The 12th round of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season brings the series to Nashville SuperSpeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. For the third time in three years, Nashville has a different race length. After returning with a 206-lap, 274.598-mile race in 2024 and increasing to a 225-lap, 299.925-mile race in 2025, this year's race will be a 300-lap event and 399.9 miles. This is the second-longest race on the calendar behind only the Indianapolis 500. It will be the longest scheduled race in IndyCar since 2019 when IndyCar ran a 500-mile race at Pocono. That Pocono race was shortened to 320 miles due to weather.
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday July 19 with a pre-race show on Fox Sports 1. Fox's coverage is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET, depending on the FIFA World Cup Final timing, with green flag scheduled for 5:40 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.
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.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Saturday:
First Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 2:00 p.m. ET
High-Line Practice: 6:00 p.m. ET (45 minutes)
Final Practice: 7:00 p.m. ET (60 minutes)
Sunday:
Race: 5:40 p.m. ET (300 laps)
Sunday:
Race: 5:40 p.m. ET (300 laps)
The Oval Championship
Nashville is the fourth of six oval races on the 2026 IndyCar calendar, but this is the penultimate oval weekend with Milwaukee hosting a doubleheader in just over a month's time. There are only a few other chances for teams to use oval results to lift their championship hopes.
Though he hasn't won an oval race this season, David Malukas has the most oval points through three events. With finishes of third at Phoenix, second at Indianapolis after starting third, and seventh at Gateway, Malukas has 116 points. That is nine points more than his Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden. Two oval victories has Newgarden second in oval points, even with an accident in the Indianapolis 500 in-between. Newgarden has scored 107 points from the three oval races, but in two of them, he has scored exactly 51 points.
There is a tie for third involving the Indianapolis 500 winner and the third Team Penske driver. Felix Rosenqvist and Scott McLaughlin are both on 94 points. The tiebreaker goes to Rosenqvist, who won at Indianapolis while McLaughlin's best oval result was third at Indianapolis. In the other two oval races, Rosenqvist has finished 12th and 14th. McLaughlin was eighth at Phoenix and fifth at Gateway. Rosenqvist also picked up nine bonus points for qualifying fourth for the Indianapolis 500.
Patricio O'Ward rounds out the top five with 92 points. O'Ward was fifth and fourth at Phoenix and Indianapolis respectively, but he was 11th at Gateway. Marcus Armstrong is sixth in oval points on 84. Armstrong was fifth in the first two oval races and ninth at Gateway. This puts Armstrong one points ahead of Kyle Kirkwood. While Kirkwood was second at Phoenix, an uncompetitive Indianapolis 500 saw him finish 16th. He had a better night at Gateway taking sixth.
Marcus Ericsson's runner-up result at Gateway with the most laps led has him on 74 points and eighth in the oval standings. Forty-three of Ericsson's 74 oval points came that night. He was 17th and 13th in the first two oval races this season. Rinus VeeKay is three points behind Ericsson, and VeeKay was sixth and fourth in last two oval races. He started the season 22nd at Phoenix after early contact with Álex Palou.
Santino Ferrucci rounds out the top ten with 68 points, three points more than Scott Dixon. Ferrucci's best oval finish was eighth at Indianapolis. Dixon's was seventh at Phoenix. Though he has been close to victory on two occasions, Christian Rasmussen has only scored 59 points on ovals this season, and 36 of those points came from his third-place result at Gateway. He was 14th and 27th in the first two oval races.
Rarely due we say "13th in IndyCar is Álex Palou," but 13th in oval points is Álex Palou with the Catalan driver on 57 points. His contact with VeeKay at Phoenix knocked Palou to 24th in that race. While he was seventh from pole position at Indianapolis, pit strategy undid his Gateway race and left him 17th despite starting on pole position with 49 laps led. Palou is actually tied on oval points with Alexander Rossi, but Rossi's best oval finish this season was tenth at Phoenix.
Kyffin Simpson has 52 points in 15th, one more than Christian Lundgaard. While being third in the championship, Lundgaard's best oval finish was tenth at Gateway. Will Power has 44 points with two finishes outside the top fifteen on ovals this season. Power was eighth in the most recent oval race from Gateway. Power is only a point ahead of Romain Grosjean.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates round out the top twenty. Graham Rahal has 39 points while Mick Schumacher has 38. Nolan Siegel has scored 35 points from the first three oval races, three better than Dennis Hauger. Sting Ray Robb has 27 points while Caio Collet and Louis Foster are tied on 26 points. Advantage goes to Collet, whose best oval finish was 19th at Phoenix. Foster's best was 20th at Gateway.
