IndyCar

The IndyCar Series wraps up an eventful weekend of racing with the second annual Music City Grand Prix in the streets of Nashville.

Lap 28: Rahal hits the wall on the bridge but makes it to pit road. Lap 41: Palou locks it up but holds onto the lead at the restart. Lap 27: Wow. Graham Rahal runs into Pato O'Ward and both stall out behind Will Power. Rahal's front wing is dragging under the front end. Lap 65: Caution! Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas crash into the turn 9 barrier after colliding into the inside wall while being inside the top 10. The former two will continue on, while the latter two have a lot of damage. Lap 64: Christian Lundgaard is within a second of Scott Dixon for 2nd. Lap 8: Alexander Rossi, who had already stopped on strategy, gets turned around at turn 10 and stalls out. At the end of the bridge, heading toward downtown and turn 4. Palou passes Power over the bridge for 4th. Lap 72: CAUTION! Jimmie Johnson has spun and it looks like the front suspension is broken. Lap 75: RESTART! CAUTION! RED FLAG! Grosjean is forced into the wall by an incoming Josef Newgarden into turn 9. The hold was lifted at 2:33 p.m.

But Scott McLaughlin says, why not make it seven drivers in this championship hunt? Yes, the driver of the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske driver is the seventh ...

Dale Coyne Racing with HMD could have some work to do between the warmup and this afternoon’s race. The alternates usually have red sidewalls, but new for this race are green sidewalls to showcase Firestone’s commitment to sustainability initiatives. The difference from a year ago: Turn 9 has been narrowed to accommodate a new set of spectator suites, so watch for congestion at that location. Drivers who maintain supreme focus will be the ones to excel. Instead, the race will begin on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge coming back from downtown Nashville and heading into Turn 9. Yes, Saturday’s thunderstorms brought much-needed rain to the region, but the humidity quickly returned. Obviously, McLaughlin has a lot of ground to cover and make up, and it begins with today’s 80-lap race around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street circuit. I just made a mess of qualifying (last year), as I did (at many tracks). Really excited for this final run. Ericsson won last year’s inaugural Nashville race from the same 18th starting position. But McLaughlin will have a head start today on those drivers. McLaughlin also must climb over some series heavyweights, four of which have combined to win 10 season championships. Yes, the driver of the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske driver is the seventh driver in the standings as the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix lines up in Nashville as the 14th of the season’s 17 races.

Nearby lightning strikes have prompted IndyCar officials to push back this afternoon's Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.

The start of the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix in Nashville was under a weather delay becauase of a lightning hold for the second consecutive day.

As of 4:20 p.m. ET, the lightning hold had been lifted, and the track seemed dry in most sections except a damp pit lane. Drivers were in their cars by 5 p.m. ET, and engines started shortly afterward. The green flag flies in the@MusicCityGPin Nashville. The race will be on NBC (until 6 p.m. ET) and CNBC (until the conclusion) when it resumes. The green flag is out in Nashville! The race was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, but the track was placed under a lightning hold just after the Indy Lights race concluded at around 2 p.m. ET, and a lengthy thunderstorm soon followed.

Scott McLaughlin delivered his second career pole with top qualifying time for the Big Machine Music City GP, beating a resurgent Romain Grosjean, ...

His car stalled, and that brought out the red flag once more. In Q1, Devlin DeFrancesco’s car came to a halt at Turn 4 with six minutes remaining, causing a red flag and thus eliminated himself from qualifying. At the start of the Fast Six session, five of the six drivers emerged from the pits on alternate tyres - with only Josef Newgarden coming out on primaries and with enough fuel to last him throughout the session.

The start of IndyCar's Nashville street race was delayed due to frequent lightning strikes in the area.

As of 3:20 p.m. CT, there was still rain in the area, with a threat of storms lurking still for a couple more hours. Sunset is scheduled to come around 7:45 p.m. CT, leaving less than four hours to get in the race that took more than 2 1/2 hours to finish last year. Just after 2:30 p.m. local, the track promoters lifted the shelter-in-place order, allowing fans to emerge from the covered areas of the Tennessee Titans' Nissan Stadium, but an update on when the race might start was not immediately provided.

