O’Ward Secures Pole in Season Finale at Nashville

Pato O’Ward celebrates his NTT P1 Award for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo: Anthony Sylvia | The Podium Finish)

LEBANON, Tenn. – With all of his accomplishments in his short career, one thing that Pato O’Ward still needs to check off his bucket list is winning an NTT IndyCar Series race from the pole position. He will try to do just that after capturing the NTT P1 Award for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot.

“I’ve never won a race from pole,” O’Ward said. “That’s on my to-do list this weekend.”

O’Ward set the quickest time with a two-lap average speed of 202.621 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. This marks his second pole this season with his first coming at The Thermal Club in March, and his first on an oval.

O’Ward will have his best chance on Sunday to check that box for his 10^th career victory after leading the morning practice and showing the speed that the entire Arrow McLaren team found on the 1.33-mile concrete oval.

“The car was great,” O’Ward said. “Felt really comfortable in practice and didn’t give me any scares or anything. I was happy with that. Very good.”

David Malukas navigates Turns 3 and 4 of the Nashville Superspeedway during the late afternoon practice. (Photo: Hayden Hutchison | The Podium Finish)

A.J. Foyt Enterprises came close once again in oval qualifying with David Malukas qualifying second with a two-lap average of 201.922 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet. Malukas held on to the top spot through eight drivers, when O’Ward took the track 26^th out of the 27 total drivers.

Malukas was in a similar position last week at the Milwaukee Mile when he sat on the pole until newly crowned NTT INDYCAR champion Alex Palou knocked him off the top spot as the last qualifier.

O’Ward’s teammate Christian Lundgaard completed his best oval qualifying effort of his career, rolling off third at a two-lap average speed of 201.713 mph in the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. 2025 NTT INDYCAR champion Palou will start fourth with a speed of 201.603 mph in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Rounding out the top five was Palou’s teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon with a speed of 201.437 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon is no stranger to victory lane at Nashville Superspeedway, as he won three consecutive races on the 1.33-mile oval from 2006-08.

Following on-track activity for the day on Saturday, INDYCAR handed down a nine-position grid penalty to the No. 6 of Nolan Siegel/Arrow McLaren, the No. 21 of Christian Rasmussen/ECR and the No. 90 of Callum Ilott/PREMA for unapproved engine changes following practice.

The 225-lap season finale will kick off at 2 p.m ET Sunday on FOX, INDYCAR Radio Network and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation channel 218.

Starting Field for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix: