zilisch's seventh victory of the season

Salvador de Alba won the Indy Lights race from Milwaukee, his first career victory.

The #3 Corvette of Alexander Sims and Antonio García won the IMSA race from Virginia International Raceway. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward won in GTD.

The #48 VDS Racing Oreca-Gibson of Esteban Masson, Charles Milesi and Oliver Gray won the  4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #8 Team Viraga Liger-Toyota of Daniel Nogales, Rik Koen and Julien Gerbi won in LMP3. The #59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin of Erwan Bastard, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Clément Mateu won in LMGT3.

Ayhancan Güven swept the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Sachsenring.

The #23 NISMO Nissan of Katsumasa Chiyo and Mitsunori Takaboshi won the Super GT race from Suzuka. The #7 CarGuy MKS Racing Ferrari of Rikuto Kobayashi and Zak O'Sullivan won in GT300.

 

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar ends its season in Nashville.

Formula One returns from its break with a trip to the sandy beaches of Zandvoort.

NASCAR opens its playoffs with the Southern 500 while the second division makes a final trip to Portland.

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup will race at the Nürburgring.

The World Rally Championship makes its first visit to Paraguay.

First Impressions: Milwaukee 2025

1. One spritz of rain with just over 40 laps to go completely flipped IndyCar's penultimate race of the season from Milwaukee. Álex Palou had this race in the bag. It was set to be one of Palou's most dominant performances of the season, but a quick spritz turned the race upside down, and produced a first-time winner in Christian Rasmussen almost from out of nowhere. 

For some reason, the top three drivers, Palou along with Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, did not come to the pit lane under that final caution despite all the teams having a set of tires remaining. Every other lead lap car stopped, and it set up a thrilling finish, the likes we haven't really seen since Iowa 2014. 

Palou and company would have some buffer of the lapped cars to those on fresher tires, but with just over 30 laps to go when the race restarted, they would eventually lose that protection and it would be down to whether or not time would be on their side. 

Patricio O'Ward was in fourth, the first car on new tires, but Alexander Rossi quickly dispatched O'Ward. However, as they battled with traffic, Christian Rasmussen clawed his way forward and passed both O'Ward and Rossi, and Rasmussen was soon the leader of those on new tires. 

Rasmussen got through Newgarden and he was up to second ahead of McLaughlin with 20 laps to go. It felt like time was on Rasmussen's side, but Palou tried his best to outrun the Dane. However, the tire advantage inevitably swung in Rasmussen's favor. Palou did all he could to hold off Rasmussen, but Rasmussen made his move and took the lead with 15 laps to go.

Palou fought back and kept it close, but the tires were gone. Paou was never going to have enough to counter the pass Rasmussen had completed. 

However, Rasmussen might have been his own worst enemy and greatest obstacle to victory, pushing the car to the limit as he has become known for doing. He kept making risky moves, including lapping Felix Rosenqvist to the outside on exit of turn two. The tires were in his favor, but this race was not settled strictly because it was unclear if Rasmussen, in an unknown position, would step over the edge and cost himself the greatest day of his career. 

Despite the twitches and the quick reactionary moves, Rasmussen held on and took a stunning victory to make him the 300th winner in IndyCar history. 

He drove really well in this race and was competitive. He was making passes, and he actually had to comeback from a pit lane speeding penalty early, but that occurred under caution and all he had to do was going to the rear of the field. This was going to be a top ten day for Rasmussen, but it would not have been a victory without a brief spritz of rain. 

It is ironic enough that Rasmussen wins this race two weeks after he was under a microscope for his driving at Portland. He has essentially completed two full seasons in IndyCar, and what has stood out the most about Rasmussen is his aggression. He will put a car on the limit and take a competitor with him. There is never say die attitude from Rasmussen, but at times it can come off as unwarranted and risky to others on the track. There are plenty who are not thrilled to see him on track because he can be a little reckless. 

