Fittipaldi, Rahal and Lundgaard Qualified 19th, 22nd and 24th for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Finale

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Big Machine Music City Grand Prix – Nashville Superspeedway

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

QUALIFYING NOTES / QUOTES – September 14, 2024

FITTIPALDI, RAHAL AND LUNDGAARD QUALIFIED 19TH, 22ND AND 24TH FOR THE BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX

POLE: Kyle Kirkwood 2-lap avg. speed of 201.520 mph (L1: 23.7487, L2: 23.7702 mph)

19th: Pietro Fittipaldi 2-lap avg. speed of 198.885 mph (L1: 24.0633, L2: 24.0852 mph)

22nd: Graham Rahal 2-lap avg. speed of 196.218 mph (L1: 24.3788, L2: 24.4241 mph)

24th: Christian Lundgaard 2-lap avg. speed of 195.469 mph (L1: 24.4946, L2: 24.4952 mph)

GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “The car was just a little pushy (in qualifying). We came a long way from this morning though because we were very, very close to being flat in Turn 3 and 4 now but this morning, we had a massive lift, going down two gears to make the turn. We did a good job to find some good time though. I think we went six-tenths quicker than we went this morning so it was a good improvement. There is work to do on the Fifth Third Bank car, it’s going to be competitive tomorrow.”

FAST FACTS: The 2024 season-finale will mark the second time Graham will race at Nashville Superspeedway. In 2008, he started 10th and finished 12th with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in a rain-shortened event. He participated in an INDYCAR test with a few other cars here on June 14. His best start on the streets of Nashville is 9th in 2022 and his best finish is fifth in 2021… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and FIVE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street; 2023 – IMS road Aug., Portland road) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015… He is in 18th place in series point standings with a total of 244.

PIETRO FITTIPALDI, No. 30 5-hour ENERGY Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Last week we had to change the chassis because of a crack we found after the race. I think for sure that helps with the performance gain and the engineers have been working really hard to put the car in the right window for this weekend. I’m happy with the qualifying effort. Final practice will be a whole different deal getting the car running well in dirty air. (On addition of alternate tires to this oval race:) I think it’s cool, it’s spicing things up. We have to see what the impact is. Hopefully we get that practice in to see what the deg (degradation) is between the blacks and the reds (alternates). I think it will make things really interesting for the race.”

FAST FACTS: It will be his first race here… He is ranked 19th in series point standings with 177.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD, No. 45 Hy-Vee Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “For me, going into the last race of the season, I want to finish it on a high with the team. To show them what they deserve for the cars that they’ve given me. We kind of went the wrong way in practice. Rolling into qualifying was a lot better swing at it. I think Pietro was the most comfortable and he’s also the fastest of the three of us. We’ll get more opportunity to improve the car in final practice so we can try to have a good end to the season with the 45 Hy-Vee Honda.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his first race on the oval in Nashville. He competed in the 2022-2023 races downtown with his highest start and finish coming in 2022 of third and eighth, respectively… He is 11th in the point standings with 301.

RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING IN NASHVILLE… The 2024 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will mark the return to oval racing in Nashville for INDYCAR, who has held three races on the streets of downtown Nashville most recently (2021-23). The series previously conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway oval from 2001-2008.The team’s highest start there was pole in 2004 by Buddy Rice and highest finish was fourth with Danica Patrick in 2006. The team competed in the downtown event for three years with their highest finish being fifth place by Rahal in 2021 and highest start of third by Lundgaard in 2022.

NEXT UP: The 206-lap Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will take the green flag on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage will begin at 3 ET on NBC and Peacock. Timing and Scoring information is available for all sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network.