Paretta Autosport has announced that it has expanded its 2022 racing programme, which had been set to wrap up this weekend on the streets of Nashville. The team ...

Paretta made its debut in last year’s Indianapolis 500, in which De Silvestro was classified 31st, in a partnership with Team Penske. Simona De Silvestro Paretta adds Laguna Seca IndyCar race for De Silvestro

The experience, which included a behind-the scenes visit to the racing paddock, was supported by the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Arrow McLaren Schmidt Peterson (AMSP) ...

“Women and girls are valued and critical members of the INDYCAR community,” INDYCAR Vice President of Marketing SJ Luedtke said. “We enjoyed this weekend’s activities in partnership with Play Like a Girl and AMSP, and we’re even more excited to continue and enhance work underway to support meaningful coaching and talent pipelines promoting greater gender equity and representation in our sport.” “Sports provides girls with the leadership skills they need to go from the classroom to the workplace,” said Dr. Kimberly Clay, founder and CEO of Play Like a Girl. “For most of these girls, it is their first opportunity to look inside the technology-driven world of INDYCAR racing and see career possibilities opening for women in this exciting sport, as well as companies that are driving innovation forward in transportation and mobility.”

Kiwis in one-two as Dixon ignites his championship hopes with incredible survival tactics.

On his way to victory lane, team owner Chip Ganassi stopped to congratulate Palou, the driver he is suing for trying to leave the organisation at the end of the season. A beautiful mind crunching all the player stats. You need journalists close enough to smell the liniment. There was so much drama going on in Nashville that drivers could survive and thrive despite setbacks. “We had a crash but managed to keep it going. That was a proper duel.``

Scott Dixon moved past Mario Andretti for sole possession of second place on IndyCar's all-time wins list with his Music City Grand Prix victory.

The 2021 race had six wrecks, nine caution flags, 33 laps run under caution and two red flags. He moved to second in the point standings behind Will Power. The victory also moved Dixon to second all-time in IndyCar wins with 53.

Dixon overcame a poor qualifying effort, damage to his Chip Ganassi Racing car, a crash-fest around the downtown streets of Nashville and finally a drag race ...

The start was also delayed 90 minutes for rain and lightning in the area. But like teammate Dixon, Ericsson had a poor qualifying effort and struggled to come through the field from 18th. On his way to victory lane, team owner Chip Ganassi stopped to congratulate Palou, the driver he is suing for trying to leave the organisation at the end of the season. Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta both came back from one lap down to finish fourth and fifth for Andretti Autosport, while hometown driver Josef Newgarden was sixth. More important, Dixon jumped to second in the points standings and trails series leader Will Power by six points with three races remaining. That was a proper duel."

Arriving in Nashville as the defending winner with a new T-shirt in tow Marcus Ericsson wants to become the first Indy 500-IndyCar champion since 2010.

“After the 500, there’s been great motivation for me to work extremely hard to win championship and the double. That’s not something that’s happened a lot in the history of IndyCar. It is hard to win both in same year. Then it’s hard for me to do the same risks because I need to not have a DNF. He finished sixth after qualifying 15th in Race 2, and he rebounded again last week at Indy by gaining 14 spots in a drive from last to 11th. “Coming to America from European racing and Formula One, the championship was the biggest thing, but the more I’m here, the more I understand the 500 is the one you want to win,” he said. I’m really confident we’ll be in the mix to win this thing Sunday.” Long Beach, running P3 late in the race, and I did a mistake on a restart and stuffed it in the wall. Ericsson has managed to stanch his points loss the past three races – at Iowa Speedway, he “took the fight” to the Penske duo of Power and Race 1 winner Josef Newgarden before his car faded to eighth after starting 12th. “It was the first Music City Grand Prix in downtown Nashville and a lot of eyes on this event. If we can win, we need to win. Pretty crazy how many times it looks like he’s having a bad day, and he ends up in the top four somehow. Ericsson has struggled to find the handle all weekend while lacking speed – which is unusual because he has viewed street courses as his biggest strength outside the Indy oval this season.

Scott Dixon passed Mario Andretti for second on IndyCar's all-time wins list with a victory Sunday in the messy Music City Grand Prix that pulled him within ...

