Second Impressions: Nashville 2026

1. We have had some time since the Nashville race has concluded, and it is still too hot to touch. We could use another week before we approach IndyCar's hopeful weekend that turned into a mess, some of it out of the series' control, some of it only with the series to blame. 

Let's try to touch upon each area because there are a few trouble spots in the aftermath of this weekend.

2. Let's start with the date and scheduled race time. 

IndyCar scheduled this race to follow the FIFA World Cup Final, a match that had over 38 million viewers. As a lead-in, IndyCar was never going to have more people already on the channel as the cars lined up to take the green flag. Whether or not 5% or 8% of that audience would have stuck around and thoroughly watched the IndyCar race will be an unanswered question, but it was an attempt to put IndyCar out there.

It was worth the risk of a rain delay or a rained out event. It sucks that it didn't work out because the gamble didn't pay out. It was a $10,000 bet with a chance at $10 million winnings. If it hits, it is genius. It didn't and it isn't the end of the world, but it hurts. 

There is a segment of people who think it was a poor decision to schedule this race around the World Cup Final. If there is any event that is going to draw over 30 million people, hell, even over 10 million people, you should probably not counter-program it. You are going to be lost in the shadow of the larger event. IndyCar could have raced at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, but the race would have been on Fox Sports 1, and people would have been upset that the race would have been on cable television. 

Damned if you, damned if you don't.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it can also be flawed. The race could have been before the World Cup Final, but Fox's pre-game began at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Unless Nashville was starting at 7:00 a.m. local time, there was no leading into the World Cup Final. 

This is at most a quadrennial occurrence. Having one IndyCar race follow a broadcast that drew nearly 40 million viewers isn't happening every week. Not every race is locked into a time slot. This was a case where it was and rightfully so. It just didn't work out.

3. The race was rained out and people were upset. Let's start with the at-track experience.

I wasn't there, but there was enough discontent it could not be ignored. There was dissatisfaction over how information was disseminated, and the protocols for the rain date on Monday. That covered gate openings, garage access, parking, the entire lot.

There are aspects that should be somewhat set in stone. There is a "Plan B." No race doesn't have a secondary start time already set aside should a race need to be moved to Monday. The moment a race is called, all that information should be shared because it is known. If the race is starting at 2:00 p.m. local, that means the gates will open at 11:00 a.m. or noon local. The series knows which vendors will still be around and know what concession options will be available. That information should be out almost immediately. 

As for garage access, I have been to a rain-delayed race in Pocono in 2016. I recall the garage being open and available. Every track is different. There are limitations for planning for a rain-delayed event. No track nor series will have the same level of security and resources for a race on a Monday afternoon as it would for its scheduled time. Unless there is strong evidence the crowd is going to be the same size a day later, the series and track are going to employ a smaller workforce for a rained out race. You might not like to hear that but no series is going to have the same number of workers on hold. 

You might think that sounds foolish, but IndyCar had not had a rain-delayed race since April 2018. If the series, its tracks and promoters contracted an extra day of security, vendors, all the fixings necessary for a race weekend, they would lose a fortune. Imagine always booking four nights at a hotel but knowing you are going to stay for three. That is a lot of money lost. Unless spectators are willing to pay an extra 20% on their race ticket to accommodate such cost, amenities will be less for a delayed race.

The series needs to keep someone on call, but it cannot keep everyone. That might mean certain amenities are no longer available. That could mean no garage access. Crowd control is pertinent for a race to take place efficiently. Once a race is delayed, the most important thing is getting the race in. Everything else is excessive and unnecessary. 

It sucks if you will not have that access, but that isn't the point after a rain delay. The point is the race. That is what needs to get in. That is the point of the weekend, holding a race, not going around the garage area and hawking autographs and photographs. 

I understand if you purchased that access and didn't get it. I will counter that if you did go to the track on Sunday and were able to get into the garage area, see the race cars, see drivers and take in that experience before a rained out race, you had garage access. You got that experience. That is a privilege, not a right. If the series needs to take away that privilege after a rain delay to make sure the race can properly be run, it will do that, and it is a small cost.

4. As for the start time, some were upset the race didn't take place earlier than 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday. Some were upset the race didn't place later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday. Once a race is moved to Monday, there is no perfect time. There is just a time, and IndyCar needs to take it. 

If the race started at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, very few people would see it. If the race started at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, a few more people would see it, some would still be disadvantaged and miss the race and be upset. 