Over his two years, Rasmussen has had good oval races, but he has mostly been mid-pack. That is kind of where Ed Carpenter Racing has been for an extended period of time. The form hasn't been the strongest on the road courses, but when it comes to ovals, Rasmussen has shined. This year alone he has been one of the best on ovals. Entering this race, three drivers had finished in the top ten of all four oval races, Patricio O'Ward, Palou and Rasmussen. Rasmussen had an aggressive drive lead to a podium at Gateway, but I don't think anyone saw a victory coming this season, not with the competition in this field. 

Rasmussen looked good, but when you consider what the first 200 laps of this race looked like, it required an act of God for Rasmussen to win this race. It appears the Almighty wiped the sweat from his brow on this sabbath, and those drops fell on the Milwaukee Mile, blessing Rasmussen to accomplish the unthinkable.

2.  Why didn't Álex Palou stop for tires? With 40 laps to go and under caution, it felt obvious to take tires. This final stint was going to be 54 laps, a little longer than most had drive all race. Taking tires under the caution would have meant at most 32 green flag laps would be run on this new set. 

All I can think is Palou's team didn't want to be caught as the only driver to come in and restart 15th after leading all race. However, if Palou was the only car on new tires with 30 laps to go, I think he would have had a great shot of driving back to first before the checkered flag.

There was nothing Palou could do when Rasmussen got around McLaughlin. Palou drove probably the hardest he has driven all season, and the fact he was still within two seconds of Rasmussen at the checkered flag is impressive, but this one got away because Chip Ganassi Racing did not bring in Álex Palou for a set of tires that just said their unused. 

If Palou stops, I still think a dozen other drivers stop and at worse Palou is restarting fourth or fifth. It is a shame that this one got away. Gone is a potential share of the record for most victories in a season, but that is a champagne problem for Palou and company. It has still been a great season, one of the best we have ever seen in IndyCar.

3. Scott McLaughlin still held on for third on his older tires.

This is one of those cases, and we see it once or twice a season on a road or street course, where the winner had the alternate strategy but then the next two or three drivers ran the typical strategy, and it seems like either was the right choice.

We had this last year with Scott Dixon at Long Beach. Dixon won stretching the fuel, but the next five drivers ran hard and finished ahead of the next driver who was stretching fuel, and that was Will Power in sixth. Did Scott Dixon run the right strategy or was Dixon the one guy to make it the alternate work while the other strategy appears to have been better considering the rest of the finishers behind the winner?

I think taking tires was the right choice. After all, there was over nine seconds between Palou in second and McLaughlin in third. McLaughlin wasn't close to victory, but he benefitted from some of the lapped cars and only Rasmussen made it through them in a quick fashion. By the time Alexander Rossi and Patricio O'Ward got through the traffic, their tires had lost their edge and McLaughlin could hold on for a podium and a good day.

4. Considering Alexander Rossi sprinted immediately to victory lane and met Rasmussen with his helmet still on, I doubt Rossi feels any regret that he didn't win this race and blew a chance to be the man driving into victory lap, though he was positioned to be that guy. Rossi was the top driver on the new tires until Rasmussen came blazing through. Rossi couldn't even pass McLaughlin. If he couldn't pass McLaughlin, Rossi wasn't going to win this race. 

What Rossi is most excited about is he spent the entire race in the top ten and pushing for a top five result. He stopped early on the first pit cycle and it took him from the bottom of the top ten into the top five. He had to fight a bit, but he drove a stellar race. 

Perhaps age played a role and a level of aggression you don't have after years of experience and knowing better allowed Rasmussen to take the risks required to win this race. Maybe Rossi knew better while Rasmussen had no clue and acted on instinct. 

5. Patricio O'Ward came out of the pit lane first under that final caution, and he was fourth at the restart, but O'Ward lost that advantage immediately, and once it was gone, he was settled for a fight just to finish in the top five and not go for the victory. 

