First Impressions: Nashville 2026

1. Álex Palou is too good to be lucky, but Palou is rather fortunate. Palou was on pit lane making his second pit stop of the race when Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi made contact on the back straightaway. It timed perfectly for Palou, as he was able to make his pit stop and emerge from the pit lane still on the lead lap. He avoided being trapped a lap down, and instead of running just inside the top five but well behind the leaders as he was prior to the caution, Palou cycled right to the lead, and the race was in his control from there forward. 

Palou didn't do anything special. He didn't make a timely pass. This wasn't a case of strategy being in his favor and having the better tire compound in the final stint or having fresher tires and chasing down the leaders in the closing laps. Palou caught a break. If the caution comes five seconds later, he is trapped a lap down. He would have waved around back to the lead lap, however, Palou is likely in a fight to finish in the top five at best instead of fighting for the victory in that scenario. 

Once Palou was ahead, all he had to do was keep the car straight. There was not much of a challenge from behind even if Josef Newgarden was in his rearview mirrors. Palou kept a healthy gap, and having the primary tire looked to be an advantage. As the race entered its final stages, Palou was opening a gap to the rest of the front-runners, all of whom were on the alternate tire compound. 

In a blink, Palou is back in command of the championship with his fifth victory of the season. For a few races, the gap was closing, but Palou took a healthy chunk of points back from the competition with six races remaining. Two of those races are at tracks Palou dominated, Portland and Laguna Seca. Markham and Washington, D.C. will be new for everyone. The Milwaukee doubleheader is not a hurdle for Palou. It will take something sensational for anyone to beat Palou at this point.

2. Josef Newgarden was second, and he spent almost the entire race in second. Whether it was Kyle Kirkwood leading early, David Malukas leading after he went off strategy or Palou in the second half of the race, Newgarden was likely second. Newgarden looked frustrated post-race. It was a good race but not a great race. He couldn't quite get to the front and take command of the race. If he did, Newgarden probably would have won this one. It was clear if you were out front, you were in control of the race. Newgarden never got there though no one spent more time in second.

It is still second. Newgarden has been banged up since the Indianapolis accident. On the ovals, he is still stellar with two victories and a runner-up result since the injury. His road and street course form has been rough during that period. His road and street course form has had room for improvement for about three years now. He still runs well, but ovals are the one disciple Newgarden is still the favorite from the start of the weekend. When he doesn't win, it is a missed opportunity of the few opportunities he gets to be the man.

3. I am simultaneously going to dismiss and give credit to David Malukas for today's race. 

Malukas got to the lead because the team did not stop under the first caution for Caio Collet's accident. After about 30 laps, Malukas stayed out as did Louis Foster and Christian Lundgaard. It worked for Malukas. Foster and Lundgaard dropped like rocks. Malukas held the lead even with older tires. He didn't do anything special to get the lead. The team made a wise call considering Malukas started last. That car was phenomenal, and it didn't chew up tires. 

However, the recovery drive after being caught a lap down for the Rossi-Dixon accident was special. Malukas did wave around to the lead lap, but he still had to pick his way forward, and he benefitted again when Dennis Hauger hit the wall while the final pit cycle was just under way. Malukas had yet to make his final stop. Hauger's accident gifted Malukas four more spots and it got him into a podium position. 

Malukas' crew rolled the dice and remained true to a three-stop strategy, but the risk was stopping about 20-30 laps before the rest of the field would need to stop, putting Malukas in a tough spot if a caution came out before the rest of the field cycled through pit lane. It cost him, but the way this race played out it still worked in Malukas' favor. 

Without the practice accident, Malukas is definitely finishing on the podium and maybe he would have won. With Palou catching the caution the way he did, Malukas may have been destined to finish second anyway. It was the drive of the day regardless of how the cautions fell.

4. Scott McLaughlin rivaled Malukas' drive. McLaughlin was caught out when Hauger hit the wall. McLaughlin waved around back to the lead lap, but he restarted 12th. McLaughlin was shot out of the cannon, and none of the other drivers who were caught out due to the Hauger accident could match that pace. McLaughlin worked his way up to fourth in almost no time. Then his alternate tire compound was shot as was the rest of the leaders. 

McLaughlin spent most of the race in the top five. He should have finished in the top five. It was a good result. It was another great drive when it appeared his race had been flipped upside down.

5. I don't think Felix Rosenqvist did anything special. Other than not getting into accidents and not being caught out during a pit cycle, Rosenqvist was ok in this race. Maybe he should have snuck into the top ten. The top five was generous. These races happen.

6. Marcus Ericsson looked good today but not great. Sixth is probably about right for Ericsson. It might be a spot generous. Ericsson ran well in this one. He wasn't as good as he was at Gateway, but he had good place.

7. Patricio O'Ward stole a top ten today. O'Ward was nowhere for the first 185 laps, and then O'Ward catches the final caution in his favor as he had yet to stop when Hauger hit the wall. O'Ward was basically 12th or 13th all race before that. This was not a good race for O'Ward, and we see these races from O'Ward at least three times a season. They are head-scratching every time. When Arrow McLaren is nowhere, they are nowhere!

8. Who would have thought Mick Schumacher's first top ten finish in IndyCar would be eighth at Nashville? Schumacher was about four spots better than he should have been, but Schumacher was running on the edge of the top ten for this entire race. He was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver the entire day and it wasn't close. Schumacher probably should have had a top ten in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He was due a good result. He had a good day even if it was a little better than if this race has shaken out with one fewer caution period. 

9. The strange thing is Kyffin Simpson was ahead of Álex Palou after the pit stops when Rossi and Dixon came together. Then Simpson came back down pit lane under that caution. It was not explained why Simpson had to come down. It wasn't a penalty. Simpson was not listed as taking emergency service. Unless the team didn't get the car full of fuel in a rash effort to get out before being caught a lap down, it is inexplicable why Simpson had to come back to the pit lane. Either way, Simpson got a little break and then he did not stop before the Hauger accident. This secured Simpson into the top ten position. He did nothing flashy, but you take the result anyway you can get them.

10. Kyle Kirkwood was nearly in the exact same position as Palou when the Hauger caution came out except Kirkwood was about five seconds too late and was trapped a lap down. If Hauger hit the wall five seconds earlier, Kirkwood may have exited pit lane ahead of Palou and cycled to the lead. If the caution was ten seconds earlier, Kirkwood definitely would have taken the lead. 