In Nashville, he scaled back his obligations ahead of the race to be rested and able to compete for the win. The start was also delayed 90 minutes for rain and lightning in the area. But like teammate Dixon, Ericsson had a poor qualifying effort and struggled to come through the field from 18th. "We just finished on the podium, it was a good day, it was a good day for the team. He was drilled from behind by Graham Rahal when O'Ward slowed on the track to avoid running into Power on Lap 26. The .1067-second margin of victory was the fourth-closest in IndyCar history on a road or street course. I probably need to have some discussion with some of the younger guys, but they're aggressive. "Thank you, Graham Rahal. We can't catch a freaking break. The win pushed Dixon up two spots in the standings and only six points behind leader Will Power with three races remaining. That was a proper duel." "That's the point _ you're never out of it until you are, so we'll keep digging.'' Newgarden has had a rough stretch since crashing while leading at Iowa three races ago.

Six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon came from 20th with a crippled car to beat New Zealand compatriot Scott McLaughlin in a crash-riddled Music City Grand ...

Under the yellow, Ericsson’s car lost drive again and the car was retired, as the remaining cars headed into the pits to wait out the clear-up. Under the subsequent yellow, all the erstwhile frontrunners ducked into the pits, leaving Newgarden up front – but needing another stop – ahead of Dixon, Lundgaard, Power, Harvey. Palou emerged at the head of the recent in sixth, while McLaughlin had a slow stop and ended up 15th. The Lap 42 restart saw Palou tagged by Pagenaud but he held on into Turn 9, while McLaughlin muscled past Malukas, and VeeKay jumped Power to grab eighth. With his front wing then jammed under his front wheels he made hard contact with the wall on the bridge, and by the time he got back to the pits his car was too damaged to continue. On Lap 73, Johnson crashed his Ganassi car at Turn 4 bringing out another yellow, and that left just four laps for the remainder of the race… That squeezed the Andretti car into the wall which brought out a yellow, then the red. On Lap 18, Newgarden grabbed fifth from O’Ward, while Pagenaud ducked into the pits to get off his alternates and onto primaries, allowing Power to close up on O’Ward. Newgarden was by now going flat out, unable to eke out his fuel to the finish, so knowing he’d have to make a late stop. The pair would limp to the pits, and were retired. The restart on Lap 34 saw Palou leading Pagenaud, Malukas, McLaughlin, Johnson, Kirkwood, Power, Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist to the green. The first caution came out on Lap 8, for Rossi running long and then stalling at Turn 10. Andretti Autosport saw Colton Herta fail to complete an outside pass on Dalton Kellett’s AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy and find the tire wall, necessitating a pitstop for a new front wing.

Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin both move up in the IndyCar point standings with strong performances at Nashville.

Jimmie Johnson crashed late in Sunday’s race in almost the same exact place he wrecked in last year’s race – and in almost the same exact fashion – at the bottom of the big bridge over the river in downtown Nashville. Johnson finished 18th in Sunday’s race. If there was another lap or two more, it would have been tough (to win). Congrats to him on a great weekend and hopefully it was good for us for points.” It was her third and last race planned for this season for Paretta Autosport. The team hopes to have De Silvestro run more races next season, but no number of races has been announced. “I think we did 45 or 50 laps on the last set of tires, the last stop we didn’t even take tires on the last stop. It was a tough day. It was a great points weekend. We got some points back for the championship.” Dixon earned his second win of the season with a car that just wouldn’t quit. If Dixon wins the championship, it would be the seventh of his career, tying him for most IndyCar crowns with Foyt. But congrats to Scotty (Dixon). I’ve always dreamed of racing him to the finish. “It was unreal,” McLaughlin said. “I knew the car was super-fast, we proved that in the warmup,” said Dixon, who started 14th.

Scott Dixon came from 20th with a crippled car to beat fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin to win a crash-riddled Nashville IndyCar race.

The race was restarted with one and a half laps to go, given the restarts are into Turn 9. The lap 42 restart saw Palou tagged by Pagenaud but he held on into Turn 9, while McLaughlin muscled past Malukas, and Rinus VeeKay jumped Power to grab eighth. With his front wing then jammed under his front wheels he made hard contact with the wall on the bridge, and by the time he got back to the pits his car was too damaged to continue. The pair would limp to the pits, and were retired. At the previous restart, Newgarden had trod very carefully and found himself elbowed down to 14th, behind one of his championship rivals Marcus Ericsson. He thus took the opportunity to pit again, as did Helio Castroneves and Jimmie Johnson.