O'Ward took a risk like the rest of them. The opportunity was there for fresh rubber and an extra pit stop would be the only way to win this race. If that caution doesn't come out and O'Ward finishes fifth, no one is looking at it as a disappointing result. We shouldn't either.

6. Christian Lundgaard had likely his best oval race. Lundgaard stopped early on the first pit cycle and jumped into the top ten, and he spent the rest of the race in a top ten spot. It was a good day. Sixth might have been a little better than expected. He needed a day like this though as he continues to develop on ovals.

7. Josef Newgarden slipped from third to seventh on his older tires. Newgarden made a nice save that cost him a few spots though. This one hurts because Newgarden should have been on the podium today. My question is if Team Penske had two of the top three, more specifically, if it had second and third, why didn't it split its strategies and have one car take tires while the other stayed out? 

I don't understand how Penske missed that. Newgarden has had a wretched season. Why not roll the dice and be on the offensive in the closing laps? With ten or 15 laps to go, I could understand not stopping, but there was going to be about 30 laps to go when the race restarted, and those tires the top three had on were asked to go a little longer than anyone dared earlier in the race. The safe strategy was stopping. 

This stinks because it was a missed opportunity, and one the likes of Tim Cindric would not have overlooked. 

8. David Malukas salvaged his day with an eighth-place finish. Malukas ran well and was in the top five. Then in the middle of the race, an air gun issue caused Malukas to lose a lap as the team could not get the right front tire secured in a quick fashion. He spent much of the second half of the race outside the top fifteen. However, IndyCar's overly forgiving wave around rules got Malukas back on the lead lap and he could benefit from taking tires on that final caution. He drove to finish eighth but this will feel like a missed opportunity.

Malukas led early from Palou, but Palou had the better car. Malukas wasn't beating Palou in a straight-up fight. Nobody was beating Palou straight-up today. Either way, Malukas likely believed he should have been competing for a podium spot and finishing ahead of at least one Team Penske driver. Instead, he finished ahead of none. It was a good recovery for something that was out of his control.

9. Scott Dixon didn't have the best day and he finished ninth. It felt like Dixon was between 12th and 14th this entire race. He never really went forward after starting 14th due to his grid penalty. He didn't make any big moves in this race. It never was quite his day. 

10. Marcus Armstrong pulled out a miraculous tenth-place finish because the team decided not to stop with just over 100 laps to go, the only car not to stop under that caution. Armstrong went from first to about ninth in a lap and he was down to 17th in about ten laps. It looked like the dumbest decision of the season, and he was going to finish a lap or two down in 18th after being just outside the top ten for most of the race.

However, that spritz blessed more than just Rasmussen. Armstrong was back on the lead lap, he could take that extra set of new tires, and he was able to drive to a top ten finish. The team "tried something different" by not stopping under that caution when staying out meant it was still a two-stop race from that point. It was a ballsy choice when it was clearly going to fail. The pit stand caught a break today. 

11. Colton Herta was 11th and Kyle Kirkwood was 12th. This was a better day than these results will show for each driver. Herta drove up to sixth from 24th on the grid, and he appeared to be a contender for a top five finish. Kirkwood spent most of the race in the top ten. However, both drivers lost spots in that final pit cycle and it appears both drivers were elbowed out of the top ten in the sprint to the finish. I am surprised it happened to Herta because he was moving forward the entire race.

It has been an odd end of the season for Andretti Global. Herta wasn't confident in his car after practice, was upset about his qualifying spin but brushed it off because he felt he wasn't going to be starting that well anyway, and then he was probably one of the best four or five drivers on track today, only to be freight-trained in the final sprint to the finish. 

Kirkwood drove well today but not great. He was going to finish eighth or ninth without that last caution. Not a great day, but a fine day, however Kirkwood has won three times this season and he hasn't been close to a victory since he won at Gateway.