Instead, Kirkwood was cycled back to 11th, and he didn't have the jump McLaughlin did on the final restart. It took Kirkwood a good ten lap to make up one position and that is all he got. Kirkwood was solidly in the top five this entire race and was fighting for the podium. This is harsh result. 

It didn't make any sense why Kirkwood or anyone stopped that early when everyone should have stopped right as the car hit the reserve tank for that final pit stop. There was no advantage to stopping early. No one was leaping forward stopping early because they had fresher tires with a clear racetrack. It didn't make any sense, and it is somewhat an unforced error from this group.

11. Nolan Siegel had a good race, and Siegel was the best McLaren driver today. He was on the cusp of a top ten position, kind of running equal to Schumacher for much of this race. Siegel had found his form, especially since the month of May. I don't know if he has a future in IndyCar, though the rumor mill has him potentially moving to Juncos Hollinger Racing with a shakeup in ownership at that organization. It does feel like we are at a limit. It has been better than where Siegel has been. 

12. Rinus VeeKay and Santino Ferrucci were caught out like Kirkwood and McLaughlin, and like Kirkwood, neither VeeKay nor Ferrucci made up any ground during the final stint. VeeKay was in a top five position for much of this race. Ferrucci was in sixth for much of it. A good number of drivers were gifted at least four positions in this race. This result does not tell the story of how well VeeKay and Ferrucci raced.

13. Let's blow through the field.

Romain Grosjean was 14th and did nothing.

Sting Ray Robb was 15th because ten drivers had issues and Robb always made sure to stop the latest. The strategy got him something today. 

Christian Lundgaard never looked comfortable and avoiding serious trouble got him 16th. It wasn't a good weekend for him. 

Louis Foster rolled the dice staying out after the Collet caution but that car was terrible. Foster did his best. He was still caught a lap down in 17th.

18. Scott Dixon's woeful Ganassi swan-song continued. Dixon lost a bunch of spots at the start, and then he lost even more positions at the first restart. Dixon wasn't driving well to begin with before running into he back of Alexander Rossi, Rossi said he was clearly entering pit lane. The broadcast booth couldn't believe Rossi slowed that late to enter the pit lane. It never looked like Rossi was making an attempt to enter the access road. Dixon was caught in a rough spot. I don't know why Rossi was slowing that late. We will get back to Rossi in a second. As for Dixon, it feels like the fast ball is gone, and it has felt that way for a few months.

19. Graham Rahal had a disaster of a weekend. The car was always slow. There is a good chance Rahal spent much of this weekend driving a broken car, and that was before he hit the wall in practice. He was parked with about 16 laps to go. There was a point he was three seconds off the pace. Rahal probably should have been parked sooner. This isn't new for RLLR. It is more stunning Rahal and Schumacher qualified third and fourth respectively at Phoenix in the first oval race of the season. What is going on at this team? It is inconceivable the team could fluctuate that wildly between oval races.

20. I don't know what happened to Will Power but he was shuffled out of the top twenty and off the lead lap early in this race and it was never covered. Power's crappy season at Andretti Global continues.

21. Dennis Hauger got into the marbles exiting turn two and slapped the wall. Hauger wasn't great. He wasn't terrible. He wasn't that far off Grosjean prior to that accident. It still wasn't a good weekend for Hauger. It is stunning how much Dale Coyne Racing has dropped off from last year and this is with technical support from Andretti Global... are 80% of the teams in IndyCar just bad? 

22. The price you pay with Christian Rasmussen is he is driving on the edge at all times. Unfortunately, he goes over the edge more times than not, and today he slapped the wall when looking prime for a top ten finish and possibly a top five run. Within a few laps of that happening, Rossi had his accident with Dixon. It is amazing how many times this season both Ed Carpenter Racing cars have had trouble within a few laps of one another. 

Focusing on Rasmussen, he has been celebrated for his aggressive style, but these results happen far more often than his Milwaukee victory. This was his third retirement in four oval races this season. The car failed him at Indianapolis, and that one is forgiven, but he still drove over the edge at Phoenix and he drove over the edge today, and that isn't even mentioning how lackluster his road and street course form has been for going on three seasons. Let's see what he does at Milwaukee because it is clear who he is everywhere else. Can he afford two more finishes outside the top fifteen when he likely will not crack the top ten in any of the remaining road and street course races?

As for Rossi, nothing is ever his fault. I don't know what happened to him, but 2018 and 2019 seem like a lifetime ago, and that is when we all though Rossi was a generational contender.

23. Marcus Armstrong had engine issues. The car was off-pace from the start and Armstrong kept losing paces. It was thought to be the tires but it was clearly something under the bonnet. It is a shame because Armstrong qualified eighth, and he had ran better than Rosenqvist all weekend. 

Caio Collet overcorrected entering turn four and slammed the wall. None of the rookies have been great this year. No rookie has been great for the last four seasons or so. There has been moments to be excited about Collet, but there have been a great number of races he doesn't look special. He just need to complete laps today and he might have been a top ten contender. 

24. There is a lot around this weekend we can touch upon later this week. People need to cool off. This was not an ideal way it played out with the rain delay. Following the FIFA World Cup Final was an opportunity, and IndyCar was smart to line up to follow the final. It cannot control the weather and it just didn't line up today. IndyCar had not had a race rained out to a Monday since 2018. It had been over eight years. It sucks it fell that way. 

25. The one thing I will touch upon now is it looked very bad for IndyCar to shorten this race from 300 laps to 225 laps after the delay. I know IndyCar said it was because of the heat. It was hot two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio. IndyCar has had scorchers at Iowa and Texas and at plenty of other tracks. The heat hasn't caused any other races to be shortened. It was hot today. That cannot be denied. We saw it, but this is now a standard, and we know IndyCar is never going to enforce it again. The Indianapolis 500 isn't going to be heat-shortened. Portland isn't going to be shortened if it is too hot there in three weeks. 

Honesty may be a greater topic of discussion later this week, but IndyCar could have been honest in this case. Once it lost the lead-out window following the World Cup Final, there was no reason to run a 300-lap race. There was no reason to have an extra 45 minutes of competition. IndyCar missed its chance. The party was over. Everyone wanted to go home. Even if Fox said it didn't have anything to do with the race distance being shortened, we know the series can make decisions without needing to be told. IndyCar had this race completed within two hours. It knew if it could get off-air within two hours or so, it would make the television partner much happier than pushing a three-hour window.

