O'Ward steals pole position from Malukas in Music City Grand Prix Qualifying

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Chris Jones

In a close qualifying session at the Nashville Superspeedway, Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward took pole position for the 2025 IndyCar season finale.

O'Ward beat out A.J. Foyt Racing's David Malukas and his Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard.

How it happened

Drivers qualified in reverse championship order, meaning Dale Coyne Racing rookie Jacob Abel was the first driver out to set a time at the Nashville Superspeedway. His two lap average speed was 195.779 mph, setting the benchmark for the rest of the grid.

Abel was quickly beaten out by Devlin Defrancesco, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing driver struggling after his crash in practice but still able to steal the top spot. Sting Ray Robb then went faster still, setting a speed of 199.036 mph.

PREMA Racing's Robert Shwartzman was next, going just over half a mile per hour faster than Defrancesco, taking provisional pole position. He was followed by his teammate Callum Ilott, who became the first driver of the session to hit a 200 mph two lap average and again displaced the driver at the top of the charts.

Nolan Siegel continued the trend of one-upping, his 201.375 mph average going to the top ahead of Ilott and Shwartzman.

Louis Foster, the driver currently leading the rookie standings, went next. He was the first driver not to go to the top, his speed of 198.592 only fast enough for sixth place ahead of Abel. Andretti Global's Marcus Ericsson followed suite, slotting in third to split the PREMA cars.

Next up was Juncos Hollinger Racing's Conor Daly, who dubbed his pace "horrific" on the radio. He qualified eighth out of the nine drivers so far, just above Abel. Kyffin Simpson then qualified third of everyone so far with an average speed of 200.703 mph. Graham Rahal slotted in at seventh, just ahead of his teammate Defrancesco.

Josef Newgarden, sitting 16th in the points, did his run next. He was fast enough to displace Siegel at the top with an average speed fastest overall by just 0.015 mph. He was followed by Santino Ferrucci with A.J. Foyt Racing, who took fifth place and knocked Ericsson out of the top five.

Alex Rossi was next, coming out the back of his best finish of the year last weekend, a fourth place result in Milwaukee. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver didn't quite crack the 200 mph range, and slotted into eighth place. A tough lap for Rinus VeeKay put him second to last, putting both Dale Coyne Racing drivers at the very bottom of the pack so far.

Last weekend's winner Christian Rasmussen was the 17th driver to go out and fight for pole position. His average speed of 200.007 mph put him just outside the top five.

The next driver out was David Malukas, and the A.J. Foyt Racing driver quickly stole provisional pole from Newgarden with a tidy two laps. Scott McLaughlin, who came after, was unable to beat Malukas, Newgarden or Siegel, and slotted into fourth place.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Colton Herta's average speed of 208.287 mph put him eighth between Ferrucci and Rasmussen. Felix Rosenqvist followed, putting his Meyer Shank Racing car into a provisional seventh place. After him came the final Team Penske driver to qualify, Will Power. Power was only fast enough for eighth place, with six drivers still to go who could potentially displace him.

MSR's Marcus Armstrong was next out, one of the drivers who has been on the up towards the end of this season. But his average speed today, 199.978 mph, was only fast enough for 12th.

The only drivers left to go were the top five in the championship - Kyle Kirkwood the first of those to go out. Kirkwood cracked the 200 mph benchmark but was still only fast enough for ninth place, as he knocked his teammate Herta out of the top 10.

Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard was the next one out, looking early on like he could challenge Malukas for pole with his first lap being close to that speed. But he couldn't quite manage it, stealing second place from Newgarden.

Scott Dixon's first lap speed was 201.750, and it looked like he could also challenge for pole. But a big lift on his second lap cost him speed, and he slotted into third.

Just two drivers were left now who could challenge Malukas, and Pato O'Ward came out to make his attempt to do so. O'Ward's first lap averaged 202.909 mph, and he continued his incredible speed to secure a 202.621 mph average, the only driver so far to crack the 202 mph mark.

Now it was just the championship winner Álex Palou, the final driver out on track. Palou's first lap time was significantly slower than O'Ward's average, as the Honda powered cars seemed at a disadvantage in Nashville. Palou's fourth place put him as the fastest Honda car, as O'Ward locked in pole position ahead of Malukas and Lundgaard.

After Palou, Dixon rounded out the top five. Newgarden secured a sixth place start for tomorrow's Music City Grand Prix ahead of Siegel, McLaughlin, Ilott and Simpson.

Full results can be found here.