Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix – Nashville Superspeedway
Pre-Race Notes
Round 17 of 17 in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES

DATE:     August 29-31, 2025

PRACTICE BROADCAST:     Live on FS2 on Saturday from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. ET and FS2 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).

QUALIFYING BROADCAST:     Live on FS2, the IRN and www.indycar.com from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET Saturday.

RACE BROADCAST:     Live on FOX on Sunday, August 31 from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. ET. And also on the IRN and Sirius XM INDYCAR Nation 218.

TRACK LAYOUT:     1.33-mile, D-shaped oval
RACE LENGTH:     225 laps / 299.25 miles

2024 WINNER:     Colton Herta
2024 POLESITTER:     Kyle Kirkwood (201.520 mph)

RAHAL’S BEST OVAL START / FINISH:     Pole (Kansas 2009) / 1st (Fontana 2015; Texas 2016)
RAHAL’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE (OVAL):     10th in 2008 / 12th in 2008; will be his third race here
RAHAL’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH:     5 poles – Pole at St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit Race 1 (street) 2017, IMS (road) 2023 August, Portland (road) / 6 wins – 1st in St. Pete in 2008, Fontana & Mid-Ohio 2015, Texas 2016, Detroit Race 1 & Race 2 2017

DEFRANCESCO’S BEST NASHVILLE START / FINISH:     Will be his first race here
DEFRANCESCO’S HIGHEST SERIES START / FINISH:     5th at the IMS road course (August 2023, 2025) / 11th at Indy 500 (2025)

FOSTER’S BEST NASHVILLE START / FINISH:     1st / 1st – 2024 INDY NXT; will be his first INDYCAR race here
FOSTER’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH:     Pole at Road America 2025 / 11th (Indy GP and Road America 2025)

RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY:     1st by Buddy Rice in 2004 / 4th by Danica Patrick in 2006

NEWS & NOTES:

NASHVILLE AND RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING
The 2025 Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix will mark the second consecutive return to oval racing in Nashville for INDYCAR, who held three races on the streets of downtown Nashville from 2021-2023. Prior to the return in 2024, the series previously conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway oval from 2001-2008. The team’s highest start at the superspeedway is pole in 2004 by Buddy Rice and highest finish is fourth with Danica Patrick in 2006. The team will enter the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Dogecoin Honda for Devlin DeFrancesco and the No. 45 Desnuda Tequila Honda entry for Louis Foster.

GRAHAM IN NASHVILLE
The 2025 season-finale will mark the third 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. Last year here, he started 19th and finished 23rd. His best start on the streets of Nashville is 9th in 2022 and best finish is fifth in 2021. After positive gains last weekend on the oval in Milwaukee, Rahal is hoping to continue to build momentum.
“I hope we can take some of what we learned in Milwaukee and move our oval setup forward. We struggled at Nashville last year but have made positive gains this season and hope to continue that. Nashville Superspeedway is kind of its own beast. I’m looking forward to getting on track and trying to finish off the season on a high note. We have made some positive gains this season overall. We qualified on the front row for the Sonsio Grand Prix, made the Firestone Fast Six four times and were competitive in more races so we have some good momentum to continue to build from in the off season.”

DEVLIN DEFRANCESCO AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
It will be Devlin’s first time to race at Nashville Superspeedway. He earned the top start and finish for the team last weekend in Milwaukee and is looking forward to continuing to assist in the development of the team’s oval package. He views the track layout as most similar to a superspeedway, like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he earned his top Indy 500 qualifying position of 18th, led 17 laps, set the fastest cumulative time in the pits and earned his top series finish of 11th place in this year’s race.
“I’ve never raced at Nashville Superspeedway and am looking forwarding to it. They call it a short oval but it’s more like a superspeedway and the last superspeedway we were at (Indy), we had a chance to win. We’ll see what we’ve got when we get there. We will be in the simulator this week to continue preparation.
(On his highlight of the season:) “I think we have shown very good potential at all of the races this season, especially the road courses. We’ve been racy at all of the road courses, been in the top five of the sessions. Obviously, leading laps at the Indy 500 was big, we really had a shot to win that one and those are all bits of momentum that we can carry over and build on. It’s the little bits of execution that we have to work on that will get us fighting in the front, as we’ve shown we can, week in and week out.”

LOUIS FOSTER AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
Foster will make his first INDYCAR start here this weekend. He competed in the INDY NXT race here last year where he led all 65 laps from pole to win the event. He participated in a rookie test here with the team on March 26 and has continued to gain experience on ovals in an INDYCAR since then. He holds a slim margin on the Rookie of the Year battle with Robert Schwartzman (203-195)
“I’ve only raced there once before in INDY NXT. It was a good weekend, and I ended up my NXT championship-winning season with a win there. The track is challenging because it’s a big one and it’s quite easy flat (on the pedal), especially in qualifying so it’s all about trimming the car and using the least amount of downforce possible while still being flat (on the pedal) so it’s an interesting circuit. There is also quite a big bump on the exit of Turn 4 which makes it even harder and that is the main difficulty of the track – that little bump.
“It’s not exactly like any of the other ovals we race at. It’s a bit between a St Louis (WWTR) and a Texas Motor Speedway, although I never drove there. It’s a pretty big oval, not massive like IMS but it’s still pretty big. Our average speed is around 190 mph-ish; it’s a fun track to go to. It’s kind of crazy that we’ve already reached the end of the season. I’m surprised at how fast the season has gone by. The highlights of the season for me are that I got a pole this year and was in the Firestone Fast Six multiple times. Qualifying has definitely been our strong suit this year but overall, I have just really enjoyed the learning curve and trying to get better and understand more and more about INDYCAR racing and what it takes to be competitive and fast. I’m obviously planning to try to finish up the season by winning the Rookie of the Year championship this weekend.”

POINTS BATTLE AFTER 16 OF 17 RACES
Heading into the season-finale, Rahal is 17th in the series standings with a total of 252 points, Foster is 21st with 203 and DeFrancesco is 26th with 159.