Did this race need to be 400 miles to begin with? No. The 225-laps distance worked fine last year, but following the World Cup Final, IndyCar had a full evening and night to itself and what was an extra 100 miles? Let's celebrate with more racing! The 300-mile distance is suitable for IndyCar, but once the 400-mile distance has been announced and promote, IndyCar should have seen it out and sucked it up this year. It could go back to 225 laps next year when we all knew the big World Cup tie-in was not there. 

The series looked weak making this change, and it made the drivers and teams look weak as well. This wasn't the first race held in blistering heat and it will not be the last. 

We will discuss this and a number of other peripheral qualms with the Nashville weekend later this week. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, but a few decisions could have been handled better. 

26. Oh, one last thing, the tires! We had multiple tire compounds today. Neither were different from the other. What is the point if the tires are basically going to be the same? That is a question we ask Firestone almost every week. I acknowledge conditions play a role, and conditions play a role into how a lot of races turn out. It being this hot didn't make it so the tires were practically inseparable. If there is going to be an alternate compound, it better be much different than the primary compound otherwise what is the point of the charade?

27. I think everyone will be happy that there are two full weeks off after this weekend. After that it is five consecutive weekends at a racetrack with six races during that period, and then that is it. The end of the 2026 IndyCar season is staring us right in the face.

Musings From the Weekend: An Ode to Early Starts

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Spain is world champions. IndyCar could not beat the rain, and for the first time in over eight years, a race will take place on a Monday. This is the first race to take place in it entirety on a Monday since Pocono in 2016. I guess you could say IndyCar was due. We will talk more about the Nashville weekend later. What is a racing incident in Formula One? Are there racing incidents in Formula One? A headset cost a Formula Two team points. There was an accident in Italy. NASCAR raced at North Wilkesboro with some points on the line. Ironically, what I wrote was long before any rain delay in Nashville.

An Ode to Early Starts

This stems from a few weeks ago when NASCAR moved the Cup race from Pocono up two hours due to pending thunderstorms. Instead of starting a little after 3:00 p.m. local, the race began around 1:00 p.m. local, and it was over before the storms could cause any issues. The proactive decision to move the race up to ensure it would be completed before any storms interrupted the proceedings was celebrated. However, the early afternoon start was going to be welcomed even if there had been no threat of rain. 

Over the last 15 or 20 years, all races are broadcasted to ensure the largest audience will watch. In the United States, that ideal broadcast window is the middle of the afternoon. It is good for the East Coast, it is better for the West Coast, it is a happy medium for the continental United States that has four time zones. There is an imperfection in looking for what is ideal. 

That sounds like an oxymoron, but it is true. It is great for the viewers at home. For those attending in person, it is not the greatest time. It really depends on the racetrack and where it is in location to civilization. 

Most racetracks are close to nothing. It is going to be 90 minutes to two hours to get where you wish to be at minimum. When a race is not ending until 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m., you are lucky if you are back before sunset. It is the end of your day. It has likely been your entire day. 

An early start is lovely. You may have to leave a little early, but you are at the track in the middle of the morning, and by the time the race is over you can return and have a proper dinner and unwind from the day out. That is an underrated aspect to an early start. It is nice to get home or return to a hotel and have some time afterward for yourself. The last thing you want is to get back from a race and feel like you are already behind for tomorrow.

Some areas work better for early starts. It was one of the driving points for Road America's return to the IndyCar schedule. It didn't make sense for Road America to host a race in the middle of the afternoon because people from the Chicago-area had a two-hour drive and would not show up if it started too late. If a track has no lights, it should probably start earlier rather than later and take advantage of daylight, as that is all it has to compete. Pocono shouldn't start at 4:00 p.m. ET if there is only a four-hour window for the race to get in. An hour storm and the race is a wash unless you are fine with racing against daylight and coming short of the full distance. 

There are also events that should just be early. 

This goes for the Indianapolis 500. It is too great of a race to wait for. Could viewership be better if it started at 3:00 p.m. ET? Probably, but the "500" is one of the few races people wait all year for. Why make them wait any longer? It is like opening presents on Christmas morning. Just do it as soon as you possibly can, and around 12:45 p.m. is the right time. Even that might be a little too long of a wait. Do I hear 12:15 p.m.? 

Being a motorsports fan should not take up every aspect of your life. It should fit into the routine of a weekend, especially if you are attending a race. You should be able to enjoy the race and have your time. Some of the most fun is digesting a race afterward whether that is eating a meal out on the drive back or at home and possibly heating up some leftovers (Always have leftover ready if you are attending a race). 

It was well over a decade ago now, but there was no better way to cap off a day at the races than being home and watching Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. That doesn't exist anymore, and nothing has really filled that place. It is just nice when you can have a peaceful end to the day out. 

When it comes to NASCAR, we aren't going to see many early starts anytime soon, even if Pocono went well. It should still be considered for the tracks with no lights. It is absurd that isn't already considered. There aren't many tracks and races that have this condition. Pocono, Michigan, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, two Talladega races, I guess the road course races but those events can take place in the rain so those are less of an issue. Loudon is in the mix and Dover if it returns with a proper points race. 

I am sure there can be six or seven races a season that start around 1:00 p.m. There are already eight night races, five of which are on Sundays and only two of those are holidays. We just had the Atlanta race that did not end until nearly 2:00 p.m. Eastern. Is a 1:00 p.m. start that bad in comparison? It is a hell of a lot better than having a race go beyond midnight. 

This isn't an issue for IndyCar. It will race whenever it fits into a schedule. 12:30 p.m. before a Cup race? Absolutely it will take it. The early start is more the rule and the later start is the exception. Nashville the weekend was a special circumstance. Th only night race is Gateway. When there is a west coast race, of course it starts later, but still early based on the local start time. 

For all the concern about viewership, Formula One found a foothold in the United States despite 9:00 a.m. starts. If it is worth viewing, people will show and watch. That has been the issue neither NASCAR nor IndyCar has really been able to get its head around for the last decade. There is an audience both have missed. Plenty of people are willing to watch if you give them a reason, and they will be there whenever you put a race on, even in the middle of the morning. 

