NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For most of Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, it was a fascinating, straight-up race featuring various strategies.
And then calamity arrived at the end.
It was a clean race the final 10 laps when two crashes brought out a yellow flag, and the second crash brought out the red flag to stop the race with five laps to go.
In the end, it was Andretti Autosport driver Kyle Kirkwood that scored his second career NTT IndyCar Series victory as he defeated pole winner Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske.
“It was a phenomenal afternoon,” Kirkwood said. “We absolutely nailed it with the race strategy.
“Andretti Autosport has given me great cars on street courses.
“This is a step in the right direction. A phenomenal day for Andretti Autosport.”
McLaughlin was drained and disappointed after starting on the pole and leading 25 laps in the race, only to finish second.
“I tried my hardest,” McLaughlin said. “Congrats to Kyle and his team. Another top-three, good points. Bummed we didn’t get the win, but we weren’t the best on the day. Kyle was. Hopefully next year we’re running for the championship and win here and win the championship, as well. There will be a huge party on Broadway.”
Click here for the full results.
Kirkwood started eighth and led the most laps in the race with 34. McLaughlin started on the pole and led 25 laps.
“I’m not sure how we held off Scott (McLaughlin), he was so fast at the end,” Kirkwood said. “We were really good on the initial laps, but right there at the end they were so fast and just ran me down on that last lap.
“I’ve got to give it up to the AutoNation team and all of Andretti and Honda. They played everything in my favor, to be honest. They gave me all the tools I needed. I really only made a couple passes on track and they cycled me to the front on strategy and we just made really smart decisions and hit all our marks.
“A solid day for the 27 crew. Last time I was here in Nashville was not a very fun event, we were super-fast, and I just needed some kind of redemption and we got it here today. It’s super cool and hats off to the crew because they did a phenomenal job.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou entered the race with an 80-point lead over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden. Palou finished third, one spot ahead of Newgarden’s Chevrolet and increased his lead to 84 points over Newgarden with four races to go.
The next race is Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Late in the race, Palou was running third – just one position ahead of Newgarden.
He got a big break when rookie driver Linus Lundqvist, who was making his NTT IndyCar Series debut in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda filling in for the injured Simon Pagenaud, crashed in turn 11 with nine laps left for a full-course caution.
That was a huge break for Palou, who was stretching his fuel.
He was implored by Chip Ganassi Racing Team Manager and race strategist Barry Wanser to “save, save, save” his fuel.
The green flag waved on lap 74 with six laps to go and Kirkwood got a great start. But a three-car crash involving Benjamin Pedersen, Augustin Canapino, Felix Rosenqvist and Ryan Hunter-Reay at the back of the field brought out another yellow flag.
IndyCar officials brought out the red flag and the cars were brought down pit road.
“I was pretty calm,” Kirkwood said during the Red Flag. “Probably a lot calmer than I should have been.
“I wanted to restart the race and just get this over with.”
After a brief stoppage, the red flag was rescinded, the engines refired and the cars returned to the course, strewn with lots of rubber pellets known as “marbles” from tire wear.
The green flag waved and with three laps to go and Newgarden briefly touched Palou’s Honda in front of him.
Kirkwood left the field in his wake on the slippery track as Palou’s car began to fishtail. Newgarden, with fuel to burn, tried to close in on Palou.
Kirkwood was in control of the victory as the focus shifted to the battle between Palou and Newgarden.
Kirkwood’s No. 27 AutoNation Honda defeated McLaughlin’s No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet by 0.7633 seconds.
Palou, the championship leader, was third and Newgarden’s Chevrolet fourth so the Chip Ganassi Racing driver gained four points on Newgarden to increase his lead to 84 points with four races remaining.
“We made a real aggressive call on that first pit stop,” Palou said. “We expected a few more cautions. We were super, super lucky today.
“It was a stressful race. I lost like five years of my life praying for a yellow, trying to save fuel.
“It was overall a good day. Could have been a lot cleaner and a lot easier, but it was hard.”
Palou admits he was lucky at Nashville and that luck may carry him to his second NTT IndyCar Series championship in three seasons.
“Today, I was done,” Palou admitted. “We were saving as much as we could and then they told me to go and we were trying to make some lap time and then we had a yellow and I was like, ‘Yeah.’
“I’ll try and take advantage of that (luck). Last year, it seemed like every race we had something going on.”
Second place finisher Scott McLaughlin said, “Rub my hand.”
Palou responded, “No.”
After the two exchanged laughs, Palou called it a “stressful day.”
“It was just stressful,” Palou said. “A very stressful day.
“Super happy to be on the podium today. It was a ’10 out of 10’ day as far as the race results.”
