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.