This hesitancy toward early starts is more a NASCAR issue, and it probably shouldn't be. There are room for 1:00 p.m. starts the same way there is room for three consecutive prime time Sunday races in July. It doesn't have to be everywhere, but it should be at a few places, and those tracks would not mind something that is a little more flexible. You can have your special events that are late, but you can also have your special events that are early.

Perhaps this past Pocono race will see a slight change and we get two or three early starts because why wait to hold a race? There is something nice about them. The greatest of which is you get to go home earlier than with a later start. Isn't that enough of an incentive for all involved? The fans go for fun. The teams, the crews, the drivers, the officials, that time is work. Who doesn't wish to get home earlier from work? If you sell it that way, we are going to see a half-dozen races in a blink. Even though they have private jets, there is a big difference between getting home at 5:00 p.m. vs. getting home at 7:00 p.m. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Spain, but did you know...

Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season. 

Joshua Dürksen (sprint) and Rafael Câmara (feature) split the Formula Two races from Spa-Francorchamps. Jin Nakamura (sprint) and Ernesto Rivera (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup race from North Wilkesboro. Chandler Smith won the Truck race, his second victory of the season. 

Matteo Nannini won the Indy Lights race from Nashville, his second victory of the season, but his first on the road.

Kakunoshin Ohta and Igor Fraga split the three Super Formula races from Fuji. Fraga won the make-up race for the rained out Autoplois round.

The #32 Team WRT BMW of Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts swept the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Misano.

Sami Pajari won Rally Estonia, his first career World Rally Championship victory, and Pajari never conceded the overall lead in the rally.

Coming Up This Weekend

The Brickyard 400.

Formula One has one final race before its summer break, and it will be in Budapest.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has a round at Oschersleben.

Formula E has a doubleheader in Tokyo.

Morning Warm-Up: Nashville 2026

Kyle Kirkwood took pole position for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix from Nashville SuperSpeedway with a two-lap average at 196.852 mph (47.5484 seconds) in qualifying. For Kirkwood, it is his first pole position of the season, and it is only his fourth career pole position. It is the second time he has been the fastest qualifier at Nashville. He started first in the 2024 race. His other two pole positions came at Long Beach. Kirkwood was third in the most recent race at Mid-Ohio. It was the first time Kirkwood has finished third in his career. He has finished in every position in the top six this season. In two Nashville starts, he has finished fourth and sixth. 

Josef Newgarden ended up 0.0508 seconds off Kirkwood’s top time, and this puts the Tennessee-native second on the grid. This matches Newgarden’s best starting position of the season. He won from second at Phoenix in March. Newgarden is going for his third victory this season. It would be the seventh time he has won at least three races win a season. He won last year at Nashville from sixth on the grid. This is the first time this season Newgarden has been the top Penske qualifier. 

Scott McLaughlin was 0.1854 seconds behind Kirkwood’s qualifying run, and this places McLaughlin third on the grid. This will be McLaughlin’s fifth time starting in the top five this season. It has been 29 races since McLaughlin's most recent victory. He has ten top five finishes since his most recent victory. Six of those results have come on ovals, including the last two oval races. Along with Newgarden, McLaughlin is the only driver to finish in the top five in the previous two Nashville races. 

Álex Palou takes fourth on the grid after running two laps in 47.7429 seconds (196.050 mph). It is the tenth time in 12 races this season Palou is starting on one of the first two rows. The two races he didn’t start on one of the first two rows were when he started tenth at Phoenix and eighth at Mid-Ohio. Palou has not won any of the last three races. He has not gone more than three consecutive races without a victory since the final nine races of the 2023 season. He has also never won from fourth on the grid before in IndyCar. 

Scott Dixon is a spot behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Palou in fifth. This is only the second time Dixon has started in the top five this season, and it is his best oval start since starting fifth at Nashville last year. After having finished in the top ten in all six Nashville starts prior to the track leaving the schedule after the 2008 season, Dixon has failed to crack the top ten in the first two races since its return. He has finished 17th and 12th in the last two years.

Alexander Rossi starts in the top six for the third time this season, and all three times have come on ovals. Rossi started sixth at Phoenix and second at Indianapolis. He hasn’t started in the top ten on an oval and finished better than his starting position since Gateway 2023 when he went seventh to fourth. This Nashville race falls 1,450 days since Rossi's most recent IndyCar victory, just shy of four years. That victory was on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Christian Rasmussen starts seventh, exactly where he finished two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio. The only time Rasmussen has had consecutive top ten finishes in his career was last year at the Iowa doubleheader. The Dane finished sixth and eighth in those races. Last year, Rasmussen failed to complete a lap at Nashville after a spin in turn two. It is one of six times he has finished in last-place in his first 42 career starts. Nashville is only the second race this season both Ed Carpenter Racing cars qualified in the top ten. Both did it at Arlington. 

Marcus Armstrong qualified eighth, but Armstrong did hit the barrier exiting turn four at the end of final practice Saturday evening. This is set to be his fourth top ten start in the last five races. Armstrong is looking to avoid three consecutive results outside the top ten. He hasn't had three consecutive finishes outside the top ten since June and July 2024. In seven of 11 races this season, Armstrong has finished worse than his starting spot. In the other four, he has finished at least eight spots better than where he started. 

Rinus VeeKay takes ninth in the grid for Juncos Hollinger Racing. After starting sixth at Mid-Ohio, this is the first time VeeKay has started consecutive races in the top ten since the 2023 Laguna Seca season finale and the 2024 St. Petersburg season opener. VeeKay has never had consecutive top five finishes in his IndyCar career. He was fourth at Mid-Ohio two weeks ago.

Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top ten, Ericsson’s fourth top ten start in the last five races. He started in the top ten in only three of the first seven races this season. At Gateway, Ericsson led the most laps in the race after starting 12th. It was the first time he had led the most laps in a race in his IndyCar career. He led 114 laps in that race. Prior to 2026, the most laps Ericsson had led in a season was 51 in 2023.

Santino Ferrucci takes 11th on the grid. Last year, Ferrucci started 12th and finished eighth at Nashville despite taking a penalty for improper pit lane entry. Ferrucci has never had a top ten finish in the 12th race of the season. He has finished in the top ten of both his Nashville starts. Ferrucci has not finished outside the top fifteen on an oval since he was 22nd in the second Iowa race in 2023.