We haven't even mentioned Marcus Ericsson was nowhere to be seen and finished 19th. I don't know what went wrong for Andretti Global in the second half of the season. On the surface, it doesn't appear they did anything drastic to cost the team its form.

12. Conor Daly probably should have finished in the top ten as well, but pit stops are Juncos Hollinger Raicng's kryptonite. Daly was in the top five in the early going, then he dropped to the lower part of the top ten after this first pit stop. He didn't have a good final stop when basically the entire field stopped. Daly drove well, but there is a limit of what he can get out of Juncos Hollinger Racing. 

I guess I should mentioned Sting Ray Robb was 23rd to cover JHR's entire day. It was a typical Sting Ray Robb performance. Slow. A lap down. At least he didn't get more attention than that.

13. Santino Ferrucci was 14th, and that was a generous result for Ferrucci, which is something we do not say often about him on ovals. Ferrucci wasn't good this weekend. He didn't have the speed, and David Malukas was quicker from the very start of practice. Ferrucci probably should have been 18th, 19th or 20th. He lost a lap. The only reason Ferrucci had a chance to finish this well was IndyCar's wave around rules. If drivers could not make a pit stop after taking the wave around, every oval race would have at least two or three drivers finishing about five to six spots worse than they actually end up.

14. Rinus VeeKay spent a fair amount of this race in the top ten, and VeeKay would have been better that 15th without that final caution. He lost all his ground in the final pit cycle. At the start of the season, I would have felt better about a 15th for VeeKay and Dale Coyne Racing, but they have been competitive across the board, and VeeKay started 11th today. These are a few too many points lost. It could have been worse, but it is ok to be upset that this should have been better.

15. Let's run through the field. Devlin DeFrancesco was 16th in a race where I honestly never noticed him, but that means he did nothing wrong. DeFrancesco was a spot ahead of his teammate Louis Foster, who was the first car to finish one lap down. Foster went the longest on the first pit cycle, but that trapped him a lap down for most of the race. He was actually a two laps down for a good portion. 

Graham Rahal had a half spin early in the race, it cost him ground, but he never recovered, finishing two laps down in 24th. I don't know what happened because Rahal qualified tenth. I understand that first stint being difficult because his tires were likely shot after that move. I don't know why Rahal didn't stop for tires after that. My guess is the team didn't want to get caught out if there was a late caution, but either way, Rahal fell like a rock and never looked quick after that incident. It was strange because he sounded hopeful after qualifying.

16. Robert Shwartzman was 18th, so he only lost one point in the rookie of the year battle to Louis Foster. At least we will have that to watch at Nashville. Shwartzman didn't do anything notable today. Good because it meant he didn't wreck. Bad because it meant he was slow. 

Callum Ilott lost an engine, which ended his top ten finish streak. That was always going to end today because neither Prema car was particularly quick. 

17. Kyffin Simpson was 20th. I don't know which Kyffin Simpson to believe. I think we can acknowledge Simpson got a few breaks to finish fifth in Detroit and third in Toronto, but there have been races where he has legitimately been about tenth, 11th or 12th. But then he has races like this where he wasn't any good. Ovals are definitely something he struggles with. 

18. Jacob Abel completed 248 laps and finished 21st. That is about as good as it can get for Abel at the moment. 

Felix Rosenqvist never looked quite right after his qualifying accident yesterday. That car was never right. It was slow. Rosenqvist had to suffer to finish 22nd. 

19. There were two notable accidents. Will Power got into the wall in turn two attempting to overtake the lapped car of Kyffin Simpson, and that damage led to Power spinning in turn four. Power was in a top five position at the time. 

I don't know if Power can do anything to save his job, but throwing away a top five run was likely not the best choice. However, it is another race where something went wrong for a Penske car. At least one of them has been snake-bitten in every race this season. 

