2026 Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix

Palou Conquers Nashville at Last as Malukas Rises From Last to Third

Alex Palou had never won at Nashville Superspeedway, and by his own admission it was the kind of place that had gotten away from him. He closed that gap Monday, controlling the final 95 laps of the 225-lap Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls to hold off Josef Newgarden by 0.8731 of a second in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It was the championship leader's fifth win of the season, the 24th of his career and, in a race decided by track position over a heat-shortened Monday afternoon, the one he seemed to value for how he got it.

"I knew we had the great car. It's one of those tracks that we've been struggling in the past," Palou said. A year ago he led late here and lost the lead in traffic, and that memory shaped the way he drove the closing stint. "We were on the lead with 30 laps to go, or even 20 laps to go as well last year here, and I lost it because I couldn't move through traffic. Getting that today kind of makes me feel very, very happy."

The win was the 150th in NTT IndyCar Series competition for Chip Ganassi Racing, a milestone team manager Barry Wanser called special. He was also candid about the strategy that set it up. "Everyone keeps saying we came in to catch a yellow, but we came in because we caught traffic and we got the most out of the tires on the car," Wanser said. "We came in, took a chance, and we lucked out." The team committed to running the harder primary tire at the finish while the cars behind Palou were on the softer alternate, a gamble that held because clean air proved decisive.

If Palou authored the day's result, David Malukas authored its story. Two days after crashing the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet in practice, being taken to a Nashville-area hospital and missing qualifying, Malukas started 25th and last, then climbed all the way to third. He led 59 laps along the way and produced the best Nashville finish of his career. "That was the best race that I think I've ever performed in," he said. "I was trying so hard with everything going on. Just kept asking for one more. My body kept giving it to me till the end."

His charge began with the first caution. When Caio Collet brushed the SAFER Barrier in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on Lap 18 for the day's first stoppage, Malukas was among a handful of cars that stayed out to flip their strategy off-sequence, and he took the lead outright on Lap 33. From there he ran a three-stop race while the leaders ran four, banking track position on a circuit where passing came hard. "We just wanted to go on a different strategy to the rest of the field since we were all the way in the back," Malukas said, crediting strategist Travis Law. "Absolute genius, madman."

The extra day, it turned out, made his drive possible. Sunday's scheduled running was wiped out by a persistent lightning hold and eventually heavy rain, and the race was postponed at 8 p.m. to Monday, when it was cut by 75 laps to 225 in deference to the Middle Tennessee heat. Malukas, who had been cleared to return only that morning, said the delay changed everything. "If we race yesterday, it was survival, today was game on," he said. He visited the care center afterward for fluids as the adrenaline wore off, and gamely engaged with a comparison drawn in the media room to Rick Mears' storied 1991 return from a practice crash. "I think Rick Mears has that one by far from a cool standpoint," Malukas said. "It's cool I get to be related to that in any way."

Newgarden, the Nashville native who started second in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, recorded his best finish since his St. Louis win but never found the platform to attack. He restarted with 31 laps to go on the softer tire to Palou's harder primary, and in a race that rewarded position over pace, it did not matter. "It was a track position race with 30 laps. I don't think it really mattered," Newgarden said. "You're in front, you're in front." Asked whether the full 300 laps might have changed things, he pointed to the run lengths rather than the distance itself. "I think 300 would have been fine. We could have done 500 today. I wasn't worried about it."

Scott McLaughlin completed a strong Team Penske day in fourth in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, leading 32 laps and setting the race's fastest lap at 194.048 mph on Lap 207, though a Lap 177 stop left him vulnerable when the final caution reshuffled the order. Felix Rosenqvist climbed from 17th to fifth in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, with Marcus Ericsson sixth and Pato O'Ward seventh. Rookie Mick Schumacher was a career-best eighth in the No. 47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, ahead of Kyffin Simpson and pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood, who faded to 10th in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda after leading the opening 22 laps.

