Pato O’Ward wins NTT P1 Award – Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Arrow McLaren ace Pato O’Ward secretly began the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season chasing a rather odd statistic.

“My goal was actually completing every single lap of the year,” O’Ward said post-qualifying Saturday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway. “I didn’t really have a win objective. I didn’t have really anything. I just wanted to finish every single lap. Sadly, that dream was crushed in Portland.”

Recall that O’Ward inherited P1 from teammate Christian Lundgaard of Denmark for the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI at Portland International Raceway on Aug. 10. Lundgaard was slapped with a six-place grid penalty (to seventh) for an unapproved Chevrolet engine change after Friday’s practice.

But Pato’s race _ and his pursuit of championship leader Alex Palou _ ended on Lap 21 due to an electrical issue involving the Direct Injection box on the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. O’Ward rallied to complete 100 of 110 laps around PIR’s 1.964-mile/12-turn natural-terrain road-course en route to a disheartening 25^th-place finish.

With that background, time for a new Pato goal for today’s season-ending Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot.

“Yeah, yeah, checking off boxes. That’s what we like to do,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “I’ve got a big one on the list this weekend. I’ve never won from pole ever, ever, ever. I’m determined to make it happen this weekend. Step 1 done and super-happy with my car. I was very comfortable with it in qualifying _ in practice and qualifying.”

Palou, a 28-year-old native of Spain, clinched his fourth INDYCAR championship and third in a row for Chip Ganassi Racing at PIR in a race won by Team Penske free-agent Will Power of Australia. O’Ward, who secured second in the overall standings last Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile, earned his second NTT P1 Award of the season Saturday with a two-lap average speed of 202.621 mph around Nashville Superspeedway’s 1.33-mile concrete oval in Lebanon, Tenn.

O’Ward qualified first in March at The Thermal Club near Palm Springs, Calif. This was O’Ward’s seventh career INDYCAR pole but first on an oval, as well as his fourth front row start of 2025.

SEE: Qualifying Results

O’Ward has nine career victories, including two this season, but all have come from a grid spot outside P1. O’Ward, who led Saturday morning’s practice, won from the second starting position in 2022 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., and in 2024 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

“The car was great,” O’Ward said. “Felt really comfortable in practice and didn’t give me any scares or anything. I was happy with that. Very good.” O’Ward placed 10^th in the final practice session at 196.997 mph.

O’Ward categorized this season as a “growing year” under new Team Principal Tony Kanaan, the 2004 series champion and 2013 Indy 500 champ from Brazil.

“It’s been a successful year,” O’Ward said. “I know in racing it’s either you win or bust, you know, I think there’s a lot of value in seeing the growth that I have had this year, that the team has had this year.

“Ultimately, it seemed like there was two championships going on, and it was Alex Palou with himself and us, the rest of the field. I think there are many ways to see how it went, but I think all in all it’s been successful.

“We’re obviously proud of our efforts and how we keep on getting stronger and stronger. You know, we want to be in this position next year, but even closer to fighting for that championship. Yeah, I’m very pleased with how this year has gone, even though there’s obviously been quite a few things that stand out not being perfect, but there’s always things to work on and keep getting better.”

David Malukas completed an all-Team Chevy front row in second at 201.922 mph in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet fielded by Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing. Malukas fell just short of his first career pole for the second consecutive Saturday. The 17th of 27 drivers to qualify, Malukas held the provisional pole until O’Ward made his run as the second-to-last driver in line.

Last Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile, Malukas was on-pole until Palou snatched it on the last qualifying attempt of the event.

“Definitely disappointed,” said Malukas, a 23-year-old native of Chicago in his first year with Foyt’s team. “The guys just did a fantastic job. When it comes to Nashville here at the superspeedway, everybody is generally pretty much flat, right? It comes down to the guys in setup, and these guys just built a beautiful car.

“I went out there and was, like, ‘It’s going to be hard to beat, it was a perfect car. Just driving a beauty.’ It brought me home. That was sweet. Very easy going 200 miles an hour. Can you imagine saying that? That was a piece of cake going 200 miles an hour. That’s because of the guys, the Foyt team. They did such a good job.

