2024 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

2024 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

Race details
17th round of the 2024 IndyCar season
Layout of the Nashville Superspeedway circuit
Date	September 15, 2024
Official name	Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
Location	Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tennessee
Course	Superspeedway 1.330 mi / 2.140 km
Distance	206 laps 273.98 mi / 440.8 km
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Kirkwood  (Andretti Autosport)
Time	23.7702
Fastest lap
Driver	Pato O'Ward  (Arrow McLaren)
Time	24.2869 (on lap 165 of 206)
Podium
First	Colton Herta  (Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian)
Second	Pato O'Ward  (Arrow McLaren)
Third	Josef Newgarden  (Team Penske)

The 2024 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was the seventeenth and final round of the 2024 IndyCar season. The race was held on September 15, 2024, in Lebanon, Tennessee at the Nashville Superspeedway. Due to the construction of New Nissan Stadium, the race was moved from Nashville Street Circuit to Nashville Superspeedway. ^[1] This was the last IndyCar race aired on NBC. From 2025 onwards, the IndyCar series will be televised by Fox.

Following the race, Álex Palou would win the 2024 season championship.

Entry list

Further information: 2024 IndyCar Series § Confirmed entries

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

No.	Driver	Team	Engine
2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet
4	Kyffin Simpson  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
6	Nolan Siegel  R	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
8	Linus Lundqvist  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
11	Marcus Armstrong	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet
14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
18	Jack Harvey	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
20	Christian Rasmussen  R	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
26	Colton Herta	Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	Honda
27	Kyle Kirkwood  W	Andretti Global	Honda
28	Marcus Ericsson  W	Andretti Global	Honda
30	Pietro Fittipaldi	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
41	Sting Ray Robb	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
51	Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda
60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
66	David Malukas	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
77	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet
78	Conor Daly	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet
Source: [2]

Practice

Practice 1

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	00:23.9565
2	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	00:23.9583
3	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	00:23.9776
Source: [3]

Qualifying

Qualifying Classification

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Time		Final grid
					Laps
					Lap 1	Lap 2
1	27	Kyle Kirkwood  W	Andretti Global	Honda	23.7487	23.7702	1
2	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	23.7518	23.8066	2
3	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	23.8360	23.8828	3
4	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	23.8372	23.8929	4
5	14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	23.8550	23.9062	5
6	66	David Malukas	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	23.8596	23.9061	6
7	78	Conor Daly	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	23.8745	23.9117	7
8	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	23.8392	23.9705	8
9	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	23.9057	23.9193	9
10	8	Linus Lundqvist  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	23.8819	23.9567	10
11	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	23.9008	23.9543	11
12	21	Rinus Veekay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	23.9679	23.9809	12
13	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	23.9694	23.9985	13
14	11	Marcus Armstrong	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	23.9441	24.0337	14
15	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	23.8800	24.1124	15
16	77	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	23.9928	24.0141	16
17	20	Christian Rasmussen  R	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	24.0293	24.0560	17
18	28	Marcus Ericsson  W	Andretti Global	Honda	24.0914	24.0541	18
19	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	24.0633	24.0852	19
20	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	24.1128	24.2361	20
21	4	Kyffin Simpson  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	24.3394	24.1915	21
22	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	24.3788	24.4241	22
23	18	Jack Harvey	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	24.5266	24.4538	23
24	45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	24.4946	24.4952	24
25	51	Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda	24.9094	24.6864	25
26	41	Sting Ray Robb	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	No time	No time	26
27	6	Nolan Siegel  R	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	No time	No time	27
Source: [4]

Race

Coming into the race, 3 drivers were mathematically eligible to win the championship, Alex Palou, Will Power, and Scott McLaughlin. However, McLaughlin was eliminated from contention upon race start since Palou started the race. Early in the race, Will Power came to pit road after his seatbelts came loose, in essence eliminating him from the title fight. On lap 55, Felix Rosenqvist ran high out of Turn 2, hitting the wall and bringing out the first caution. He was eliminated from the race. On lap 85, Katherine Legge hit the wall coming out of Turn 4, bringing out the second caution and eliminating her from the race. On lap 137, the third and final caution of the race came out after Marcus Ericsson hit the wall in Turn 4, taking him out of the race.

At the end of the race, Colton Herta fought off a hard-charging Pato O'Ward, who was on a different strategy, to take the win. This was his first win on an oval track.

Points leader Alex Palou finished 11th, securing his 3rd IndyCar championship. Colton Herta would finish 2nd in the standings (–31), and Scott McLaughlin came 3rd (–39).

Race results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Total Time	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.
1	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	206	01:43:15.2534	4	9	24	51
2	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	206	01:43:17.0640	4	7	21	41
3	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	206	01:43:17.2145	4	2	54	36
4	27	Kyle Kirkwood  W	Andretti Global	Honda	206	01:43:19.9709	3	1	67	36
5	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	206	01:43:23.0371	4	18	0	30
6	14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	206	01:43:24.4870	4	14	0	28
7	11	Marcus Armstrong	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	206	01:43:29.6404	3	12	0	26
8	8	Linus Lundqvist  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	206	01:43:29.9053	4	8	0	24
9	66	David Malukas	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	206	01:43:30.5260	3	5	8	23
10	78	Conor Daly	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	205	+1 Lap	3	6	0	20
11	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	205	+1 Lap	4	24	0	19
12	21	Rinus Veekay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	205	+1 Lap	4	10	0	18
13	18	Jack Harvey	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	205	+1 Lap	3	20	0	17
14	20	Christian Rasmussen  R	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	205	+1 Lap	3	20	0	16
15	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	205	+1 Lap	4	26	32	16
16	77	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	204	+2 Laps	4	13	0	14
17	9	Scott Dixon  W	Andretti Global	Honda	204	+2 Laps	3	11	0	13
18	6	Nolan Siegel  R	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	204	+2 Laps	4	27	0	12
19	45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	204	+2 Laps	4	21	0	11
20	41	Sting Ray Robb	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	204	+2 Laps	3	23	0	10
21	30	Pietro Fittipaldi	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	204	+2 Laps	5	18	0	9
22	4	Kyffin Simpson  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	202	+4 Laps	5	19	0	8
23	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	202	+4 Laps	4	19	0	7
24	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	198	+8 Laps	6	4	0	6
25	28	Marcus Ericsson  W	Andretti Global	Honda	137	Contact	3	15	0	5
26	51	Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda	85	Contact	2	22	0	5
27	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	55	Contact	0	3	0	5
Fastest lap: Pato O'Ward (Arrow McLaren) – 24.2869 (lap 165)
Source: [5]

References

1. Pruett, Marshall (February 14, 2024). "IndyCar moves season finale to Nashville Speedway". racer.com. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
2. "Big Machine Music City Grand Prix entry list" (PDF). September 15, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
3. "Practice - Results" (PDF). indycar.com. September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
4. "Qualifications". indycar.com. September 14, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
5. "Race - Results - Final". indycar.com. September 15, 2024. Retrieved September 26, 2024.