The lead changed 11 times among seven drivers, most of it churn through the pit cycles, and the race turned on three cautions for 41 of the 225 laps. The second came on Lap 122 when Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon made contact in Turn 3; Rossi climbed out unhurt in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet while Dixon soldiered on with damage in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, ultimately finishing 18th. The third arrived on Lap 180 when Dennis Hauger hit the SAFER Barrier in the No. 19 Ault Block Chain Dale Coyne Racing Honda and stopped on the backstretch. Collet, Rossi and Hauger were each seen and released from the INDYCAR medical unit. That final caution cost McLaughlin and Kirkwood the track position they had built and handed the restart to Palou, who never relinquished it.

Penalties dotted the afternoon. Hauger served a drive-through for improper pit entry, Christian Lundgaard was ordered to restart at the back for emergency service in a closed pit in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Louis Foster drew a late drive-through for contact in the pits in the No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequila Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda after earlier leading 10 laps by staying out under the first caution. The day ended early for several, with Rasmussen retiring near the halfway point and Marcus Armstrong sidelined by a mechanical issue after 104 laps. The winner's average speed was 157.193 mph across 395 total passes, 246 of them for position.

The race unfolded under mostly cloudy skies with an ambient temperature of 90 degrees, relative humidity of 69 percent and a track that measured 118.76 degrees at 1:45 p.m., conditions taxing enough that Palou noted rivals were driving hurt. "I can't imagine driving injured like they did," he said. His own composure drew notice; Newgarden offered a wry theory. "He's Spanish," Newgarden said. "Probably doesn't sweat as much." For Palou, the timing carried an extra note of celebration, with Spain having won the FIFA World Cup final the day before. "It's just very cool for the country to get another World Cup," he said.

The result stretches Palou's championship lead to 83 points, and it reordered the field behind him. Malukas' podium vaulted him to second in the standings, ahead of Kirkwood, Lundgaard and O'Ward, and left him measuring the gap with clear eyes. "We have to keep trying, keep pushing hard. Maybe it will come down to the end," Malukas said. Palou, for his part, was not ready to call the title settled with a Milwaukee doubleheader and unfamiliar venues still ahead. "Although we have a good cushion, we need to keep making it bigger and keep it to the end," he said.

Malukas Returns to Top Incident-Filled Final Practice at Nashville

Hours after a Practice 1 crash sent him to a local hospital, David Malukas was back in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and quickest of anyone in Saturday evening's final practice for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls, turning a best lap of 193.766 mph over 76 laps at Nashville Superspeedway.

Team Penske confirmed before the session that Malukas had been seen and released from a Nashville-area hospital and cleared by INDYCAR medical staff to return to the car for both evening practices and Sunday's race. His return answered the hope Josef Newgarden had voiced after qualifying, when the identity of the No. 12's driver was still unsettled. That Malukas then led the session outright made the turnaround all the more striking, even if the car must start from the rear on Sunday after missing qualifying.

Scott McLaughlin was second at 193.484 mph in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, giving the team the top two, with Marcus Armstrong third at 193.325 mph in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda despite an incident of his own. Rookie Mick Schumacher ran a notable fourth, ahead of Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda. Pole winner Kyle Kirkwood, who had led the morning in the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda, was seventh, with points leader Alex Palou eighth in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and Scott Dixon 14th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

The hour kept the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team busy, drawing three cautions that traced almost entirely to the same corners catching drivers out all weekend. Graham Rahal made light contact with the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 and returned to pit lane, completing just 13 laps in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Romain Grosjean then got loose and brushed the same barrier in Turn 2 in the No. 18 BMax Dale Coyne Racing Honda, stopping on course before reaching the pits. Armstrong's came at Turn 4, where he made contact and came to rest in the grass on the front stretch, climbing out without assistance. Grosjean and Armstrong were both seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit. Malukas's morning crash had also come at Turn 2, leaving that corner and Turn 4 responsible for every hard hit of the day.