“Yeah, that’s going to be hard to beat. Waiting all the way until the end, and yeah, I didn’t say anything this time. It doesn’t work. If you say stuff or don’t say stuff, it’s still…I wanted a (P1) sticker, man. I thought maybe we would get the sticker.”

Malukas settled for his third front row start of the 17-race season.

Lundgaard qualified third at 201.713 mph in the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It was the Dane’s career-best oval qualifying effort, topping his eighth-place grid spot from the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.

“That was the best oval qualifying of the year and safe to say of my career, too,” said Lundgaard, 24, who was 12^th in the final practice at 196.370 mph. “It was the right time to do it fighting for P3 in the championship. We’re ahead of the No. 9 car (Scott Dixon), so let’s just carry on and make sure we focus on trying to win the race.”

Palou, meanwhile, qualified fourth at 201.603 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, falling short as the last qualifier and only driver who could topple O’Ward from the top spot.

Six-time series champion Dixon of New Zealand was fifth at 201.437 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon won three consecutive races on the 1.33-mile concrete oval from 2006-08.

Two-time series champion and Nashville native Josef Newgarden joined Dixon on Row 3 after qualifying sixth at 201.390 mph in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet.

Coverage of the 225-lap/299.25-miles race is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. (EDT) today on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

O’Ward said he could envision helping Lundgaard in his battle for third-place in the final championship standings against Dixon, who has a miniscule seven-point lead (433-426). “My championship position is secured,” O’Ward said. “I know he’s fighting Dixie, so if there is any sort of help there, I think it’s going to be coming…or asked from me other than him to me, because it doesn’t really matter where I finish. We obviously all want to finish on the podium, so we’ll see.

“They’re very long races. We don’t want to influence a race result by having to let one go or something like that. So hopefully just naturally kind of falls where it needs to.”

Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci will start 14^th after lapping at 200.437 mph in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet. “Well, it was two, honestly, really good laps,” said Ferrucci, a 27-year-old resident of Dallas. “The second lap wasn’t quite as clean as the first. I got a little tight off of (Turn) 2. But, you know, I think the engineers did a great job. It’s two laps flat on a heavy trim. We’re gonna have to come from 13th or 14th, but I really like the race car, so it should be fun.”

Indeed, Ferrucci will start 13th because Callum Illott of Great Britian will move back nine spots from his P-9 qualifying run due to an unapproved engine change in the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet.

Malukas said he was not sure how the race on Nashville’s unique surface, combined with a forecast for high ambient temperatures, would play-out.

“That high-line seemed like a ‘struggle bus’ this morning. We’ll see how it’s going to be,” Malukas said. “Yeah, we have the different (Firestone Firehawk) tire strategy with the primers and alternates this week. Any sort of heat changes, it’s going to have an effect on tire deg and results. Going to have different strategies up for play. I think it will help at the end of the day for different plays. Hopefully we’re going to be on the front end of that strategy and be out there at the top at the end.”

O’Ward agreed the concrete surface will be a huge variable as far as tire degradation. “This is the roughest surface that we go to,” O’Ward said. “I think last year explained to how your race can be looking one way, but it can really change courses quite quickly if you don’t react and basically change lanes to the right one within, you know, a couple of seconds of maybe an incident or something like that.

“I expect (today) to also be somewhat similar in the way that people are going to be on their toes and making decisions on the fly. Some people are going to get it right; some people are not. But we hope to be on the right end of that, and we just want to run our race and see what we can do.”

O’Ward classified this year’s five previous oval-track events as “great races,” including last Sunday’s breakthrough victory at The Milwaukee Mile by Christian Rasmussen of Denmark in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Splenda Stevia Chevrolet. Rasmussen beat Palou by 1.9463-seconds after passing him for the lead on Lap 235 of 250.