Josef Newgarden said “welcome to IndyCar” in response to his clash with Romain Grosjean that took the French driver out of the Nashville race.

You have to lift [on upshifts] and you have to blip the throttle. The big thing was that I was ahead at that moment. “Probably need to have a discussion with some of the younger guys, they're just aggressive. I don't like it, but that's the game that we're in. I haven't seen it from the outside.” With Grosjean still alongside him at the corner exit, Newgarden sent the Andretti driver into the concrete wall, which triggered a late red flag.

Add Twitter beef to an increasingly wild IndyCar season. During Sunday's Music City Grand Prix, Josef Newgarden put Romain Grosjean into the wall on a ...

Someone tweeted, "Embarrassing interview for Josef Newgarden," in response to IndyCaronNBC's tweet of the interview, causing Newgarden, who finished sixth in the race, to get into it with the person. During the race in St. Petesburg, Florida, Takuma Sato and Grosjean "agreed to disagree" after Grosjean couldn't stop in time down the back straight and slammed into a virtually stationary Sato at the end of a backup. But after five races in 22 days and a weekend that saw qualifying and the race delayed extensively by lightning, perhaps part-time driver Sage Karam summed it up best: I probably need to have some discussion with some of the younger guys, but they’re aggressive. I don’t like it, but that’s the game that we’re in." Grosjean raised his hands in apparent anger after getting out of his wrecked car.

There were many on-track collisions in Sunday's Music City Grand Prix, but the aftermath of the clash between Romain Grosjean and Josef Newgarden was the ...

If you’re not aggressive back, then you get run over. You know, he’s been on the worst end of that. You’re gonna want to be ahead of this guy on this type of moment.

After a late collision left Romain Grosjean angry, Josef Newgarden was making no apologies for racing hard during the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

It’s part of the luck, but it’s just happened one too many times, and today was another unlucky day with just the way the whole thing played out, and you just can’t predict these races. It’s part of the game, but it can be frustrating at times.” This has been a really frustrating year in a lot of ways and the way it’s built. We’ve won a lot of races. I probably need to have some discussion with some of the younger guys, but they’re aggressive. Grosjean also made contact with Marcus Ericsson, leading to a snippy postrace sequence on social media between the Formula One veterans.

Scott McLaughlin was full of praise for his "hero" after they completed a Kiwi 1-2 finish.

"Congrats to him on a great weekend. It was probably one of the top three best things in my career to date, that race." I think if there was a lap or two more it would have been really tough to [stop]. I dropped the hammer and I felt like the seas parted on the restart. I think he's a phenomenal race car driver and a phenomenal bloke. "He was super fast as well. I had so much fun." "Texas last year I didn't really battle with him. We're probably a bit more mates now, which is cool and to call your hero a mate is pretty cool. But to then go toe-to-toe with Scotty was awesome. "I think he doesn't get enough respect in New Zealand for what he's achieved. But we had to work for our track position and come back, and that's why I had a lot of fun.

Maybe this season is indeed the one where Will Power scores his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. Power escaped a dramatic hit – to his car and his ...

He took a bite of some during a live shot with the NBC broadcast team and quickly reacted to its heat. - Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires points leader Linus Lundqvist of HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing went flag to flag to win Sunday’s Indy Lights Music City Grand Prix from the pole for his series-leading fifth race win of the season. Malukas was the first to incur trouble, his car ending up hard against the Turn 9 tire barrier with the car of fellow rookie Kyle Kirkwood crumbled to his left. The first practice of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline is 1 p.m. ET Friday, Aug. 19 with qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at 7:15 p.m. ET. Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network will broadcast both live. The Dane seemed poised to make a run on Scott Dixon for the lead when he began to slide. We’re still digging deep, and we’ll see what we can do in the last three (races).” Instead of leading Marcus Ericsson by nine points, as Power was coming into the Nashville weekend, he leads Dixon by six points. Dixon’s car suffered undertray damage, but he worked through it with a major chassis adjustment by the crew of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and pulled out the victory, the 53rd of his career. And that might be the end of O’Ward’s championship pursuit. “You have to lift (off the pedal) and flip the throttle. Behind them, rookie Callum Ilott, Dalton Kellett, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Simona De Silvestro were involved in the chain reaction to varying degrees. The damage wasn’t visible to the eye, but it could be seen each time Power was forced to shift gears manually thereafter.

