Palou wins Nashville IndyCar as Malukas charges last to third

Credit: Bella Rosen

Álex Palou has claimed a fifth win of the IndyCar season at the Music City Grand Prix to return to Victory Lane for the first time since May’s Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) driver has extended his championship lead to 83 points ahead of Team Penske’s David Malukas, who finished a remarkable third after starting the race in last following a crash which sent him briefly to hospital for checks on Saturday. 

The race start - coming Monday afternoon after weather postponed Sunday’s running - was navigated without incident, with Penske’s Josef Newgarden bringing a side-by-side challenge to Andretti Global pole-sitter Kyle Kirkwood for the first six laps.

With much of the rubber built up on Saturday washed away by Sunday’s rain, Newgarden’s work on the high side eventually came to no avail, while behind, Palou had made his way past Penske’s Scott McLaughlin for third in the other notable change in the lead positions. 

The first caution of the race was deployed on Lap 18, when AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet got loose in Turn 4 and heavily contacted the SAFER barrier front-right-first. It was a third retirement - second by a crash - in four oval races for the Brazilian rookie this season.

The yellow prompted the first round of pit stops, which saw McLaughlin jump ahead of Kirkwood and Newgarden drop behind Palou. Only three of the 25 drivers opted to stay out: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL)’s Louis Foster from inside the top 15, plus Malukas and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard from 23rd and 24th.

Remarkably, as Foster tumbled down the order from the lead and Lundgaard likewise from third, Malukas streaked clear of those behind on the restart, despite sporting used primary-compound tyres against the front-runners with fresh softer alternate tyres.

Malukas extended his lead ahead of McLaughlin to over three seconds before encountering the backmarker traffic of RLL’s Graham Rahal and eventually bailing to pit on Lap 61.

As Malukas fell a lap down as a result of a green-flag stop, McLaughlin inherited the race lead ahead of Kirkwood. On Lap 67, in a race where passing without a tyre differential had appeared tough, Newgarden was then able to overtake Palou on the high side for third place. 

But struggling to navigate the traffic of the off-pace Rahal himself and washing up into the marbles, moments after shaping up to pass Kirkwood for second, Newgarden then lost back out to Palou on Lap 73. In hand, he started to fall into the clutches of Rinus VeeKay in fifth - on another exceptional run for the small Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) team.

It was VeeKay who triggered the second round of pit stops for the leaders under green-flag conditions on Lap 79, followed closely by McLaughlin on Lap 82. By the time the full pit cycle had shaken out, McLaughlin had maintained his advantage over Kirkwood. VeeKay, meanwhile, had jumped ahead of both Palou and Newgarden.

Credit: Bella Rosen

But out front, owing to his masterful used-tyre stint after the caution restart, on one fewer stop, Malukas had cycled all the way back to the race lead - from starting 25th after missing qualifying due to medical evaluations after his practice crash - on his alternate strategy.

A second piece of significant wall contact came on Lap 115, when Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR)’s Christian Rasmussen washed up into the Turn 4 barrier from inside the top 10, limping back to pit lane - thus a caution was avoided - and eventually being pushed behind the wall.

Out front, backmarker traffic continued to factor - and it was not easy to work around on what was largely a single-groove race track. But Malukas was decisive enough in lapping cars to maintain a healthy, controlling lead ahead of McLaughlin before pitting for a second time from the head of the field at the end of Lap 119.

Only three laps later came the sight Malukas did not want to see, though. A second caution was brandished as ECR’s Alexander Rossi slowed suddenly as he geared up to pit, causing CGR’s Scott Dixon to run abruptly and heavily into the rear of the No.20 machine in Turn 3. 

Rossi found the wall, ending his race, and Dixon limped back to the pits with front-wing damage, which was incredibly repaired to leave him only seven laps down.

Just before the caution was deployed, in an incredible break for the championship leader, Palou had made it into pit lane. By the time the pits had reopened and the yellow-flag pit stops had occurred, he had cycled to the race lead ahead of McLaughlin, who remained ahead of Kirkwood and VeeKay. Newgarden fell to sixth, behind Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci.

The race restarted on Lap 139, with Newgarden making immediate headway past Ferrucci and VeeKay and back up to fourth as Palou maintained the lead. Further back in the pack, Andretti’s Will Power ran high into the wall in Turn 2, confining him to the pit lane for repairs. 

Caught by the caution, Malukas had been scored in 13th place for the restart and was able to make his way up to 10th in the immediate laps. Once the backmarker of Rahal became a factor again, though, he was able to pounce clinically to climb past Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel and Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson and up into eighth.

As the leaders’ third stint continued, Newgarden also started to come back into his own, passing Kirkwood to raise himself back into the podium places on Lap 174. 

Within two laps, VeeKay had initiated the next pit cycle for the leaders. McLaughlin was the first to respond again, followed closely by Kirkwood, who was in pit lane as rookie Dennis Hauger hit the Turn 2 wall with the right side of his Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) machine, coming to a halt on the backstretch and bringing out another mid-pit-sequence caution.

Credit: Gabriella Hughes

By staying out, Palou and Newgarden cycled through the yellow-flag pit stops as the lead pair, followed by Meyer Shank Racing (MSR)’s Felix Rosenqvist, Malukas, Ericsson and standout RLL rookie Mick Schumacher. Having factored at the head of the field all race, Kirkwood was confined to 11th, McLaughlin 12th and VeeKay down in 13th for the restart.

Palou, sporting primary tyres against the alternates of the rest of the top six, led the field back to green on Lap 195. It was Ericsson with the greatest jump, moving his way from fifth to second as Rosenqvist dropped to fifth. But Newgarden promptly re-passed the Andretti driver, who consequently lost momentum and tumbled back to fifth. 

This put Malukas back in the game on his rollercoaster day to end a rollercoaster weekend, elevating the Chicagoan to third and back firmly in the fight for his first career win.

For the first time, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward had made himself a factor, too, navigating past Schumacher for sixth. Behind, McLaughlin had the best restart of those who lost out as a result of the caution, almost immediately gaining five positions to seventh and swiftly then overtaking O’Ward, Ericsson and Rosenqvist to return to the top four.

As the race ticked into the final 10 laps, Palou was being intensely pursued within two seconds by a Penske train - headed by Newgarden ahead of Malukas and McLaughlin. 

McLaughlin was the first to fall by the wayside, losing purchase in his soft tyres after his charge back through the top 10 and losing touch with his teammates. Out front, Palou’s decisive pass on the backmarker of Foster gained him the gap he needed to hold on.

Credit: Bella Rosen

It marks a 150th IndyCar win for Chip Ganassi Racing and third career oval victory for Palou, who led home Newgarden and, from the very back of the field, Malukas. The top five was completed by McLaughlin and Rosenqvist.

Schumacher notably recorded a career-best result in eighth - his first top-10 finish - while Kirkwood could only salvage 10th and VeeKay 12th after their front-running days. There were five retirements from the race: Hauger (crash), Rasmussen (wall contact), Rossi (crash), MSR’s Marcus Armstrong (mechanical) and Collet (crash).