“I was telling Christian that last stint of his in Milwaukee was bad-ass,” said O’Ward, who finished fifth on the historic oval in West Allis, Wis. “That’s how you want to win your first INDYCAR race. That was awesome to see. Hopefully that’s the show that we give all the fans here that choose to come out and support us and everybody on TV.

“I mean, the year has already been a success, so whether it’s good or bad (today), I don’t think it’s really going to play so much with how I feel about the year, because I’m proud of the work that everybody has done. You know, proud of Chevy, obviously, bringing the power this weekend and giving us the tools to be able to get it done, at least in qualifying for now.

“It really is all about just trying to end on a high. But just if something goes wrong, it doesn’t mean that it’s been a bad year. You know, it doesn’t mean that your whole offseason has to be a bad time or something. I’m going to do everything in my power to win. Like I said, I’ve never won from pole, so I want to get that done.”

Salvador de Alba wins Firestone P1 Award – INDY NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix – (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Less than a week removed from his first series victory, Salvador de Alba claimed his first INDY NXT by Firestone pole Saturday for the Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway.

De Alba posted a two-lap average speed of 184.471 mph in the No. 27 Grupo Indi car fielded by Andretti Global. His first career pole, scored in his 28th career start in INDYCAR’s developmental series, follows his breakthrough win last Sunday on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile.

SEE: Qualifying Results

“It took a while, but it’s great timing to have all these achievements _ first career pole, first win last weekend,” said de Alba, a 25-year-old native of Mexico. “We have one more day to keep doing it. I have a race and I want to win as badly as when I first started doing this. Really happy to be here now and pushing forward for tomorrow.”

The 65-lap/86.5-mile race is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. (EDT) with broadcast coverage from Lebanon, Tenn., on FS1, FOX One, FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Caio Collet of Brazil will join de Alba on the front row after qualifying second at 184.116 mph in the No. 76 HMD Motorsports entry.

Andretti Global cars filled Row 2. Newly-minted series champion Dennis Hauger of Norway qualified third at 183.979 mph in the No. 28 Nammo machine, while fellow-rookie teammate Lochie Hughes of Australia was fourth at 183.776 mph in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship entry.

Michael d’Orlando, who led Saturday morning’s practice, qualified fifth at 182.690 mph in the No. 3 Priority/Rising Stars car, tying his career-best starting spot in just his third race this season for Andretti/Cape Motorsport. James Roe will join d’Orlando in Row 3 after qualifying a season-best sixth at 182.582 mph in the No. 29 Topcon car of Andretti Global, a team that placed all four of its entries in the first six spots on the chart. 

De Alba’s previous best qualifying spot was second last weekend at West Allis, Wis. But he took the lead from pole-sitter Hauger on the first lap of that race and never trailed thereafter for his first victory. De Alba wasn’t calling his shot during qualifying, but was confident of a repeat performance today.

“The car, we have dialed-it-up for the race, especially,” de Alba said. “It’s a very good car we have for the race. All four Andretti cars are there, so we’re going to have a very good fight, and hopefully we get the win.”

The mercurial Hauger, meanwhile, delivered the seventh INDY NXT championship for Andretti Global _ tying the series record set by Sam Schmidt Motorsports _ and second in a row. Louis Foster of Great Britian claimed the crown last season before graduating to the NTT IndyCar Series this year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Hauger has bagged six wins and seven poles in 13 races this season.

“It’s been an incredible season as a rookie with Andretti,” said Hauger, 22. “Super-proud to be a part of them and part of this championship season. A few ups-and-downs but mostly ups. This is a big championship win for me.”

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 670*; 2, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 505; 3, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 433; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 426; 5, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 405; 6, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 352; 7, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 352; 8, Will Power, Team Penske, 347; 9, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 346; 10, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 320;

11, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 312; 12, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 308; 13, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 287; 14, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 276; 15, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 269; 16, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 265; 17, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 252; 18, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 250; 19, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 237; 20, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 219;

21, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 203; 22, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 200; 23, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 196; 24, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 195; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 167; 26, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 159; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 116; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.

Note _ *Clinched 2025 Driver’s Championship

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (Will Power, Team Penske)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.