Scott Dixon admits that he was hoping for more crashes as he clung on to an unlikely win in a chaotic Nashville IndyCar race.

“And honestly, we had a really fast car all weekend. “I was so angry after qualifying because I knew we had great speed. “This race is tough to read. Some of them didn’t. Some of those came. “We were able to jump a couple and have enough fuel to get towards the end, and to the end, but it was very difficult to drive.

Scott Dixon may have nabbed himself a career record on IndyCar's all-time wins list, but everyone was talking about Newgarden and Grosjean's crash.

The rest of it is just prima donna drivers and spoiled kids.” That small group of drivers essentially amounted to his friends and everyone else automatically put in the latter category. It also doesn’t help Grosjean’s case with his new colleagues that he entered IndyCar as a ten-year veteran of Formula 1 and survived a near-fatal fiery crash in his final F1 race. As the pair rounded the corner, Newgarden couldn’t hold his line and made contact with Grosjean, sending the Andretti driver into the wall and out of the race. During the race broadcast, commentator and former driver James Hinchcliffe saw it differently while watching a replay, noting, “I think the 2 went in with a little bit too much speed. During a restart with five laps to go, Penske’s Josef Newgarden got a tremendous run as the field went over the start line. The race victory was the 53rd of Dixon’s IndyCar career, putting him second on the all-time wins list, only behind A.J. Foyt. However, this brief dash only happened because a red flag was thrown when a car was punted into the wall.

Romain Grosjean was at the centre of another IndyCar storm after a crash with Josef Newgarden and some strong words from Marcus Ericsson.

I think Newgarden is one of the cleanest and best racers in the paddock. The same can be said for Newgarden, although I just can’t see how this one is not on Newgarden. He pushed Grosjean so far wide and ultimately into the wall. And at the end of it I was hit so bad it wasn’t possible to continue driving.” You can’t drive into the corner too fast, be alongside and then crash the opponent in doing it. “I probably need to have some discussion with some of the younger guys, but they’re aggressive. But then I’m not sure I have the ‘credentials’ for an opinion! But ultimately he didn’t make contact – at least Ericsson didn’t accuse Grosjean of that! Apparently that's fine with Romain. Josef dives on Grosjean and Grosjean tries sticking around the outside, gets walled, and now he has a pissy fit. He was fully alongside but Grosjean was squeezed into the wall. In the late stages at Nashville on Sunday, Grosjean had tried an opportunistic move on then-championship leader Marcus Ericsson at Turn 11. There was no contact but Ericsson was shoved wide and then hit by Colton Herta, which caused Ericsson’s car to break. Grosjean dives late on Ericsson, Ericsson wisely backs out and gets plowed into.

It is often said that Scott Dixon does “Scott Dixon things.” Sunday was another example of that. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Dixon recovered from ...

This also was the fourth-closest street circuit or road course finish in the sport’s history at .1067 of a second. Dixon has gained 49 positions from where he started to where he finished this season, and that ranks second among drivers in the top five of the standings. It was the seventh time in 14 races this season that Dixon has gained at least eight official positions from the start of the race. Dixon said it was “really cool.” Probably have to have a discussion with some of the younger guys. “Each time we had a restart I was just praying for another accident (to help us),” he said. Dixon said the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was “very difficult to drive,” and it lacked grip. Note that with the championship battle heating up, Dixon has significantly driven forward in each of the past four races. On Lap 29, he was running last in the order after a penalty for emergency service of his wounded car in a closed pit. We went all the way to the back and got into the chaos in Turn 5 or 6 and just got rolled over the back and hit pretty hard. “Actually, we couldn’t get the wheel off because it was stuck on the brake caliper. Fifty-one laps later he was in victory lane for the 53rd time in his career.