Ten years ago, after IndyCar's Texas race was delayed over two months to complete, I wondered if it was time to reconsider how rainouts were handled and if there should be designated weekends set aside for makeup events. No race on a Monday is going to be nearly as successful as if the race was held on a weekend, even if it was weeks down the road.

Again, that would not work for everyone, but it likely works for a larger number than any Monday. It would still be inconvenient, but it is likely easier for those with tickets to return the following Saturday or Sunday or a Saturday or Sunday three weeks down the road than to try and squeeze in a Monday. It would also be better for television. We don't race at 3:00 p.m. on Monday regularly for a reason. Any Saturday or Sunday would be better. There are hurdles, but would have this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. been the best option? Could it have been Friday night at 7:00 p.m. if it made more sense for television? 

IndyCar's schedule length has enough off weekends that a few could be set aside, if necessary. These weekends would not be for every race. No street course is going to be able to keep the barriers up for an extra month. Those events are going to be run on Monday. Road courses should be fine, but they rent out weekends and have other events regularly. It might be impossible for IndyCar to find an available date down the road at some of these road courses. Some of those road courses would likely be best run on a Monday. The Indianapolis 500 will likely have a spot on Monday no matter what.

This really concerns the few oval events on the schedule. There are no IndyCar races scheduled for the next two weekends. There are definitely logistical concerns about going back to a racetrack a week or more after the scheduled date, but the cost is arguably worth it. If Nashville was delayed to this upcoming Saturday or Sunday, could the teams have just left the haulers locked up in the racetrack for the week and saved the teams some money? I don't know. I understand not wanting to move equipment only to return a few days later to set up for one race, but it might be a better alternative for everyone involved.

This would not be unprecedented. Besides the 2016 Texas race, a few CART events were delayed to later weekends in the 1980s, such as the 1982 Atlanta event, the 1985 Michigan race was delayed a week due to tire concerns, and 1986 was famous for the Indianapolis 500 being delayed a week, which moved Milwaukee back a week, and Road America went was delayed two weeks due to weather.

5. Going back to the fan experience. It was hot at Nashville, hot enough that the race had to be shortened. Make sure people have water if it is going to be almost 100º F. 

Reports were the track packed up re-filling stations for water bottles. 

Roger Penske has the money. Open your wallet and cover whatever that costs. 

The track was selling bottles of water for $1. I could be numb to it, but there are venues, from stadiums to airports, selling bottled water for $9. A buck for a bottle is a fine deal. The track didn't create that much of a hurdle. If you are buying tickets to an IndyCar race, you can afford $1 bottled water. Either way, re-filling stations should have remained accessible to the spectators that returned.

6. There was push back when Nashville offered $10 tickets for those who wanted to attend on Monday. Many fans believed they deserved a refund because tickets were selling for $10 when those who purchased tickets weeks or months in advance could have spent $100 or more. 

I understand being upset, but I don't know if those $10 tickets were the same deal as those who spent more. If you bought a weekend pass, and it included garage access, and the track was selling those tickets for $10, then I get it. If general admission tickets were knocked down to $10 and there wasn't anything extra, not that many people lost out. 

Come Monday, every ticket is a general admission ticket. You sit where you want. There was maybe 6,000 people there on Monday, maybe a quarter of the full grandstand. I need to know more before I can get too upset over this one. I doubt the most premier seats and ticket packages were being sold for $10. It was for those who had Monday free and just wanted to come and see a race. It was strange to see such tickets sold. I cannot recall any tracks or events doing the same for a delayed event. 

7. Will IndyCar, Nashville SuperSpeedway and the promoters of the Music City Grand Prix learn from this? Maybe. You would hope so. Ten years ago at Pocono, I didn't notice anything missing from attending on Monday versus Sunday. That is how it should be. It will naturally feel a little more open but it shouldn't feel restricted. 

The disappointing thing is over 48 hours after the event took place and we haven't heard anyone from IndyCar step out and acknowledge some of the missteps from this weekend. Whether that be Doug Boles, Mark Miles or even Roger Penske, someone should at least say they hear those who had an unpleasant weekend and say they are going to work on addressing the concerns when it comes to rain-delayed events. I would have felt a lot better if by Wednesday morning someone was to have said they recognize the shortcomings at Nashville and they will discuss what can be done for the future. We haven't even heard that. 

IndyCar has a busy end to the season, five consecutive race weekends with a last-minute race held in Washington, D.C. in the middle of all it, but it has the next two weekends off and there is enough time to release a basic statement recognizing what could have been done better. 

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.

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.

First Impressions: Nashville 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May the six-month offseason begin!

Morning Warm-Up: Nashville 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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