Patricio O'Ward starts to Ferrucci’s outside in 12th. This snaps a seven-race streak of consecutive top ten starts for O’Ward, though 12th is the worst he has started this season. He started 12th at Barber Motorsports Park as well. In 13 of the last 19 races, O'Ward has finished either first, fourth or fifth. He has not finished second since Gateway last season, and he has not finished third since the Indianapolis 500 last season.

Nolan Siegel will take the position behind O’Ward on the grid in 13th, Siegel’s best starting position in three visits to Nashville. After finishing tenth at Mid-Ohio, Siegel is going for his second consecutive top ten finish. He has never had consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career. His only top ten finishes an oval was seventh at Gateway in 2024.

Will Power is starting 14th, which is his best starting spot on an oval this season. Power had started 19th or worse in the first three oval races. Power has three consecutive top ten finishes. He has not had four consecutive top ten finishes since last season from Thermal Club through the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Power has failed to finish on the lead lap in all three Nashville starts, including 2008 with KV Racing.

Caio Collet will start on the inside of row eight, and it is the third consecutive race Collet is starting in the top fifteen. He had only one start in the top fifteen through the first nine races of the season. That was 12th for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Collet is coming off his best career finish of 11th at Mid-Ohio. The most spots he has gained from a starting position is seven, 24th to 17th at St. Petersburg.

Mick Schumacher makes it an all-rookie row eight as Schumacher takes 16th, and he is the top Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing qualifier. This is the first time this season Schumacher has been the top RLLR starter. Through 11 races, Schumacher remains in search for its first career top fifteen finish. Prior to Mid-Ohio, he had finished better than his starting position in four consecutive races.

Felix Rosenqvist starts 17th, his worst starting position since he was 18th at Barber Motorsports Park in March. Rosenqvist did improve 12 positions earlier this season at Phoenix, starting 24th and finishing 12th. Of Rosenqvist’s 23 top five finishes, four have come on ovals. Three of those have been in the Indianapolis 500. His only other top five finish on an oval was fourth in the second Iowa race in 2023.

Kyffin Simpson starts 18th for the second consecutive race. At Mid-Ohio, Simpson could only improve three spots and he finished 15th. Simpson scored his first career top five finish on an oval last year at Nashville when he finished fourth. This is the fifth time he has started 18th in a race in his career. He has never finished in the top ten after starting 18th. 

Louis Foster takes 19th on the grid, the fourth consecutive race Foster is starting outside the top fifteen. Last season, he started outside the top fifteen in seven races. This is his eighth start outside the top fifteen in 2026. Foster's best oval finish remains his first oval finish, 12th in last year's Indianapolis 500. After finishing in the top fifteen in three of his first oval starts, Foster has finished outside the top fifteen in five consecutive oval starts. 

Sting Ray Robb rounds out the top twenty. It is the second consecutive race Robb rounds out the top twenty. He started 20th at Mid-Ohio, and he finished 22nd in that race. Robb has finished outside the top fifteen in 12 consecutive oval races. His only top fifteen finish this season was 14th at Detroit. Last year, Robb started 20th at Nashville and finished 16th. 

Romain Grosjean leads an all-Dale Coyne Racing row 11. Grosjean has not qualified better than 20th on an oval this season. This is his fourth start outside the top twenty this season. He has had four starts outside the top twenty in his 64 starts prior to this season. Grosjean did hit the wall in final practice and the team was required to make repairs the car. Grosjean was 16th in his one Nashville start back in 2024.

Dennis Hauger is on the outside of the all-Coyne row 11. This does match Hauger’s best starting position on an oval this season. He started 22nd at Phoenix and finished 15th. In two of the last three races, Hauger has finished in last place. One of those was due to a mechanical issue that prevented him from starting the Gateway race. 

Graham Rahal was unable to complete a qualifying run due to fuel pressure issue on pit lane. Due to grid penalties to other drivers, Rahal moves up to the 23rd starting spot. However, Rahal also had an incident in the final practice Saturday evening when he hit the barrier. After the last two visits to Nashville, Rahal's best finish at the circuit remains his 12th place finish in 2008.

A nine-spot grid penalty for a unapproved engine change knocks Christian Lundgaard back to 24th on the grid. Lundgaard had originally qualified 19th. After finishing first and second in the last two races, Lundgaard is aiming for his third consecutive podium finish. The only other time he has had three consecutive podium finishes was last season over Thermal Club, Long Beach and Barber Motorsports Park.

David Malukas is starting last after being unable to make a qualifying run due to a practice accident Saturday morning. To add insult to injury, Malukas also had a nine-spot grid penalty to serve due to an unapproved engine change. He was taken to hospital with a minor leg injury after the accident, but he was cleared to race. Malukas did return for final practice Saturday evening, and he was the fastest in the session. With an average finish of fourth, Malukas has the best average finish on ovals this season among all drivers. Seven IndyCar races have been won from 25th starting position or worse. Most recently was Hélio Castroneves winning from 28th at Chicagoland in the 2008 season finale. 

Pre-race coverage for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. Fox's coverage is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 5:45 p.m. ET. However, the race start is dependent on the finish of the FIFA World Cup Final, and the race will not start until festivities have concluded from the Meadowlands. The race is scheduled for 300 laps.

Track Walk: Nashville 2026

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.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule

Saturday:

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

Qualifying: 3:00 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)

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 after a right front tire puncture. 

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.

Musings From the Weekend: It's Historic, But Let's Not Be Hyperbolic

Here is the rundown of what got me thinking...

The perfect season is over! Iker Lecuona won the first race of the World Superbike weekend from Donington Park. Don't worry, Nicolò Bulega won the other two races of the weekend. There is no good reason why IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship should be racing at the same time on the same size of the world. Sunday night is not a great night for racing, especially when it isn't a holiday weekend. More should be done for the standalone weekends for NASCAR's lower series. MotoGP had its final race before its summer break. Marco Bezzecchi's rotten summer continued with an injury in qualifying ending his weekend in Germany. The news we expected came on Monday. It drew some attention, even if it fooled a few. Let's be careful how we talk about it.

It's Historic, But Let's Not Be Hyperbolic

This might be the last we speak of Scott Dixon's departure from Chip Ganassi Racing to Arrow McLaren for the rest of the season. Last Monday afternoon, McLaren confirmed what everyone was already saying. Dixon, along with Felix Rosenqvist, will join McLaren for the 2027 season with Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel released from the team at this season's end. 

