Alex Palou – Big Machine Music City Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Alex Palou’s NTT IndyCar Series championship mettle _ the Spaniard’s world-class race craft _ will be tested to the max Sunday during the 2024 season-ending Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.

Palou, of Chip Ganassi Racing, was among five series regulars slapped Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway by INDYCAR’s paddock police with nine-position grid penalties for unapproved engine changes. Originally gridded 15^th after a two-lap average of 199.532 mph around the 1.33-mile concrete oval in Lebanon, Tenn., Palou will start 24^th in the 27-car field Sunday afternoon.

The two-time/reigning series champion, Palou leads fellow two-time series champ Will Power of Team Penske by 33 points entering the 206-lap/273.98-mile finale today (3 p.m. EDT, NBC, Peacock, Universo, INDYCAR Radio Network).

Palou, driver of the No. 10 DHL Honda, must finish ninth or better to secure his third Astor Challenge Cup in the last four seasons. On cue, he led Saturday’s opening practice at 199.862 mph.

“It wasn’t ideal,” said Palou, penalized for an unapproved engine change by CGR following the series’ most recent race on Sept. 1 at The Milwaukee Mile. “It was a lot more comfortable this morning during practice, so we don’t really know what happened to the No. 10 car. The first lap wasn’t too bad, then the second lap was really, really bad. Not what we wanted, not what we needed.

“It’s not making it easier, for sure. It’s time to see what we can do. Hopefully we can make up some spots. The car was really good this morning.”

Power will start fourth after his qualifying run of 200.628 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. The native Australian must finish third or better to have any chance of capturing his first title since 2022.

“The lap, couldn’t have done anymore. That was as much as we had,” said Power, Roger Penske’s longest-tenured driver. “It was as fast as we could go. Wasn’t quite good enough. You can never ask for more than that. Would have been nice to get a pole, but that’s life.”

The 33 points separating Palou and Power is the seventh-largest margin with one race remaining since 2008 _ ironically, the last time the series competed at Nashville Superspeedway. During that span, the average lead with one race remaining is 29.9 points. Palou took the point lead at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey (Calif.) in June.

As noted, Sunday’s race is the first INDYCAR event at Nashville Superspeedway since 2008. Power, six-time series champion Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal are the only drivers in the field this weekend to previously have raced on the concrete oval.

Nashville Superspeedway also is hosting the season-finale for the first time this weekend. Popular Brazilian Tony Kanaan (2004) and native New Zealander Dixon (2008) are the only drivers to win in Nashville and claim the INDYCAR championship in the same season.

“It’s a different package (since 2008), the car is ultimately just heavier now,” Power said. “The track I really like. It’s a really nice track. Really nice having a cement track. It’ll be interesting to see after (Saturday’s) practice how well it races. We have a high-line (practice), see if it’s nice in the high-line and rubber that in, make it a good race. We’ll do what we can in the race. You know how these things roll. If it’s our day, it will be our day. If not, we’ll try again next year.”

Almost overshadowed by the championship scenario, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global earned his second career pole _ and first on an oval _ with a two-lap average of 201.520 mph in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda.

“I’m stoked right now,” Kirkwood said. “It’s huge for our season to end-off with a pole. I was a little upset we didn’t get a win or a pole (this season), and this is our final chance to do it and we got it done.”

Two-time/reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden will join Kirkwood on the front row after qualifying second at 201.352 mph in the No. 2 Hitachi Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet. The Nashville-area native has won 10 of the series’ last 17 oval races.

“The car was really great to drive,” Newgarden said. “Honestly, it was amazing. So comfortable and very simple to put the laps together. Probably could have been more aggressive, too. The track cooled off a lot, gained a significant amount of grip just from practice.

“So yeah, I think we’re happy with it. We’ve got at least a good field of view to start the race, which is fantastic, and now we get to go to work on the race car and try and figure that piece of the puzzle out. Team Chevy has done a good job for us so far this weekend and we’re going to go try to get a win.”

Newgarden reiterated that he and teammate Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand remain willing to aid Power’s championship bid against Palou, if that scenario develops.

“You’ve really got to run your program as normal as you can,” Newgarden said. “You start trying to get too clever and orchestrate something, I think that’s when you get into trouble. The name of the game for us is to run a normal program, let’s try and do the best job in the No. 2 car.

“Of course the priority for us is if we’re in a position to win the championship, we need to try to seal that off, and we will all do that. We’re prepared to do what’s necessary to win a championship because we’re all in it together at the end of the day.

“But I think the way you get there is by running a normal race in a lot of respects. We’ve just got to go do our jobs, take care of each other and hopefully the chips fall our way and we can button things up. If we can do that, it’ll be a good day for everybody.”

Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden qualified third at 200.676 mph in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing. All-time INDYCAR pole-leader Power joined him in Row 2 after failing to earn a pole in a season for the first time since, ironically, 2008.

Santino Ferrucci added to his breakthrough season for A.J. Foyt Racing by qualifying fifth at 200.497 mph in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet. Currently 10^th in the standings, Ferrucci’s future with the team owned by open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr. was secured earlier this week when Team President Larry Foyt announced “Santucci” had been signed to a multi-year contract.

“Solid qualifying in the Sexton Properties Chevy,” said Ferrucci, a resident of Dallas. “Pretty awesome to start fifth and slide into the top-five already _ we’ve been on a roll! I think our keeping the momentum going is just huge. Obviously, we were disappointed with the qualifying results in Milwaukee. We kind of knew what we did wrong, so to improve on that, come here and end up where we did was pretty awesome _ and there’s still a little bit more left in it. So, we’ll see how we do in the final practice and in the race.

