- Kyle Kirkwood led 34 laps in route to his second career win.
- Scott McLaughlin started from the pole and led 25 laps only to finish runner-up for the second consecutive year.
- Alex Palou finished third and extended his already healthy points lead with four races remaining.
While some IndyCar drivers might like to see more ovals on the schedule, Kyle Kirkwood would likely rather see more temporary street courses, which seem to bring out the best in the Andretti Autosport driver.
Kirkwood won his first career IndyCar race earlier this year at Long Beach, finished sixth at Detroit and then dominated enroute to his second win of the year in Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of downtown Nashville.
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Kirkwood said of how he held off a late charge by runner-up Scott McLaughlin. “Right there at the end, they were so fast and ran me down just on that last lap.
“But I have to give it all to the 27 crew, AutoNation, Andretti (and) Honda. They played everything in my favor, gave me all the tools I needed. They cycled me to the front on strategy and we just made real smart decisions, and hit all of our marks. So just a solid day for the 27 crew, no doubt.”
Kirkwood, a Florida native, started from the eighth spot and led more than 30 laps, holding off pole sitter McLaughlin by .7633 seconds around the 2.1-mile street course to reach the checkered flag first in the 80-lap event, the third straight year Indy cars have raced in Music City.
It also was the second straight year that McLaughlin has left Nashville disappointed, finishing runner-up yet again.
“I gave it my all, man, tried my hardest,” an obviously exhausted-looking McLaughlin said. “I’m proud of another top 3, good points. I’m bummed we didn’t get the win, but we weren’t the best of the day, Kyle was, so props to him.”
Kirkwood joined Andretti Autosport this season after spending his rookie campaign last year with A.J. Foyt Racing. Ironically, Kirkwood is the only driver in the Andretti camp to win a race (now two) this season.
“The last time I was here was not a very fun event (finished 19th after crashing with 17 laps left to go),” Kirkwood said. “I just needed some type of redemption and I got it today.”
Points leader Alex Palou had another outstanding race – and another podium finish by winding up third – followed by Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon.
By finishing third, Palou’s points lead over Newgarden increases slightly from 80 to 84 points with four races left, including this coming Saturday’s event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“We had the speed,” Palou said. “But hey, we survived, we made it work, were saving a ton of fuel in the race. It was a tough race, honestly. We had a lot of things going on but we made it work. We’re on the podium, so couldn’t be happier now.”
“I’m disappointed with fourth,” Newgarden said. “We’re never happy unless we’re leaving here with a win. I’m sure Scott (McLaughlin) is disappointed with second. But it felt like we ran a real good race. I think we can leave here pretty happy, but just wish we had a little more.”
Frankly, the final 20 laps were somewhat boring, as Kirkwood never relinquished the lead nor was really challenged by the four other drivers that finished right behind him: McLaughlin, Palou, Newgarden and Dixon.
After the Indy Road course, three other races will remain: St. Louis (August 27), Portland (Sept. 3) and the season finale at Laguna Seca (Sept. 10).
“We’ve done a tremendous job all year,” Palou said. “We’ve been lucky some time like today, we have to say that, but we have to get on top for that No. 10 in the championship, so we’ll keep pushing and keep thinking about races and wins.
“Once we get to the last race, we’ll probably think about the championship.”
In the new layout for next season the crossover and bridge will remain.
New Season Will Bring New Finale, And New Layout
Heading into this weekend, IndyCar and Big Machine Records officials announced that starting in 2024, the final race of the season, plus the annual awards banquet, will be held in Music City.
That moves the season finale from Laguna Seca to Nashville.
Then on Sunday, Nashville city officials showed off the new track layout starting with next year’s race. There will be a bigger footprint in downtown Nashville, but some things won’t change: the crossover and bridge will remain.
The move makes sense, as the current track layout has been very bumpy, prompting some negative comments from current drivers.
On Lap 13, Malukas was driving along, minding his own business, when the rear wing on his car simply came off.
Malukas Has The Wing Come Off His Race, Literally
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports driver David Malukas had one of the most disappointing incidents occur early in Sunday’s race.
The Chicago-area native had an outstanding weekend going, including qualifying for the Firestone Fast Six for the first time in his career.
Malukas had minor contact with another car early in Sunday’s race but didn’t seem to be impacted substantially. He even pitted to make sure damage was not significant.
Unfortunately, on Lap 13, Malukas – who was as high as fourth early on – was driving along, minding his own business, when the rear wing on his car simply came off.
Malukas was dragging the wing and had the fortitude to pull to the side of the track, bringing out the first caution of the race.
“We’re still looking into it, we’re not sure it’s the rear wing that failed or something internally,” Malukas said. “We didn’t just lose a rear wing going into Turn 9, we also lost the gear box, I couldn’t shift or do anything.
“As soon as I hit the brakes, I just lost everything, I couldn’t downshift. It’s really unfortunate, I think we had a good strategy going and we had some pace, but we couldn’t do anything there.”
Scott Dixon made his 318th consecutive IndyCar career start at Nashville, tying Tony Kanaan for all-time in the series’ annals. He finished fifth.
Odds and Ends
NOTES: Veteran Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon made his 318th consecutive IndyCar career start, tying Tony Kanaan for all-time in the series’ annals. So in addition to his “Ice Man” nickname, Dixon can also be called IndyCar’s “Iron Man” as well now. … Speaking of Dixon, Sunday marked the first time in IndyCar history that saw three New Zealand drivers (Dixon, McLaughlin and Marcus Armstrong) and three Swedish drivers (Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson and Lundqvist) in the starting lineup. … Team Penske driver Will Power almost missed the start of race when he couldn’t find his ear plugs and head sock. Fortunately, a crew member found them in the team hauler and brought them to Power, who finished 10th in the race. … Colton Herta’s year of discontent continued. The Andretti Autosport driver started third but finished 21st and was not a factor in the race. Sunday marked the fourth time he’s finished 14th or lower and dropped to 10th in the standings. … Jack Harvey’s rough year continues. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver was as high as ninth in the race but wound up wrecking – under caution, no less – during the last caution period and finished 24th, nine laps behind Kirkwood and the other lead lap finishers.
Follow Autoweek contributor Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski
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