We covered some of the surprise last week when it was inevitable and inevitable turned out to be only a few hours away. Now it is official. It is no long speculative even if we knew it was happening. It is still stunning a week later, and it is something we haven't seen before. When has a driver of this magnitude made a switch in IndyCar?

Will Power left Team Penske at the end of last season for Andretti Global. That was a notable change, but Scott Dixon is a level above that. This is a six-time champion, a winner of 59 races. Dixon started his career at PacWest Racing, but he has spent nearly a quarter-century at Chip Ganassi Racing. He dates back to racing with Ganassi in CART! There are no other full-time drivers on the grid who can say they raced in a CART-sanctioned event, and the only part-time driver who can say that is Ryan Hunter-Reay, who coincidentally will be Dixon's teammate next year at Indianapolis. 

It is still a change that you cannot wrap your head around. It is historic, but let's not be hyperbolic.

Is it the biggest move in IndyCar since Nigel Mansell left Formula One to join Newman-Haas Racing? 

That feels like a bit much. It could be true. Dixon won six championships with Ganassi. Together they became people of consequence in IndyCar history and both lifted each other up the history book, but there is a magnitude that is missing. 

Dixon's move matters in IndyCar circles. No one who isn't already watching cares. It isn't changing their lives. It isn't drawing their attention. Dixon changing teams isn't going to make them interested. They already weren't interested. Mansell's move shook the motorsports world in a literal sense. It got people's attention on the other side of the Atlantic. Atlanta, Georgia has no idea who Scott Dixon was driving for to begin with. 

The historic nature of the move also cannot be quantified until after it has happened because while the change itself is noteworthy, it doesn't really matter unless it is successful. If Dixon goes to McLaren, doesn't win races, and has his worst seasons of his career, we aren't going to be celebrating this change, nor will we be calling it historic, at least not for the right reasons. 

For all the times you can list Tom Brady going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Lionel Messi going to Inter Miami, the key distinction is they won. Many don't win. Willie Mays made his final out as a New York Met. Johnny Unitas ended playing for the San Diego Chargers. Do I need to mention Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards? Nobody talks about Michael Schumacher's days at Mercedes.

We will not know until probably the end of 2028 or end of 2029 where Dixon falls, but there is a chance we will look back upon this decision and not think of it as something glorious. It could be a stain, greater than a blemish. It wouldn't change much about Dixon's legacy the same way Schumacher's Mercedes years didn't take much away from his success in Formula One. We definitely look at that period differently. 

Schumacher spent three seasons at Mercedes, granted it was after a three-year absence from all competition let alone just Formula One. At Mercedes, he had one podium finish after winning 91 times over 15 full seasons for Formula One. His best championship finish was eighth. We were surprised when he returned to competition. No one looks back on those Mercedes days with any fondness. They aren't quite forgotten, but in no way are they celebrated.

Dixon is currently in his worst form in 21 years. His worst form is still ninth in the championship with seven races to run, but he has only one podium finish this season. He has failed to crack the top ten in the last five races. His most recent victory was rather flukey when Álex Palou ran off the track last season at Mid-Ohio with a seemingly insurmountable lead only for that mistake to allow Dixon to skate on through with a handful of laps remaining. Dixon hasn't won a pole position in five years, hasn't won a pole position on a road or street course in nearly ten years, and he hasn't started on a front row in over three years. Nothing suggests this is a driver McLaren should hire to improve its organization. 

It is more an attention-seeking power trip. McLaren has bought a name, one that comes with accolades it can associate with, even if none of them belong to the McLaren organization. It is going for the surface level and not considering what success is below that. 

Dixon's success cannot be denied, but with how results have come this year and how things have been trending, it is fair to at least question what we could possibly see out of Scott Dixon next season. He is about to turn 46 years old in less than two weeks. Not many drivers have hung around that long. Even fewer have had a morsel of success. 

Our view of this team change depends on what comes next. If he wins early, it will look like the right move, especially if he wins a big race, i.e. the Indianapolis 500. If he isn't winning, and if he isn't more competitive, and if that #9 Ganassi entry is finishing ahead of him, then we will all be saying Dixon made a mistake. It will not be listed with Brady or Messi if Dixon is average. We might end up trying to forget it all together, Dixon and McLaren included. 

There is time until we get to that point. In the present, we should at least keep proper perspective over Dixon's move. It is historic, that cannot be denied, but to believe it is monumental or earth-shattering is premature at best. It could be something we never believed could happen and see a combination produced incredible results. It could also produce nothing and leave both sides searching for silver-linings when it is all said and done. 

It would still be historic, but there is also a section of history where the participants would rather you pass over it than inspect it thoroughly. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Iker Lecuona and Nicolò Bulega, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's German Grand Prix, his third victory of the season, and Márquez also won the sprint race. Iván Ortolá won in Moto2, his second victory of the season. Brian Uriarte won in Moto3, his second victory of the season.

The #15 BMW M Team WRT BMW of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor won the 6 Hours of São Paulo. The #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette of Peter Dempsey, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç won in LMGT3.

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup race from Atlanta, his second victory of the season. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his sixth victory of the season. Grant Enfinger won the Truck race from Lime Rock Park, his first victory since Homestead in October 2024.

The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson of Jeremy Clark and Tom Dillmann won the IMSA race from Mosport. The #14 VasserSullivan Racing Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth won in GTD Pro. The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward won in GTD.

Tom Booth-Amos swept the World Supersport races from Donington Park.

Cameron Waters, Matt Payne and Brodie Kostecki split the Supercars races from Townsville.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar follows the World Cup Final with a race in Nashville.

NASCAR will be running around the same time in North Wilkesboro.

Formula One runs before the final with the Belgian Grand Prix.

Super Formula has a doubleheader that will not conflict with any final at Fuji.

GT World Challenge Europe has a Sprint Cup round at Misano.

The World Rally Championship ventures up to Estonia.

Rushing to Judgement

All the gossip was confirmed as truth on Monday afternoon. Arrow McLaren confirmed Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist would join the organization for the 2027 season alongside Patricio O'Ward. McLaren also confirmed the return of Ryan Hunter-Reay would return for the Indianapolis 500. With two drivers entering, two drivers are exiting.

Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel will exit the team at season's end. For Siegel, he joined the organization halfway through the 2024 season. Lundgaard started with the team last year. 