Do We Hear Three?
We enter Nashville with something we have not seen since 1979. McLaren is on a winning streak.
With victories at Road America and Mid-Ohio from Christian Lundgaard and Patricio O'Ward respectively, McLaren has won consecutive races for the first time since Johnny Rutherford swept the CART doubleheader at Atlanta Motor Speedway on April 22, 1979. The top two McLaren drivers rank third and fifth in the championship with Lundgaard on 339 points and O'Ward on 310 points.
Lundgaard is in good form. He has four consecutive top ten finishes, three of which have been top five results. This is the first time the Dane has had four consecutive top five finishes since the first four races of last season, and this is only the second time in his IndyCar career Lundgaard has had four consecutive top ten results. His five podium finishes this season are tied for the most in IndyCar with Álex Palou.
O'Ward has been rather consistent this season with a few blemishes in-between. Through the first eight races, he had finished fourth or fifth in six of those events. However, those two other results were finishes of 17th and 18th. Prior to Mid-Ohio, he had had failed to finish in the top ten in two consecutive races. However, he won Mid-Ohio, his first victory in nearly a calendar year.
Nashville will favor O'Ward. The Mexican has won an oval race in each of the last two seasons, winning at Milwaukee in 2024 and at Iowa in 2025. Four of his ten career victories have come on ovals, including his first career victory at Texas in 2021. Nashville has been a strong place for O'Ward. In 2024, he led late before Colton Herta swept ahead with five laps remaining. Last year, O'Ward led 116 of the first 126 laps before he got into the barrier in turn two.
Lundgaard's oval form has been under the microscope in recent weeks after McLaren decided it would not continue its relationship with the Danish driver beyond the 2026 season. In 26 oval starts, he has yet to finish in the top five. His career average finish on ovals is 15.615. In two Nashville starts, he was two laps down in 19th and he qualified third in last year's race before a mechanical issue ended his day two laps prior to O'Ward hitting the wall.
It should be noted that there are three Arrow McLaren drivers, and the team did have a triple top ten outing at Mid-Ohio. Nolan Siegel picked up his second top ten finish of the season as he was tenth. Siegel was also tenth earlier this season when Lundgaard won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Mid-Ohio was the first time McLaren had all three cars finish in the top ten since Barber Motorsports Park last season. Since the team expanded to three full-time cars in 2022, it was only the fifth time McLaren had all three cars score top ten results.
The only time McLaren has had all three cars finish in the top ten on an oval was at Gateway in 2023. O'Ward was second at Gateway while Alexander Rossi was fourth and Felix Rosenqvist was eighth.
Malukas' Redemption
As noted above, David Malukas has scored the most oval points this season. However, David Malukas has also still not won an oval race, or any race for that matter in his IndyCar career. This weekend's race will be the 73rd in his IndyCar career. The last time we raced in Nashville was likely one of Malukas' best shots at victory, but it ended poorly.
Malukas started second last year driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. After the first stint, Malukas was running second and his car looked competitive to challenge Patricio O'Ward for the lead. However, while negotiating lapped traffic, Malukas made contact with Louis Foster in turn one on lap 83. This sent Malukas into the barrier and ended his race before he had the opportunity to fight with O'Ward for the top position.
In the 82 laps Malukas completed, his average running position was 3.719, and he spent 77 laps in the top five. The only five laps he spent outside the top five were during the pit cycle from lap 57 to lap 61.
The year prior to that, Malukas qualified fifth at Nashville driving for Meyer Shank Racing. He went on to lead eight laps but finished ninth.
Malukas' best days have come on ovals, no way better illustrated than the Indianapolis 500 in May. He led 30 laps, the third-most in the race, and he finished second by 0.0233 seconds behind Felix Rosenqvist. At Phoenix in March, Malukas picked up his first career pole position, and he led a race-high 73 laps before finishing third. Five of Malukas' seven career podium finishes have come on ovals, and eight of his ten career top five finishes have come on ovals.
Of the 258 laps Malukas has led in his IndyCar career, 225 of those have come on ovals. The only time he has led more than two laps on a road or street course in his career was this year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis where he led 27 laps. This year's Indianapolis 500 was only the third time in his career Malukas has led at least 30 laps in a race. Along with Phoenix this March, the only other time he has led at least 30 laps was last year at Gateway when he led 67 circuits.
Though he has dipped to fourth in the championship, Malukas still has nine top ten finishes from 11 races this season. His four podium finishes are only behind Palou and Lundgaard. He has three consecutive top ten finishes entering this weekend, and he has been the top Team Penske finisher in six of 11 races in 2026.