Nolan Siegel spun exiting turn four on the opening lap and he will be scored with zero laps completed for this race. Siegel gets his fair amount of attention for everything he is not doing. He isn't any better than where he was a year ago when was wrapping up running the final ten races with Arrow McLaren. I am sure it can get better next year, but I would not be surprised if it doesn't in 2026. No glimmer of hope is breaking through.

When you consider how short of a leash some other drivers have gotten with McLaren, it would surprise no one if McLaren showed the Siegel family the door in the offseason and hired a third driver it thought could run with O'Ward and Lundgaard. At the moment, Siegel is not even close to those two. 

20. This was another great Milwaukee crowd. I acknowledge that due to the size of the grandstands, and grandstands that were covered with tarps, that was likely about 20,000 people, which is still good, but I think this event has a chance to grow even more. The people have bought in, but I believe IndyCar can get more out of this race. Road America gets more than double this on race day and that is an hour further north. 

IndyCar is heading in the right direction with Milwaukee, but the goal for 2026 is for all those covered grandstands in turn one to be open and filled with people.

21. I kind of wish Milwaukee was 50 laps longer and I kind of wish Milwaukee was the season finale. Nashville Superspeedway is 45 minutes outside of Nashville. Let's not act like IndyCar is giving up some grand location if it flipped Nashville to be the penultimate race. Both are drawing about the same size crowd, Milwaukee likely has more potential growth, and we have seen some pretty good racing over two years at Milwaukee. The fans love the fair vibe, and I think IndyCar can take that to the next level. It seems like a fun race just to be at, and if it was the finale, it could be the big party to end the season without having to do much more. All the infrastructure is already there because of the fairgrounds. That is a great foundation to start with and I think a great way for IndyCar to end the season would be with a 300-lap race at a historic venue. 

Embrace the history you have, IndyCar! Give this legendary venue its chance to shine. Hell, make the finale 400 laps and go wild! People would love it. 

22. I want to end circling back to Christian Rasmussen and his victory. 

This is the beauty of IndyCar. 

In any race, pretty much any team can pull out a strategy and drive to victory. 

Rasmussen wasn't the best driver today, but he was probably one of the five best. When the race was shaken up with an unexpected caution, Rasmussen could take on an alternate strategy and drive to the front and steal a victory. This wasn't all luck. The luck was the caution. Passing all those cars and beating Álex Palou required skill even with fresher tires.

It was Rasmussen today but it could have been Alexander Rossi. It could have been Felix Rosenqvist or Marcus Armstrong with Meyer Shank Racing. It could have been Conor Daly at Juncos Hollinger Racing. It could have been David Malukas or Santino Ferrucci with A.J. Foyt Racing. 

When you consider this season we saw Graham Rahal lead the most laps and likely have a great shout for victory at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and Felix Rosenqvist was chasing down Palou at Road America, we are looking at a season where the smallest of teams still have a shot when everything clicks on their best day. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has been struggling for years, but its best day isn't capped at potentially finishing eighth. It can be on the podium and fighting for a victory. Ed Carpenter Racing has been through its share of troubles, but it has found something where it can be a force on the ovals, and if it falls right it can drive to a win.

We are coming off one of the most dominant seasons we have ever seen for a driver in IndyCar, and yet we can still see a first-time winner for a mid-pack team and it isn't just because of a timely caution or a freak rainstorm. 

Yes, I realize both those things happened today, but Rasmussen didn't win because only because of those things. Rasmussen got a shot and could drive to the front. For all the amazing things he has done this season, in a single race he can use his talent to take a car to the front and beat the other 26 cars competing, and driving for Ed Carpenter Racing isn't keeping him from being the best. 

Many times this season we have gone into a race thinking we knew what was going to happen and Álex Palou ended up winning like we expected, but IndyCar is still capable of these days, and that is beautiful. 

23. Let's see if we can continue this high into the final week of the season. In less than seven days, the checkered flag will wave for the final time at Nashville Superspeedway, and the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season will be over.