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Practice today for the six different classes of cars that are racing their separate sprints this weekend at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. More practices for Indy NXT and NTT Indy in the morning, followed by qualifying for those two series plus the others.

Four races tomorrow afternoon and evening: Trans Am, Stadium Series Super Trucks (Race 1), SRO GT America (Race 1) and Toyota GR Cup (Race 1).

All but TransAm will race again Sunday. The Indy NXT and the 80-lap NTT Indy main event are on Sunday. There's a lot going on!

Some paddock pics from today. The Indy cars were out and on pit row. I didn't make it over to the SRO GT America paddock (Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Aston Martin) but will try to do so tomorrow.

Looks like an awesome event. I love walking the paddocks like that too -- it amazing to see how elaborate the pro teams get with their tents/trailers. Love that Penske tent...

IndyCar qualifying Saturday afternoon saw New Zealander Scott McLaughlin blow away the field to win pole position and the NTT P1 Award for Sunday's Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.

https://www.indycar.com/News/2023/08/08 ... NICS-Quals

(IndyCar.com)



A few paddock pics from today:

Also today at the Big Machine Music city Grand Prix, the TA2 (TransAm) race saw a 15-yr-old (Brent Crews) win the pole and a 16-yr-old (Connor Zilisch) come from last place on the grid to win what was a fantastic race - lots of passing and lots of action.





Practice and qualifying are complete for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Points leader Brent Crews in the No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang earned the Motul Pole Award, setting a new track record with a time of 1:30.641, a faster lap time than last year’s pole, despite a light mist of rain during today’s time trials. Crews won the race at the Nashville street circuit one year ago after scoring his first-career win weeks prior at Road America. The 15-year-old is currently the series’ most recent winner, taking the victory at Road America this year as well.

Connor Zilisch in the No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro laid down an even faster lap in the qualifying session, but the team was disqualified in technical inspection for the modification of the car’s restrictor plate and will start from the rear of the field.

Connor Zilisch once again drove his No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro from last to first, rebounding from a technical infraction to win in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series race on the streets of Nashville. For the second time this season, the young gun started last on a street course and passed every single car on the track to ultimately stand on the top step of the podium.

https://racer.com/2023/08/05/zilisch-go ... nashville/

And for some super fun, there was the Stadium Super Trucks race featuring highly modified trucks with 600 or so HP and suspension travel measured in feet! The Nashville race featured two jumps, one of which was directly in front of my seats on the 2.1 mile race course.

There were a couple 16 or under drivers in that race too. The Super Trucks will be running again Sunday after the NXT IndyCar Race (formerly Indy Lights) and the NTT IndyCar main event 80-lap big race. Also tomorrow will be another SRO Sports car race and the Toyota GR Cup race.

Lots of music and lots of racing. The racing and music schedule (times and practice vs qualifying were subject to changes):

Kyle Kirkwood Wins BMMCGP IndyCar Race In Nashville



https://www.autoweek.com/racing/indycar ... d568259d8a





And some more Super trucks fun:

Scott Dixon wins IndyCar Gallagher Grand Prix on Indy Road Course, earning at least one IndyCar win for the 19th straight season. It was also Dixon’s 319th consecutive IndyCar start, a record.

Alex Palou is within inches of locking up 2023 Championship; Josef Newgarden's chances of the championship are done.

Courtesy Autoweek:

https://www.autoweek.com/racing/indycar ... d568259d8a

(Penske Entertainment/Chris Owen)


Results of Saturday's Gallagher Grand Prix NTT IndyCar Series event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (15) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running

2. (1) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running

3. (4) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running

4. (2) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running

5. (3) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 85, Running

6. (16) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running

7. (8) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running

8. (10) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running

9. (13) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 85, Running

10. (17) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running

11. (19) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running

12. (12) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 85, Running

13. (11) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running

14. (14) Jack Harvey, Honda, 85, Running

15. (18) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 85, Running

16. (27) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Running

17. (24) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 85, Running

18. (6) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 84, Running

19. (5) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 84, Running

20. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 84, Running

21. (22) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 84, Running

22. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 84, Running

23. (20) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 84, Running

24. (7) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 83, Running

25. (25) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 83, Running

26. (26) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 79, Running

27. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 68, Mechanical


NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings

Palou 539
Dixon 438
Newgarden 434
McLaughlin 395
O'Ward 388
Ericsson 377
Power 365
Lundgaard 330
Kirkwood 312
Rossi 306
Herta 302
Grosjean 253
Rosenqvist 246
Rahal 241
VeeKay 218
Ilott 216
Malukas 195
Armstrong 179
Castroneves 177
Ferrucci 170
Canapino 151
Harvey 146
DeFrancesco 145
Conor Daly 120
Robb 113
Pedersen 102
Simon Pagenaud 88
Hunter-Reay 86
Takuma Sato 65
Ed Carpenter 40
Lundqvist 23
Tony Kanaan 18
Marco Andretti 13
Tom Blomqvist 5
RC Enerson 5
Katherine Legge 5

I was rooting for Rahal to finally break his drought, but it is hard not to like Dixon winning and continuing his streak of 19 years winning an IndyCar race. Likable guy in the mold of the gentleman racers of the 1960s, and definitely a driver who will go down as one of the greatest to ever plant his butt in an Indianapolis Racing Machine! Graham was showing his form of old, so hopefully he will vault up onto the Golden platform in the near future.

WillyDaP wrote: Mon Aug 14, 2023 5:47 am I was rooting for Rahal to finally break his drought, but it is hard not to like Dixon winning and continuing his streak of 19 years winning an IndyCar race. Likable guy in the mold of the gentleman racers of the 1960s, and definitely a driver who will go down as one of the greatest to ever plant his butt in an Indianapolis Racing Machine! Graham was showing his form of old, so hopefully he will vault up onto the Golden platform in the near future.

Absolutely concur. Rahal is out of the dungeon for a bit - I think his confidence has been restored.

Scott Dixon is simply awesome. I'm a big fan too - he's so consistent, so collected. I like Will Power too - his name fits! Of course I root for Josef Newgarden, our local race hero.

I'll also be keeping an eye on young Kyle Kirkwood - his racing future shines brightly - he appears to have everything it takes.

Newgarden is a talent on the same scale as Dixon and Power, and Kirkwood is showing signs of how talented he really is. Right now we are in the " Soap Opera " Season wondering where Palou will be next year. Right now it seems it might be a future WWE bout with Zak Brown and Chip Ganassi, ha!

WillyDaP wrote: Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:15 am Newgarden is a talent on the same scale as Dixon and Power, and Kirkwood is showing signs of how talented he really is. Right now we are in the " Soap Opera " Season wondering where Palou will be next year. Right now it seems it might be a future WWE bout with Zak Brown and Chip Ganassi, ha!

No kidding! Melodrama-Deception-Posturing-Name Calling-Breach of Contract all rolled into one.