First career victories on ovals are somewhat uncommon. Of the 23 drivers to score their first career victory since reunification, only six did it on an oval, but the most recent first-time winner did come on an oval. That was Christian Rasmussen at Milwaukee last year. The other five drivers with first career victories on ovals since 2008 are Danica Patrick (Motegi 2008), Ryan Briscoe (Milwaukee 2008), Ed Carpenter (Kentucky 2011), Alexander Rossi (Indianapolis 2016) and Patricio O'Ward (Texas II 2021).
The only first-time winner at Nashville SuperSpeedway was Alex Barron in 2002 driving for Blair Racing. Barron won from fifth on the grid ahead of Gil de Ferran and Sam Hornish, Jr. having only led the final 11 laps of the race.
International Flavor
With this race falling in the aftermath of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final from New Jersey, it is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the international flavor that is the NTT IndyCar Series.
Of the 25 drivers entered for the Nashville race, 14 different nationalities are represented on the grid. The host country has the most with eight Americans entered. Six different nationalities are represented in the championship top ten.
Five different nationalities have won the last five IndyCar races. The last time there were six consecutive races with a different nationality as a winner was the first seven races of the 2021 season when Spain, the United States, New Zealand, Mexico, the Netherlands, Brazil and Sweden each had a representative win a race.
Four different nationalities have won at Nashville SuperSpeedway with American drivers combining for four victories in the ten races. New Zealand has three victories, all thanks to Scott Dixon, who won three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008. There were a pair of Brazilian winners with Gil de Ferran and Tony Kanaan in 2003 and 2004. The only European to win at the track was Britain's Dario Franchitti in 2005.
Of the 14 nations represented on the grid, 13 have won an IndyCar race. The only one that hasn't is the Cayman Islands, which lone's representative in IndyCar history is current driver Kyffin Simpson. Of the 13 winning nations in this race, two have not won in the 21st century.
Those would be Norway, who had Norway-born Gil Anderson win three races with the final one coming on October 9, 1915 in the Astor Cup at Sheepshead Bay Speedway, and Germany, whose lone win was the Vanderbilt Cup race held on July 5, 1937 at Roosevelt Raceway with Bernd Rosemeyer. The only other nation to win an IndyCar race but not win in the 21st century is Chile, which had Eliseo Salazar win the 1997 Indy Racing League event at Las Vegas.
Denmark is the most recent new winner in IndyCar. Christian Lundgaard picked up the country's first IndyCar victory in July 2023 at Toronto. Since that day, Christian Rasmussen became the second Danish winner last season. Lundgaard has added another two victories to Denmark's count this season.
Spain will be playing in the World Cup Final, and Spain has been on top of IndyCar for the last five years thanks to Álex Palou. Prior to Palou, Spain had produced one IndyCar winner. Oriol Servià won the 2005 Champ Car race at Montreal. Spain has now won 24 IndyCar races, one of ten nations to win at least 20 IndyCar races.
Argentina is the other representative in the World Cup Final, aiming to win its second consecutive World Cup. While there is no Argentine driver on the grid, there is an Argentine team owner in Ricardo Juncos. Juncos Hollinger Racing has never won an IndyCar race. Driver Rinus VeeKay is coming off his second top five finish in three races when he was fourth at Mid-Ohio. Juncos Hollinger Racing was fifth in last year's Nashville race with Conor Daly.
Among international drivers, Palou has the eighth-most victories behind Scott Dixon, Will Power, Sébastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy, Dario Franchitti, Hélio Castroneves and Ralph DePalma. The only other international driver with at least 20 victories is Emerson Fittipaldi, who won 20 times in his IndyCar career.
Palou is also a four-time champion, the only IndyCar champion from Spain. Only the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Brazil has won more IndyCar championships. We are in the midst of a six-year stretch without an American champion in a premier American open-wheel series. This is the longest stretch without an American champion in the history of IndyCar.
Indy Lights
Time is disappearing rapidly in Indy Lights as only five races remain in the 2026 season, and two of the final five races are oval events, starting at Nashville.
Sweeping the weekend at Mid-Ohio has put Enzo Fittipaldi in the championship lead on 431 points. Fittipaldi leads the series with four victories this season. He is 17 points ahead of Tymek Kucharczyk, who has finished in the top ten of every race this season, but he has only one victory. Nikita Johnson has dipped to this in the championship, 20 points behind Fittipaldi. Johnson has finished in the top seven of every race this season, but he has only two top five finishes in the last seven races.
