IMSA WEATHERTECH SERIES
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Big Machine Music City Grand Prix – Streets of Nashville
Pre-Race Notes
Round 13 of 17 in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
DATE: August 4-6, 2023
PRACTICE BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium on Friday from 4:00 – 5:15 p.m. ET and on Saturday from 11:40 – 12:40 p.m. and 6:25 – 6:55 p.m. ET. Also live on the INDYCAR Radio Network (IRN) and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis).
QUALIFYING BROADCAST: Live on Peacock Premium, the IRN and www.indycar.com (timing & scoring + live analysis) from 2:45 – 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday.
RACE BROADCAST: Live on NBC on Sunday, August 6 from 12:00 – 3:00 p.m. ET. And also on Peacock Premium, IRN and Sirius XM 160.
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.15-mile road course
RACE LENGTH: 80 laps / 205.62 miles
2022 WINNER: Scott Dixon
2022 POLESITTER: Scott McLaughlin (1:14.5555 / 101.401 mph)
RAHAL’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE: 9th in 2022 / 5th in 2021; will be his 3rd event here
RAHAL’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 3 Poles – St. Pete (street) 2009, Kansas (oval) 2009, Detroit (street) 2017 / 6 Wins – St. Pete 2008, Fontana (oval; 500 miles) 2015, Mid-Ohio (road) 2015, Texas (oval) 2016; Detroit Race 1 2017, Detroit Race 2 2017
HARVEY’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE: 6th in 2021 / 10th in 2022; will be his 3rd event here
HARVEY’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 2nd – Indy GP & Road America (2020), St. Pete 2021 / 3rd at the Indy GP (2019)
LUNDGAARD’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE: 3rd / 8th – both in 2022; will be his 2nd event here
LUNDGAARD’S BEST SERIES START / FINISH: 2 Poles – IMS (road course) 2023, Toronto (street) 2023 / 1 Win – Toronto (street) 2023
RLL’S BEST START / FINISH AT NASHVILLE: 3rd by Lundgaard in 2022 / 5th by Rahal in 2021
NEWS & NOTES:
MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX OF NASHVILLE AND RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING
The 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix will mark the third race for the series on the streets of downtown Nashville. The series previously conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Super Speedway 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. The team will enter the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda for Graham Rahal, the No. 30 Kustom Entertainment entry for Jack Harvey and the No. 45 Hy-Vee entry for Christian Lundgaard.
GRAHAM AT NASHVILLE
In the inaugural race in 2021, Rahal finished fifth after starting 13th. Last year, he started 9th and ran 10th until the pit cycle started. After his first stop on Lap 23/80 during a FCC for Castroneves, who spun, he was running 10th when the field checked up ahead of him and O’Ward ran into Power and Rahal ran into O’Ward. He damaged his front wing and was dragging it under the front of this car until he made it back to the pits. The team replaced the wing and he returned to the track but hit the wall at the end of pit out. The crew took the car behind the pits to repair the front and rear suspension on the right side due to the high number of incidents and potential to gain valuable points if able to continue. Once he was back on track, the car was bottoming and he hit the wall on the bridge and ultimately retired from the race in 23rd. He ran well in practice on the streets of Toronto and stood a good chance of qualifying well there until intermittent rain came during qualifying and he started start. His charge up to ninth was impressive but he hopes to get the maximum from his race car and have a drama-free race on one of the most unpredictable events of the year.
“I think we’ve found speed. I think Toronto was a good culmination of opportunities for Christian and myself. I don’t think we were the fastest cars on that given weekend but obviously everything in the race went well for Christian so I hope there are things that we can gain and learn from that, that we can take to Nashville. I think we still have significant performance to find on street courses but hopefully we can carry some of the things over from Toronto. Last year in Nashville, we were decently competitive so hopefully it will work out. The Nashville race is just so unbelievably unpredictable; that’s what’s hard about it. It’s very difficult to have a smooth race as I learned last year with two accidents. It’s difficult to stay out of trouble; the back section of the track is so tight. It’s a wildcard of a race and I expect it to be crazy and interesting once again. Nashville is a huge market and it appears it’s going to be our season finale going forward. It’s a market INDYCAR racing must be in and it’s a huge opportunity for us as a sport so I hope we can keep building upon it.”
JACK AND THE MUSIC CITY GP
Harvey is hoping the third time is the charm in Nashville after some competitive runs in Music City. Last year, he started 11th and took the checkered flag in ninth place but was given a post-race penalty for avoidable contact with Pagenaud and dropped one position. In the inaugural race in 2021, Harvey qualified sixth and finished 15th in an eventful race that saw an eight-car pileup and was later red-flagged and ultimately won by Ericsson, who brought out an early-race caution and had to go to the back of the field. After the team made gains on the street course setup in Toronto, Harvey is looking forward to earning a strong result in the final street race of the season.
“I’m looking forward to Nashville, it’s one of my favorite race events we go to. I absolutely love the city. Last year we had a pretty decent race amidst all of the chaos, which has been a bit of a theme there. Heading into the weekend, we’re just looking for a clean, smooth one. If we can execute those things, I definitely feel like we can go and be competitive and think our street course car has been quite good. Without the Toronto Lap 1 incident, I think we would have had a pretty great race there as well. I’m quite optimistic heading into the weekend but a smooth and sensible one is the best path we should take right now.”
CHRISTIAN ARRIVES TO NASHVILLE AS THE MOST RECENT STREET COURSE WINNER
Lundgaard arrives to Nashville for his second race here as the winner of the previous street race in Toronto on July 16. Last year, he earned his top starting position to date with third place and was passed by Palou on the start to run fourth. He made his first stop from second place on Lap 23 under caution and ran in the top-10 for the next stint as there were some drivers on a different pit stop strategy. When Rahal and Veekay brought out the caution from Laps 52-55, many jumped in the pits and Lundgaard cycled into third place. He ran his best lap of the race on Lap 60 of 80 from third place and took over second when Newgarden had to pit for fuel on Lap 66. He held second through one restart but dropped to third place on Lap 76/80 when McLaughlin passed him. A red flag came out for nearly 12 minutes when Grosjean crashed and on the restart on Lap 78/80, Lundgaard dropped from third to eighth place. He plans to apply the experience he gained in his Toronto win from pole to Nashville.
“Nashville is definitely going to be one of more fun weekends of the year. We were competitive there last year and obviously coming off a win in Toronto, the previous street circuit, I think we can walk in with expectations to do well. We knew that Iowa (short oval) was going to be a struggle for us but we were obviously hoping for more with the momentum boost we were carrying. I’m obviously expecting to have a good result and carry the momentum forward for the rest of the championshjp. We’ve just got to execute. I think we’ll have a good package in Nashville, and we know we’ll have a good package at the Brickyard GP the following weekend and I’m obviously looking forward to that one. Overall, I’m pretty excited for the races in this last stretch of the season and will try to see if we can put the Hy-Vee team back on the top spot of the podium.”
POINTS BATTLE AFTER 12 OF 17 RACES
Heading into Round 13 of 17 at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, Lundgaard is in ninth place in the series standings with a total of 275 points. Rahal is 16th with 182 and Harvey is 23rd with 124.
