Scott Dixon’s peaking at the right time in his quest of winning a seventh NTT IndyCar Series title. (Photo: Cayden Rush | The Podium Finish)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Getting rear-ended early in the 80-lap race couldn’t slow down six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, who survived and tamed the streets of Nashville to win a wild Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.
“Kudos to the team,” Dixon said. “We had a big crash there that took half the floor off the car. We had to take four turns of front wing out, so we had no grip. Nashville is so awesome.”
Winning his 53rd career IndyCar race, the longtime Chip Ganassi Racing driver breaks the tie with Mario Andretti for second on the all-time wins list.
Dixon barely defeated Scott McLaughlin, who gave it his all coming to the checkered flag and almost got there.
“We were alongside there across the finish line,” McLaughlin said. “But man, we were 16th on that last pit exchange and had an awesome restart, and then the car was fast.
“Just fell short at the end. Congrats to Scotty. Always dreamed of racing him to the finish. That was a proper duel.”
This victory also moves Dixon to second-place in the championship, six points behind Will Power.
While Power maintains a slim lead, Dixon’s beginning to gain momentum at the right time with three races remaining after Nashville.
“We thought this would be a bit of a wildcard race, like there was going to be a lot of mayhem so you just needed to survive it somewhat, which we did,” Power said.
“We’re still in a great place and still digging deep. We’ll see what we can do in the last three races.”
Romain Grosjean and NASCAR’s Ross Chastain might have something in common as both drivers have a growing list of on-track enemies. (Photo: Eric Parks | The Podium Finish)
In an effort to finish the race under green, the red flag came out with four laps to go, due to an incident involving Josef Newgarden and Romain Grosjean. On the restart, Newgarden and Grosjean were side-by-side, nobody lifted and Grosjean got squeezed into the wall in Turn 9.
“Welcome to IndyCar, it gets tight,” Newgarden said. “He’s been on the worst end of that. I don’t know what to tell him. Good thing I was ahead. You’re going to want to be ahead of this guy in this type of moment. That’s the biggest thing. It’s tight street course racing.
“If you’re not aggressive back, then you get run over. That’s IndyCar racing. You got to learn that pretty quick. I don’t like it but that’s the game that we’re in.”
Newgarden wasn’t the only driver feeling some type of way about Grosjean after the race.
What goes around comes around
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) August 8, 2022
With eight laps remaining, Jimmie Johnson lost control of his car exiting the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge and smacked the wall hard with the right side.
The two IndyCar rookies who battled each other for the Indy Lights title last year, David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood, ran a very impressive race up until Lap 66. Kirkwood got alongside Malukas entering Turn 9, both drivers touched and crashed into the tire wall.
“I went to pass him and I just don’t think he saw me going through the lunge on the inside of Turn 9,” Kirkwood said.
After being involved in the wreck on Lap 26, Graham Rahal got caught up in another incident on Lap 52. Returning to the race in an effort to possibly pick up more positions in a race of attrition, Rahal found the wall and Rinus VeeKay crashed into Rahal’s rear in Turn 4.
Devlin DeFrancesco collided with Takuma Sato on Lap 34, putting them both in the Turn 10 wall. The Japanese driver wasn’t too happy with DeFrancesco and tried to approach the rookie driver. But members of the AMR Safety Team intervened and walked him away from the scene.
Graham Rahal experienced some Music City Blues. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
Mayhem broke out on Lap 26, starting with Pato O’Ward getting into the back of Power in Turn 7. Then, Rahal slammed into O’Ward’s rear. Rahal’s No. 15 Honda suffered significant front wing damage and went behind the wall for repairs.
“I don’t know who caused the check-up,” O’Ward said. “I saw a car slowing down so I had to get on brakes. If not then what Graham (Rahal) did to me, I was going to do to Will (Power). Sadly there’s only one way to look at it. It was a big enough hit to break probably a gear or something in the gearbox.
“When you hit the attenuator with a pretty solid hit, that’s usually what happens. I couldn’t get it into any gear. And yes… that’s our day.”
Pato O’Ward’s title hopes took a major hit in Nashville. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
In a chain reaction to this incident, Dixon got hit from behind by Dalton Kellett, who ended up retiring his AJ Foyt Racing entry from the race along with Simona De Silvestro.
Dixon had to go to the back of the field for the next restart because he pitted during a closed pit for emergency service as his crew attended to his damaged No. 9 Honda.
Graham Rahal into Pato O'Ward -> O'Ward into Will Power.
Just a mess of a chain reaction. #INDYCAR
📺 : @CNBC and @peacockTV
💻 : https://t.co/sruFujAguH pic.twitter.com/FlHnwXJXBF— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 7, 2022
While her race in Nashville resulted in retirement after 25 laps, Paretta Autosport announced De Silvestro would add a fourth race to her IndyCar schedule and return for the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Helio Castroneves ran into trouble on Lap 22 when the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion spun and stalled in Turn 3.
Last weekend’s winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Alexander Rossi, brought out the first full-course caution of the Nashville street race in Turn 10 on Lap 8 when he locked up the brakes and stalled.
On Lap 4, Colton Herta’s woes continued as the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda got pushed into a tire wall, after colliding with Kellett.
Herta was forced to pit and change the damaged front wing. In the process, he lost a lap, got it back and ultimately finished rallied to finish fifth.
Colton Herta’s up and down race weekend in the Music City ended on a positive note. (Photo: Eric Parks | The Podium Finish)
After four consecutive weekends of racing, the NTT IndyCar Series paddock gets a week to rest before returning to action on Saturday, Aug. 20 at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) for the final oval race of the year. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Top-10 Results: Dixon, McLaughlin, Palou, Rossi, Herta, Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, Harvey, Pagenaud.
