The streets of Nashville produced another thrilling race in the NTT Indycar Series, as Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood out-duelled Scott McLaughlin to win his second race of the year.

McLaughlin was the runner up on Nashville’s streets for the second year in a row, as Alex Palou benefitted from the late race cautions to come home in 3rd. He was asked to save an enormous amount of fuel in his final stint and had the race stayed green for the final 35 laps, Palou would have lost a huge amount of ground in the championship.

Instead, Palou finished ahead of Josef Newgarden who was 4th, as Newgarden’s deficit to Palou opens up further, standing at a vast 84 points with just 4 rounds to go.

2022 winner Scott Dixon finished 5th, ahead of Romain Grosjean who finished in a solid 6th place. Marcus Ericsson recovered to 7th, putting aside the braking issues which had hindered his car all weekend, as he made up 13 places from his starting spot of 20th.

Pato O’Ward faded after a strong opening stint to finish 8th, ahead of Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard in 9th, and Will Power finished in 10th. Power nearly went a lap down before the race had even begun, as he had lost his radio earbuds, and this blip almost rendered him unable to start the race.

Helio Castroneves recorded his best street course finish of 2023 in 11th, whilst Callum Ilott rounded out the top 12, a decent performance for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Debutant Linus Lundqvist had been battling in the top 15 all day, before he found the wall on lap 65, causing a flurry of late cautions.

Results: 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

The red flag flew on lap 75 of 80, after contact between Felix Rosenqvist, Augustin Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen, but this was only a minor blip for Kirkwood, who controlled restarts perfectly.

Kyle Kirkwood roars back in 2023 with mature victory

Kyle Kirkwood’s 2023 season has been a rollercoaster, as the driver of the #27 Andretti Autosport car has found his sophomore year in the NTT Indycar Series both more fruitful than his rookie one, but also tougher at some points.

The clear highlight was the victory on the streets of Long Beach, but barring that result, he has only scored a handful of top 10 finishes since. Riding upside down on lap 183 of the Indy500 was the lowest point, ending a terrific run that saw him in contention for the win.

Despite the challenges of 2023, Kirkwood has not lost an ounce of self-belief, and combined with his raw speed, makes him a tricky driver to catch, especially on street courses. He combined precision, clever strategy and kept his cool as he dealt with all the challenges that the Nashville street course threw at him.

He ran calmly in the top 5 for the early phase of the race, before making his way to second after the first round of stops.

Together with his strategist Bryan Herta, they undercut Scott McLaughlin on lap 51, having noticed the moment when the Team Penske driver would be vulnerable. The opportunity presented itself, and was grabbed with both hands by Kirkwood, who then pulled a lead of almost 4 seconds before Linus Lundqvist hit the wall.

A late race red flag with 5 laps to go cancelled the 3 seconds gap that Kirkwood had built up following Lundqvist’s caution, but the young Floridian was not fazed by the restart, controlling the climax of the race, and flying to another street course victory in 2023.

Kirkwood crashed out of this event having been in the top five in 2022, so the win certainly felt sweeter for the American in 2023.

‘Last time I was here was not a very fun event… I just needed some kind of redemption and we got it here today.”

‘We just made really smart decisions and hit all of our marks’ said an exhausted Kirkwood after the race, as the humid conditions of Nashville tested the physicality of the Indycar drivers.

Palou collects more points as Newgarden fails to capitalise

After sweeping the doubler-header weekend in Iowa to close Alex Palou’s championship lead to 80 points, Josef Newgarden came to his home town knowing a strong result would allow him to haul himself right back into the championship fight.

Driver’s Standings: 2023 NTT Indycar Series

And on lap 65, it looked like his prayers may have been answered. By lap 66, that all changed.

Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden were both solidly running in the top 10 in the early stint of the race, but after David Malukas’s freak rear wing and gearbox failure caused an early caution, Palou dived to the pits, expecting classic Nashville chaos to ensue.

However, the race then ran under green flag conditions for the next 50 laps, and as a result, Palou made his final pit stop on lap 45, knowing that he needed a caution period to allow him to save enough fuel to make it to the end.

That caution did not materialise, and on lap 63, strategist Barry Wanser told him to push flat out, to limit the damage that another pit stop would do. Palou would have come out in 18th, and with Newgarden inheriting 3rd, the points gap looked to be closing to about 60, putting Newgarden back in the hunt.

However, Linus Lundqvist hit the wall on lap 65, bringing out the caution flag. Suddenly, Palou was able to save the necessary fuel. The dynamic of the championship changed. Palou was still ahead of Newgarden on track, and with enough fuel to use push-to-pass, Newgarden’s Sunday afternoon suddenly became much harder.

Although Newgarden got close to Palou on the final restart, he was never in a position to pass the Spaniard, meaning Palou’s point advantage grew to 84 points with just 4 rounds to go. Palou may just have Linus Lundqvist to thank, as he can put one hand on the Astor Challenge Cup…

Nashville produces remarkably clean race as strategy comes to the fore

Ahead of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, many journalists and drivers predicted that this race would be caution filled. The stats were clear – 17 cautions in the opening 2 runnings of this event meant 2023 would likely be just as lively.

However, Nashville in fact produced a race filled with diverse strategy, and scorching temperatures. The race created three main strategy options: a three stop, led by Marcus Ericsson who charged from 20th on the grid as well as 2 different variations of the two stop.

Alex Palou tried to pit early and make an extended to stop work, and although this was tough for Palou, the late race cautions allowed him to extend his championship lead.

However, the best strategy came from Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Mclaughlin, who both went a fair way into the race on the alternate tyre. With the fuel window at 32 laps, Kirkwood made his move on Mclaughlin pitting on lap 51, undercutting the #3 DEX Imaging car and moving him to the front.

For a while, Kirkwood and McLaughlin had to save a little fuel, making it seem like Ericsson might have an outside chance of chasing them down on his aggressive 3 stop strategy, but in the end, cautions fell, meaning Ericsson was stuck in the pack, and Kirkwood was in control.

The race produced 5 caution periods, 1 at the very beginning, 1 because of Malukas’s bizarre failure, and 3 because of contact in the final stanza of the race. Overall, Nashville disregarded its nickname ‘Crashville’, for the race was remarkably clean.

This race may be becoming the Indycar season finale in 2024, changing layout to include the city’s iconic Broadway, but the 2023 edition will be one Kyle Kirkwood will never forget.

The NTT Indycar Series returns on Saturday, August 12th for the Gallagher Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Results: 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

Driver’s Standings: 2023 NTT Indycar Series