One hundred points behind Fittipaldi is Max Taylor. Taylor has not finished better than ninth in the last four races. He has not been on the podium since the second race of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course doubleheader. Lochie Hughes is fifth on 319 points. Alessandro de Tullio is on 302 points, two more than Myles Rowe. Rowe won last year's Nashville race.
Jack Beeton had an outstanding weekend at Mid-Ohio, finishing third and second. He has four consecutive top ten finishes, three of which have been top five results. In the first eight races, Beeton's best finish was ninth. The Australian is now eighth in the championship on 275 points. Juan Manuel Correa is ninth on 264 points and Josh Pierson is tenth on 254 points.
Matteo Nannini is 11th on 243 points, 11 points ahead of Max Garcia. Seb Murray is on 228 points with Salvador de Alba on 216 points. Jordan Missig has 208 points, six more than Niels Koolen and Bryce Aron has 190 points.
With 270 points left on the table, only the top 17 drivers are still mathematically eligible for the championship.
Indy Lights will race at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday July 19. The race is scheduled for 65 laps.
Fast Facts
This will be the 13th IndyCar race to take place on July 19 and the first since Gil de Ferran won at Nashville SuperSpeedway in 2003. De Ferran won that race from fourth on the grid and led 49 laps. Scott Dixon started on pole position and finished second after leading 20 laps.
This will be the seventh time an IndyCar race is taking place the same day as the FIFA World Cup Final.
The first time was in 1978. Argentina won 3-1 over the Netherlands in extra time on home soil. Al Unser won at Pocono, his second of three 500-mile race victories.
Danny Sullivan won on consecutive World Cup Final days. In 1986, Argentina defeated West Germany 3-2 in Mexico City, and Danny Sullivan won in the Meadowlands, the location of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final. In 1990, West Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in Rome. Sullivan won that day in Cleveland.
While Brazil defeated Italy in a penalty shootout at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to win the 1994 World Cup, Michael Andretti won in Toronto.
In 1998, France defeated Brazil 3-0 in Paris, and Alex Zanardi won at Cleveland.
Brazil won the 2002 final 2-0 over Germany in Yokohama, Japan. Hours later, Cristiano da Matta won at Chicago Motor Speedway. It is the only time the IndyCar race winner was from the same country as the FIFA World Cup Final winner.
The 1958 FIFA World Cup Final was the same day as the second edition of the Race of Two Worlds from the Monza oval. Brazil defeated host Sweden 5-2 with Pelé scoring two goals. Jim Rathmann swept the three-race event from Monza.
This is the first scheduled 400-mile race since July 7, 2013 when Pocono Raceway returned to the calendar for the first time since 1989. Scott Dixon led a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2-3 finish that day ahead of Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti.
This is the 16th scheduled 400-mile race in IndyCar history. From 2002 to 2005, Fontana hosted 400-mile races for the Indy Racing League, and from 2002 to 2007, Michigan hosted 400-mile races for the IRL. Prior to that, the American Grand Prix was a 400-mile race held in 1911 and 1914 through 1916. Savannah hosted it in 1911 with San Francisco hosting in 1915. Santa Monica hosted in 1914 and 1916.
The average starting position for a Nashville winner is 4.8 with a median of fifth.
Five of ten Nashville races have been won from the third row.
The only time the pole-sitter has won at Nashville was in 2007 with Scott Dixon.
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.
Thirteen consecutive oval races have been won from a top ten starting position. The most recent race won from outside the top ten was the second Iowa race in 2024. Will Power won from 22nd.
The average number of lead changes in a Nashville race is 9.2 with a median of nine.
Last year's Nashville race had a record 20 lead changes. Only the Indianapolis 500 had more lead changes last season with 23.
Six of ten Nashville races have had at least nine lead changes.
The average number of cautions in a Nashville race is five with a median of 4.5. The average number of caution laps is 41.8 with a median of 41.5.
Every Nashville race has had at least three cautions.
The most cautions in a Nashville race was eight in 2002 and 2003.
Four of ten Nashville races had at least 25% of the laps run under caution.
Predictions
Álex Palou, but if it isn't Álex Palou... I am kind of leaning into it being Álex Palou, but give me Josef Newgarden in a race where he starts outside the top five but ends up leading with 45 laps to go and becomes the driver to beat. Christian Lundgaard will have his best oval finish. Caio Collet scores his first career top ten finish. Kyle Kirkwood spends more laps in the top ten than either of his Andretti Global teammates. Scott Dixon ends his top ten finish drought, but he is not the best finishing New Zealander. Sleeper: Marcus Armstrong.