Luck appears to be on Palou’s side. Unfortunately for Nashville resident Newgarden, he could not take advantage of Palou’s emptying fuel tank and a fourth-place finish wasn’t good enough to help him overcome Palou’s growing points lead.
“Fourth was pretty decent on the day,” Newgarden said. “I felt like we had a little more charge in the beginning of the race that didn’t materialize.
It’s a decent top-five that we can come out of here with and be proud of with the PPG car. There was a little more opportunity that just didn’t materialize in the beginning you know, typical street course stuff. You get used up a little bit at times. It’s just what we always see. It gets tight as everybody knows. I thought it was a really good day for our team, I really thought they executed well.
“There are some things we got to work on that I think are pretty visible to us. But you know, everyone’s done a great job. Team Chevy always elevates for us. Great job this whole weekend. Thanks to PPG with their support. I think we can leave here pretty happy, but just wishing we had a little bit more.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the defending winner of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, rounded out the top five.
What Else Went Down
The start of the race was waved off by IndyCar and one lap later, the green flag waved on lap two and pole winner McLaughlin got a clean start.
On lap seven, Palou passed David Malukas for fourth place on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Meantime, up front, McLaughlin opened a 1.9695-second lead over O’Ward as the two Chevy drivers led the field.
Further back in the field, Christian Lundgaard passed Newgarden for ninth place after 10 laps.
Alexander Rossi pitted on lap 10 to switch tires, swapping for the alternates for the primary tires. Lundgaard also pitted for tires saying the alternate green tires were “awful.”
It was 12 laps before the first yellow flag waved when Malukas stop in turn nine with rear wing damage. It appeared to be a structural failure as the wing bracket collapsed.
When the pits opened on lap 14, Palou and Linus Lundqvist pitted for primary Firestone Black tires. Race-leader McLaughlin, however, chose not to pit while in the lead.
The green flag flew one lap later with McLaughlin continuing to lead the field. As the field cross the bridge, it was three-wide racing involving Palou.
Some of the top runners in the race had yet to pit, with two completely divergent strategies coming into play.
Further back in the field, Colton Herta’s car became a ping-pong ball as he kept getting bounced into the field by other cars, forcing him to pit on lap 18.
That dropped him back to 25th in the 27-car field.
After 20 laps, O’Ward began to struggle with the tires on his No. 5 Chevrolet as he dropped through the field and was forced to pit.
O’Ward finally pitted on lap 24 and returned in 23rd position.
McLaughlin pitted as the leader on lap 25, removing the Guayule “green” tires and putting on the black primaries. He returned to the race in 19th place.
It was actually the Team Penske strategy to stretch it that point so that McLaughlin no longer had to worry about fuel strategy.
McLaughlin’s top put Grosjean in the lead ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Kirkwood.
Team Penske’s Will Power, who forgot his mandatory head sock and that left him in pit lane as the field rolled off at the start, pitted on lap 28.
On lap 29, Kirkwood, Newgarden and Dixon all pitted as the top three cars at that point in the race. That put Ericsson in the lead.
Ericsson pitted on lap 34, putting championship leader Palou into the lead ahead of Kirkwood.
At the halfway point of the race, Palou was the leader ahead of Kirkwood, Grosjean, McLaughlin, Linus Lundqvist and Jack Harvey.
Palou pitted on lap 45 and that put Kirkwood in the lead. Meantime, McLaughlin was driving through the field and pass Grosjean for second place on lap 49 as his tires began to fade. The racing was wild further back.
Kirkwood pitted as the race leader on lap 50 and that returned Team Penske’s McLaughlin to the lead.
McLaughlin pitted for what was expected to be the final time on lap 53. He left pit lane behind Kirkwood and just in front of Palo, who were at full speed, setting up the battle for the finish.
Meantime, rookie driver Linus Lundqvist was having a stellar IndyCar debut for Meyer Shank Racing in the No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda as he was in seventh place before pitting on lap 54.
With 20 laps to go, Kirkwood led McLaughlin by 2.4717 seconds. Palou was third followed by Newgarden and Dixon.
Palou, however, was in “fuel saving” mode while the other top five drivers appeared to be safe.
That was before the final two incidents of the race determined the ending.
Even with an 84-point lead with four races to go, Palou isn’t ready to claim the championship.
“Not until they give us the trophy,” Palou said. “Josef can win the next four races. We can do it. Anyone can do it.
“Maybe on the last race, we can take that. With Indy road course coming up, we won that in May and we can do that again.”
As for the winner, he is ready to celebrate his second IndyCar victory of the season on Nashville’s famed Broadway Avenue and its many bars, restaurants and “Honkey Tonks.”
“I’m not going to the gym tomorrow,” Kirkwood said. “No way. Not after today.
“I’ll make my girlfriend drive me back to Indianapolis.”