Kirkwood had flagged the track's tire behavior earlier as something to watch, noting that as the rubber wears "the car starts moving around on you a lot more" — a sensation the evening's Turn 2 moments seemed to underline. He had also called Saturday's later running the more race-representative read, and the pace bore that out: the field ran well off the morning's numbers, and Kirkwood's Practice 1 lap of 197.097 mph remained the fastest of the day atop the combined practice sheet.

Earlier, the field ran the high-line session from 5:05 p.m., a 40-minute exercise split into four 10-minute segments across two groups and aimed not at outright speed but at rubbering in the outside lane for Sunday. It passed without incident.

With practice complete, the official starting lineup set the grid for the 300-lap, 399-mile race. Kirkwood leads the field to green from pole alongside Newgarden, with McLaughlin third, Palou fourth and Dixon fifth. The back of the order reflects Saturday's penalties and the two cars that failed to qualify: Christian Lundgaard and Malukas each dropped nine positions for the unapproved engine changes, and with Rahal also starting deep, series rules slotted his No. 15 ahead of the two penalized entries, leaving Rahal 23rd, Lundgaard 24th and Malukas 25th.

Tire choice adds an early wrinkle. Six drivers have chosen to start on the alternate compound — Rossi and Rasmussen from the third row, along with Siegel, Grosjean, Hauger and Lundgaard — a notable opening gambit given the mandate to run two sets of alternates across the race. The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix goes green Sunday afternoon, its start time tied to the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup final.

Kirkwood Claims Second Nashville Pole as Grid Reshuffles Behind Him

Kyle Kirkwood carried his morning speed straight into the afternoon, wheeling the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda to a two-lap average of 196.852 mph to win the NTT P1 Award for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls. It is the fourth pole of Kirkwood's career and his second at Nashville Superspeedway, and it puts him on the front row alongside Josef Newgarden — the same front row that started the 2024 race here.

Newgarden qualified second at 196.642 mph in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, the Nashville native missing the top spot by just over five-hundredths of a second. Scott McLaughlin made it two Team Penske cars in the top three, third at 196.087 mph in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, with points leader Alex Palou fourth at 196.050 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and Scott Dixon fifth at 195.802 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

The single-car, two-lap format ran slowest to fastest by entrant points, which left Kirkwood second-to-last on track and Palou last of all. Kirkwood's benchmark, set on the penultimate run, held — Palou could not beat it, and the top 11 qualifiers were covered by barely a quarter-second. Marcus Armstrong continued his strong oval season as the quicker of the two Meyer Shank Racing entries, eighth at 195.578 mph in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, ahead of Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Ericsson and Santino Ferrucci.

The grid, though, will not mirror the timing sheet. Christian Lundgaard, 19th quickest in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and the No. 12 Team Penske car each carry nine-position starting penalties for unapproved engine changes following a July 8 test at the Milwaukee Mile, sanctions announced Saturday morning. Two entries also failed to post a time: the No. 12 did not make a qualifying attempt, and Graham Rahal's No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda forfeited its run after not leaving pit lane before the clock expired. Both will start from the rear. The official starting lineup will confirm the reordered grid.

The empty No. 12 was the afternoon's heaviest subplot. David Malukas crashed the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet in Turn 2 during Practice 1 and was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. Team Penske said the car was still undergoing repairs and would not be ready for the 2 p.m. session, having earlier indicated Conor Daly would stand in for qualifying before the car could not be prepared in time. The team said further information on Malukas would be shared when available. "I just hope we have Dave in the car," Newgarden said.

Qualifying ran in building heat, with an ambient temperature of 91 degrees, relative humidity of 57 percent and partly cloudy skies over a track that measured 127.7 degrees, according to Firestone. Those numbers only sharpened the questions hanging over the afternoon's high-line and final practice sessions, the first real read on race trim before Sunday's 300-lap, 399-mile distance.

Kirkwood, who found the morning session unexpectedly demanding, framed the two remaining practices as the weekend's real proving ground. "It's extremely important 'cause this morning I think it was tricky for everyone," he said. "It was not an easy track to drive on, seemingly high degradation for a speedway-like track." The afternoon running, he added, "will be a lot more representative of what the race is going to be like tomorrow."

