Colton Herta Wins First Oval at Nashville Superspeedway

Pato O’Ward, Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden on the podium at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on September 14, 2024. (Photo by Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

LEBANON, Tennessee – Colton Herta, part of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian, took the last win of the 2024 IndyCar Series season at Nashville Superspeedway at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on September 15. 

With this win on the 1.33 mile oval, Herta officially won his first oval race. This win also propelled Herta to his highest finish in the NTT IndyCar Series championship, finishing in second place. 

“I couldn’t ask for a better ending to the year,” said Herta in a post-race interview with NBC Sports reporter Georgia Henneberry. “I’m so happy with all of the work everyone’s done this year.”

Herta finished 31 points behind championship winner Alex Palou with Chip Ganassi Racing. Palou was able to achieve his third championship title in four years after placing 11th at Nashville. 

“Super proud about it,” said Palou in a post-race interview with NBC Sports. “It’s been an amazing year and I’m happy we got the championship back home.”

Alex Palou kisses the Astor Cup after winning the NTT IndyCar Series championship at Nashville Superspeedway on September 15. Palou has won the Astor Cup three times in four seasons. (Photo by Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

Championship contender Will Power with Team Penske was knocked out of contention on Lap 13 due to safety concerns. Power reported to his team that his lap belt came undone, resulting in an emergency stop. 

“I just don’t know what went wrong. We’ll have to send it back to the manufacturer,” Power said in a post-race interview with NBC Sports. “Very strange failure. I do wonder if I hit the wall and if it did break, if I was going to have a real bad situation, but never have that before.”

Power and Palou had been fighting for the lead in the championship, and with Power starting the race in fourth and Palou in 24th, Power seemed to have the upper hand. 

Power ended up finishing fourth in the 2024 championship standings behind fellow Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who finished fifth behind Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global. The belt failure resulted in a 24th place finish in Nashville.

Kirkwood won in Nashville in 2023 and started the race in pole position ahead of Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. Kirkwood led 67 of the 206 laps at the superspeedway, and finished fourth in the Grand Prix. 

“I said at the beginning of the season that was always, that was always my goal was to get more top fives, and we did it again here today,” Kirkwood said in an interview with Henneberry of NBC Sports. “Can’t be too upset with it.”

While Kirkwood led the most laps out of the race and finished in the top five, he ultimately lost the first place position on Lap 194 to Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas, who was not able to finish in the same position. 

Once a teammate of Malukas at Arrow McLaren, Pato O’Ward, who won the first race in Milwaukee on August 31,  capitalized on his seventh place start to finish the race in second place. 

O’Ward and Herta had a tight battle on Lap 202, but ultimately, Herta’s decision to take the lower line while going three-wide with O’Ward and Sting Ray Robb of A.J. Foyt Enterprises resulted in a better outcome. 

“And, oh man, it’s just, it’s always just annoying to lose it just those few laps before the end. So, but no, nevertheless, I think it’s a great end to the season,” O’Ward said in an interview with NBC Sports. “Season filled up of ups and downs. I would say there wasn’t something in the middle ever. So I’m just glad we ended on a good note, and we were able to fight out there.”

Pato O’Ward accepting the second place trophy at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. O’Ward finished second in the final race of the season and fifth in the championship overall. (Photo by Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

With Palou winning the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series championship and Herta winning the season finale, the 2024 season concluded with the 18th race of the year.