The attention has been on Lundgaard's departure. Currently third in the championship, Lundgaard is one of three drivers to win multiple races this season. The others are Álex Palou and Josef Newgarden. With 11 podium finishes in 28 starts with McLaren, Lundgaard has the second-most in the series during that time behind only Palou's 18. No other driver has more than seven, including his teammate O'Ward. 

Ninety-time times out of 100, Lundgaard is staying at McLaren, and there isn't a question about 2027, 2028 or even 2029. Lundgaard would be a long-term driver with the team with plans to build around him and succeed. 

Why isn't that McLaren's plan? 

The unofficial reasoning is the Indianapolis 500. In seven seasons since McLaren's full-time return as an IndyCar participant, it has yet to win the Indianapolis 500, though it has had a few close calls. With the organization fresh off a world championship in Formula One and about to start a sports car program that will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class with a chance to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans starting next year, McLaren is still waiting to win IndyCar's biggest race, and it wants to win now. 

McLaren does not believe Lundgaard can help achieve that goal at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Enter Scott Dixon, one of the greatest IndyCar driver ever but also one of the greatest Indianapolis 500 drivers ever even if his only victory in the event was in 2008. Enter Felix Rosenqvist, he just won the race less than two months ago. Three-quarters of McLaren's 2027 Indianapolis 500 lineup will feature Indianapolis 500 winners, and O'Ward has finished runner-up twice. 

If there is one gripe with Lundgaard, it is his oval form. We are in the middle of his fifth full season in IndyCar, and the Dane has never had a top five finish on an oval let alone come close to challenging for a victory. All the road and street courses victories in the world were not going to save his job if McLaren did not believe Lundgaard could be a contender next May. 

However, there was one driver, not long ago, who many questioned his oval form and if he would ever be competitive on the discipline. That driver was Felix Rosenqvist. In his first two seasons, oval success was slim. A near-runner-up finish in the 2020 season opener at Texas was the lone bright spot, but even that was overshadowed because the result did not show in the final box score. While running second, Rosenqvist ran high in turn two and hit the wall after getting in the marbles. He was classified 20th. 

At the time of McLaren's announcement for its 2027 driver lineup, Lundgaard had made 26 oval starts. The results are not great. As mentioned before, he has never finished in the top five. His best oval results is sixth, which came last season in the second Iowa race and at Milwaukee. His average finish is 15.615 in 26 ovals starts. Among the full-time drivers currently on the grid who are in at least their third season (everyone but Louis Foster and the three current rookies) plus every champion since reunification (Dario Franchitti, Simon Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay), Lundgaard ranks 21st out of 25 drivers in average finish in their first 26 oval starts. The only drivers he is ahead are Romain Grosjean, Kyffin Simpson, Siegel and Sting Ray Robb.

Guess who is just ahead of Lundgaard though? 

That would be Felix Rosenqvist. 

In Rosenqvist's first 26 oval starts, stretching from the 2019 Indianapolis 500 to the 2024 Indianapolis, Rosenqvist's average finish was 15.038. It dipped at McLaren. Rosenqvist joined McLaren with an average finish of 14.818 in 11 oval starts. He had never finished better than seventh on an oval prior to joining McLaren, and he wouldn't finish better than seventh until his sixth oval start with the team. Lundgaard joined McLaren with a worse average finish on ovals, 16.75 in 15 starts, and his best oval finish was ninth. 

Rosenqvist had the pleasure of getting a third season at McLaren. In 14 oval starts with the organization, his average finish was 14.357 though he did finish fourth twice including once in the Indianapolis 500. Lundgaard has made ten oval starts with McLaren. Though he has never finished in the top five on an oval, his average finish on ovals with McLaren through ten starts is better than Rosenqvist's average with the organization. Lundgaard's average over the last season-and-a-half is 13.8.

On ovals, the results have not been there, but is Lundgaard being rushed out the door? He has been replaced for a driver whose path he has essentially copied. There is no guarantee Lundgaard will continue to follow the same path, but it might not be as difficult as you think. 

Just over a month ago, Rosenqvist won the Indianapolis 500, but in his last 15 oval starts, the 15 since making his 26th oval start, his average finish is 13.066. His only top five finishes have been in the Indianapolis 500, a fourth in 2025 and first this year.  During that timespan, he has three other top ten finishes and five finishes outside the top fifteen. In the last ten oval races, Rosenqvist's average finish is 12.7, only 1.1 positions better than Lundgaard over the same span. We are about a half a foot away from Rosenqvist only being on average one full position better than Lundgaard with zero victories in the last ten oval races. Would that have really have gotten McLaren's attention to bring the Swede back to the team?

McLaren has decided its way to achieve its goal is to hire winners, specifically Indianapolis 500 winners. It almost feels too easy to be true, and it could be an elementary strategy that reaps the same results the organization has already been achieving. Since 2013, only two drivers have won multiple Indianapolis 500s, and McLaren didn't hire either of them. McLaren has bought pedigree. It has landed one of the greatest to ever race and the guy who just won McLaren wants to win the most. That doesn't equal victories though.

It is a strategy, but whether it is a better than riding with a driver who is already winning for the organization just not at the right tracks will be found out next year. There is only one way this decision can be deemed a success, and one driver could spend the rest of his career making them regret the day they made it.

Musings From the Weekend: Chip and the Kiwi

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Patricio O'Ward kept the party going for McLaren with a 1-2 finish at Mid-Ohio. The Formula One team was not as successful, though it did have a nice livery in tribute of its first race at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. It did seem to rain everywhere this weekend, and it rained hard. NASCAR remained in the Chicago-area but returned to another part of the greater Chicago metropolitan area. There was a famous street race. An American won at Silverstone. Though it is not official, there is change coming, and it took over the week in IndyCar. It will remain at the forefront for the rest of 2026 and into 2027.

Chip and the Kiwi

The exact destination may not be known, but we know next season Scott Dixon will not be competing for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Chip Ganassi Racing will not be fielding a car for Scott Dixon. The team released a statement saying Dixon had informed the team he would be leaving the organization for the 2027 season. 

The relationship began May 29, 2002. PacWest had closed its doors after the first three rounds of the CART season. Ganassi snagged the reigning CART Rookie of the Year, who won in his third start with the team. The partnership lasted a switch to the Indy Racing League, a dower Panoz-Toyota combination, a switch to Dallara and Honda, reunification, Dario Franchitti, the DW12-chassis, aero kits, aeroscreens, a global pandemic and the introduction and rise of the greatest driver since Scott Dixon at the same team. In seven races, it will be over.