The pole was a milestone of a quieter kind for a driver still shaking a reputation. "I got more poles here now than anywhere else," Kirkwood said. "A rare thing for me to say. People tend to think I'm a street course driver."

Newgarden, for his part, leaned into the hometown angle and the Middle Tennessee climate awaiting the field on Sunday. "For me, being the local expert, it's a big advantage," he said. "Very big advantage. I understand this humidity better than anybody." Then, ever willing to undercut himself: "I qualified second, so no one cares."

The NTT IndyCar Series returns to the track at 5 p.m. Central for the high-line session, run as two groups in four alternating 10-minute segments, followed by final practice from 6-7 p.m. The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix goes green Sunday afternoon.

Kirkwood Leads Closely Packed Nashville Practice Halted by Malukas Crash

Kyle Kirkwood set the pace in the opening practice for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by OnlyBulls, guiding the No. 27 Sam's Club Andretti Global Honda to a best lap of 197.097 mph in a session that packed the top of the field into a fraction of a second and lost David Malukas to a crash in Turn 2.

The margins were remarkable. Kirkwood's benchmark held off Alex Palou in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by barely a hundredth of a mph, with Palou at 196.966, and the first 11 cars on the timing sheet were covered by less than three tenths of a second. Malukas was third at 196.340 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, a placing that stood despite his day ending after four laps against the wall. Felix Rosenqvist was fourth at 196.249 for Meyer Shank Racing, Santino Ferrucci fifth at 195.977 in the No. 14 Homes for Our Troops AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet and Nashville native Josef Newgarden sixth at 195.940 in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet.

Scott McLaughlin was seventh at 195.907 in the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet, with rookie Caio Collet a notable eighth at 195.346 in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Nolan Siegel took ninth at 195.276 in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Scott Dixon rounded out the top 10 at 195.055 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Marcus Armstrong was 11th at 194.995 for Meyer Shank Racing, still inside that opening bandwidth.

The session's defining moment came at 9:20 a.m., when Malukas got loose exiting the middle of the corner, half-spun and made contact with the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2. He was assisted from the car by the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team but walked to the medical car under his own power. INDYCAR Deputy Medical Director Dr. Angie Fiege said Malukas was awake, alert and in good spirits while undergoing evaluation, and he was later transported to a local hospital via private vehicle for further testing. His four laps were enough to hold third.

Race Control extended the session to 10:10 a.m. to make up for the stoppage, with the green returning at 9:46 a.m. and 24 minutes remaining. Earlier, Alexander Rossi served a drive-through penalty for a pit lane speed violation, clocked at 66.254 mph in the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet; he wound up 12th in the session at 194.886.

Sunday's grid will look different from the timing sheet regardless of qualifying. INDYCAR Officiating announced Saturday morning that the No. 7 Arrow McLaren of Christian Lundgaard and the No. 12 Team Penske of Malukas will each serve nine-position starting grid penalties for unapproved engine changes following a team test at the Milwaukee Mile on July 8. Under series rules, a fifth engine installed before an entrant completes its required mileage on its first four is treated as an unapproved change-out, carrying a six-position penalty on road and street courses and nine positions on ovals. The sanctions compound an already difficult morning for Malukas, who sits fourth in the championship and leads all drivers in oval points.

The opening hour ran under fair skies with an ambient temperature of 81 degrees, relative humidity of 86 percent and a track temperature of 96.3 degrees, according to Firestone engineers — warm conditions that will only become more of a factor across Sunday's 300-lap, 399-mile distance.

Armstrong, whose fifth-place oval finishes at Phoenix and both Indianapolis events have made him a quiet threat this season, has spoken about what makes the concrete oval so demanding. "It's fast and quite a tricky place to master," he said this week, and the compressed timing sheet from the opening session bore that out.

Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award — a single-car, two-lap format — is set for 2 p.m. Central on FOX. Pato O'Ward, who was 17th in opening practice at 193.993 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, claimed the pole here a year ago at 201.520 mph.