“It was a great run. I had to crack the throttle one time, which I was a little annoyed about, but more for precautions than anything else. We had a really good run going and we didn’t want to ruin it by hitting the wall.”

David Malukas put two Meyer Shank Racing cars into the top-six with his qualifying run of 200.479 mph in the No. 66 AutoNation/Arctic Wolf Honda. Ferrucci and Malukas will be teammates in 2025 for Foyt’s organization, currently based in Waller, Texas.

Pato O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, will start eighth after lapping at 200.294 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

“I’m a little underwhelmed, to be honest,” O’Ward said. “Pretty keen to be flat (on the throttle), and I was. Pretty bummed we didn’t get more speed out of it. I don’t know if it was trim or just missing a bit of speed, but I think we can fight from there. I think we’ll be alright.

“I think the race is going to be pretty tough passing-wise, but I’m looking forward to it. Nashville is quick. It feels a bit like Texas (Motor Speedway in Fort Worth), to be honest. It’s probably the closest one that I can think of that’s somewhat similar to what I think we have now. This is concrete. It’s a concrete superspeedway and it’s different. It’s different on the tire. It’s quite bumpy. There are a few bumps here and there that make it pretty gnarly, so you just have to stay on top of it and really have it in the window alone and in traffic. The car changes in traffic significantly.”

Drivers quickly adapted to a tricky bump in Turn 4 that unsettled some cars. Kirkwood said his Andretti Global engineering team, led by Jeremy Milless, found a smooth setup for that issue which helped him earn his first pole since July 2023 on the Streets of Toronto, a race he also won.

“That’s something we worked on heavily in Practice 1, just to get compliance over that,” Kirkwood said of the bump. “I don’t know if it’s going to pay off in the race, but it paid off right now for us in qualifying.”

Winning a championship has its privileges, especially when it rains in Tennessee.

Newly crowned INDY NXT by Firestone champion Louis Foster will start on-pole in the Music City Grand Prix on Sunday, as entrant points set the starting grid for the final race of INDYCAR’s developmental series. Qualifying was interrupted and eventually rained-out Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.

“Interesting session; I’m sure everyone would have preferred to qualify,” said Foster, a 21-year-old native of Odiham, England. “But it’s not what we got. Hopefully the rain stays away for the race. Should be an interesting race _ not a lot of practice here. We’ll see what happens.”

Andretti Global driver Foster will start at the front of the field for the seventh time in 14 races this season. He led both practices Saturday on the 1.33-mile concrete oval before qualifying.

Foster clinched the series championship in his No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car at the last event, Aug. 31 at The Milwaukee Mile.

Nine of 18 drivers in the field made qualifying attempts Saturday before rain washed-out the session. Rain already had interrupted qualifying for a brief period after the first four drivers made attempts before the session resumed, only to be halted again.

The nine drivers who made attempts will receive a set of new Firestone Firehawk tires so all cars will start the 65-lap/86.45-mile race on sticker rubber. Live coverage starts at 11:50 a.m. (EDT on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network).

Jacob Abel will join Foster on the front row, starting second in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry.

Row 2 will be comprised of rookie HMD Motorsports teammates Caio Collet in the No. 18 car starting third and Christian Brooks in the No. 39 machine starting fourth. Rookie Callum Hedge will start inside Row 2 in fifth in the No. 17 HMD Motorsports car, with fellow-rookie Salvador de Alba Jr. starting sixth in the No. 2 Grupo Indi entry of Andretti Cape INDY NXT.

Qualifying for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix presented by Gainbridge NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, and speed:

1. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 201.520 mph
2. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 201.352
3. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 200.676
4. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 200.628
5. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 200.497
6. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 200.479
7. (78) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 200.393
8. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 200.294
9. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 200.230
10. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 200.173
11. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 200.104
12. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 199.713
13. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 199.634
14. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 199.592
15. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 199.532
16. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 199.471
17. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 199.146
18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 198.897
19. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 198.885
20. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 198.060
21. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 197.318
22. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 196.218
23. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 195.507
24. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 195.469
25. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, 193.081
26. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, no speed
27. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, no speed

NTT IndyCar Series point standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 525; 2, Will Power, Team Penske, 492; 3, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 475; 4, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 462; 5, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 443; 6, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 419; 7, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 384; 8, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 365; 9, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, 350; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 339;

11, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 301; 12, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 301; 13, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 292; 14, Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, 282; 15, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing, 272; 16, Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, 255; 17, Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 246; 18, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 244; 19, Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 177; 20, Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Racing, 175;

21, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 174; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 147; 23, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 142; 24, Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing, 126; 25, David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing, 125; 26, Augustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 109; 27, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 99; 28, Theo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren, 91; 29, Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, 56; 30, Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 46;

31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 45; 32, Toby Sowery, Dale Coyne Racing, 45; 33, Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren, 39; 34, Luca Ghiotto, Dale Coyne Racing, 27; 35, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 26; 36, Kyle Larson, Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren, 21; 37, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 19; 38, Tristan Vautier, Dale Coyne Racing, 12; 39, Juri Vips, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 11; 40, Colin Braun, Dale Coyne Racing, 10;

41, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports, 6; 42, Hunter McElrea, Dale Coyne Racing, 6; 43, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb Agajanian, 5.