It is still hard to wrap your mind around. Dave Grohl once said The Foo Fighters breaking up was like your grandparents getting a divorce: It wasn't going to happen. Ganassi and Dixon felt that way, and why would they go in separate directions? They continued to win together. They won no matter the circumstances. Who else won a championship with Panoz, the Dallara IL-07, the original DW12, a DW12 with an aero kit, a DW12 with the universal aero kit and a DW12 with an aero screen added? The subtle changes did not stunt this group, and for 21 consecutive seasons they have won a race. Why split? 

We will find out the reason soon enough, and all inclinations point to Dixon joining McLaren. 

You can find your reasons: Money, prestige, opportunity, fear, honor, curiosity. All could be valid. From the wording of the statement, this was Dixon's decision. Ganassi was happy to keep him around. For a driver who is about to turn 46 years old in less than three weeks, he was looking for something else, something Ganassi could no longer provide. We could chalk this up to an old-fashioned mid-life crisis. 

Ganassi has taken care of Dixon, but McLaren could have an offer to great to refuse. 

It could be money. It could be a shot at Le Mans with the Hypercar program. It could be ownership stakes, something that sets Dixon up for the long-term, something greater than Ganassi could offer. And then there is IndyCar, the series Dixon has called home for a quarter-century. 

It doesn't feel right. Maybe Dixon feels he needs to prove himself elsewhere, though no one is holding driving essentially only for Ganassi for his entire career against him. It could be eternal. It could be he has seen his teammate wipe the floor with him for five-going-on-six seasons, and Dixon wants to show he still has got it. The only place he can do that is with another team. 

For the better part of the 21st century, there were established order in IndyCar. Hélio Castroneves drove for Team Penske. Will Power drove for Team Penske. Dixon drove for Chip Ganassi Racing. None of them were going anywhere. Those combinations would survive nuclear holocaust. Yet, Castroneves left Penske. Power left Penske. Dixon is leaving Ganassi. It was all a fairy tale, a dream, the partnership would not ride off into the sunset. Like Castroneves and Power, this pending departure feels unsatisfying. Who is this for? Who benefits? 

Few in motorsports leave on a high and with a team that easily could be called home. Rick Mears and Mario Andretti might be the only two in IndyCar who get to say that. The rest don't end where they should. They either hang on too long and a team is ready for a change, or a driver isn't done yet and will race wherever they can find a seat, hoping their old skill will be enough. That is rarely the case. 

Now we will see Dixon in papaya, a previously unthinkable image. 

This feels greater than just a driver leaving. This feels like a definitive end. It feels like an end to the relationship. There is a good chance Dixon will never do anything with Ganassi ever again. If this is greater than just being a McLaren IndyCar driver, and Dixon becomes a full-on ambassador, he is going to be engrained with this team until he is in his 60s or beyond, and all for what will probably not be more than four seasons driving for the team. It is essentially stolen valor, or at least it is bought. He is going to be a McLaren driver long after his final race, but we will all know where that success occurred, it doesn't matter what the polo shirt says. 

Dixon isn't going be Dario Franchitti continuing to aid the next generation of Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon will be a competitor, and another one who joined McLaren late in a career. If you blinked and missed Tony Kanaan's McLaren career you are forgiven, but now Kanaan is a leading figure on a pit stand. That is Dixon's future, or so we think.

With everything that was achieved, there is really one team Dixon should be associated with. Yet, plenty go elsewhere. Willie Mays played for the New York Mets. Michael Jordan played for the Washington Wizards. Tom Brady ended as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. 

A career rarely has a storybook ending. Or at least there is an epilogue we like to skip because who has time for another four or five pages or something that doesn't fit the timespan of the novel?

Some epilogues can be special. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, and Hélio Castroneves won his first Indianapolis 500 after Team Penske. Scott Dixon has the ability to do the same, but it will not take over what we have already seen. 

From the start, Chip Ganassi has come off as a difficult character, almost a curmudgeon, someone who wants to win and does not care about making friends. Scott Dixon has been the one driver to stand the test of time, an exception but also the driver who brings out Ganassi's best side, and shows a sympathetic character. That could be the greatest achievement of Dixon's character. 

There will be a professionalism between the two. Neither would be where they are without each other. This end does not erase what occurred over the previous quarter-century. The relationship will be different even if they say nothing has changed. Something is changing. Dixon is leaving the team. It is not the same as if Dixon had stayed until the very end. 

Whenever Dixon calls it time on his career, it will not be as special as if he had never left Chip Ganassi Racing. There will be melancholia over the end of a great career and the end to a remarkable driving talent, but McLaren cannot buy the send off and goodwill that developed over 25 years. Whatever it has cooked up, it will be performative at best. 

There is plenty of time until we will see Dixon where different overalls and speaking to a different set of engineers and team owner. It will take every second between now and that first practice session of 2027 to grasp the change that is occurring, and even that will not be enough time. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Patricio O'Ward, but did you know...

Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix, his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix. Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the sprint race.

Chase Briscoe won the NASCAR Cup race from Chicagoland. Brandon Jones won the Grand National Series.

Enzo Fittipaldi swept the Indy Lights races from Mid-Ohio. Leonardo Escorpioni swept the USF Pro 2000 triple-header. Eddie Beswick and Anthony Martella split the U.S. F2000 races.

Nikola Tsolov swept the Formula Two races from Silverstone. Ugh Ugochukwu (sprint) and Maciej Gładysz (feature) split the Formula Three races.

Nicki Thiim swept the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from the Norisring.

Pascal Wehrlein and Lucas di Grassi split the Shanghai ePrix.

The #29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca-Gibson of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson and Louis Rousset won the 4 Hours of Imola. The #17 CLX Motorsports Ligier-Toyota of Louis Iglesias, Alexander Jacoby and Paul Lanchère won in LMP3. The #33 TF Sport Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Blake McDonald and Alec Udell won in LMGT3.

Coming Up This Weekend

MotoGP heads to its summer break with one final round in Germany. 

The FIA World Endurance Championship returns after Le Mans with a round from São Paulo.

NASCAR will run at Atlanta.

IMSA has LMP2 and the GTD classes competing at Mosport. 

World Superbike competes at Donington Park before getting nearly two months off.

Supercars race in Townsville.