The 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 2023 IndyCar season. The race was held on August 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Street Circuit. The eleventh edition of INDYCAR in Nashville consisted of 80 laps and was won by Kyle Kirkwood.
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 13th round of the 2023 IndyCar season | |
 Layout of the Nashville Street Circuit | |
| Date | August 6, 2023 |
| Official name | Big Machine Music City Grand Prix |
| Location | Nashville Street Circuit, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.100 mi / 3.380 km |
| Distance | 80 laps 168.00 mi / 270.37 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) |
| Time | 01:14.6099 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver |  Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) |
| Time | 01:16.7115 (on lap 57 of 80) |
| Podium | |
| First |  Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) |
| Second | Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) |
| Third |  Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
The race was accompanied by the Wesley Mortgage Freedom Friday Tribute Concert, on Friday, August 4, featuring Brian Kelley (from Florida Georgia Line), Chris Janson, Vince Neil (from Mötley Crüe), Gavin DeGraw, Sixwire, and others. Concerts by Frank Ray, Dillon Carmichael, and Flo Rida were also announced. On Sunday, August 6, Jay DeMarcus, Jason Crabb, and others performed, presented by Red Street Records.[1]
On February 14, 2024, it was announced because of construction issues with the new Tennessee Titans stadium and the Broadway region issues with closing streets for the race, the Nashville Street Circuit race will be discontinued. It will be replaced by Gladeville's Nashville Superspeedway for the first time since 2008.
Entry list edit
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
Practice edit
Practice 1 edit
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |  Will Power
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:16.4042 |
| 2 | 10 | Álex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:16.6494 |
| 3 | 7 | Alexander Rossi
|
Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 01:16.7192 |
| Source:[3] | |||||
Practice 2 edit
Due to rain delaying the start time of practice 2, the session was shortened to 30 minutes, from the usual 45 minutes.
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson W
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:31.7999 |
| 2 | 21 |  Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:32.6910 |
| 3 | 12 | Will Power
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:32.8167 |
| Source:[4] | |||||
Qualifying edit
Due to rain causing track conditions to worsen, qualifying was moved to start at 6:15 PM ET.[5]
Qualifying classification edit
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Time | Final grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | |||||||
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:15.1629 | N/A | 01:14.7484 | 01:14.6099 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 |  Pato O'Ward
|
Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.1251 | 01:14.5944 | 01:14.9395 | 2 |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0030 | 01:14.7128 | 01:15.2416 | 3 |
| 4 | 10 | Álex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0849 | 01:14.7218 | 01:15.2462 | 4 |
| 5 | 18 | David Malukas
|
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports | Honda | 01:15.7943 | N/A | 01:15.0519 | 01:15.8703 | 5 |
| 6 | 28 |  Romain Grosjean
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:15.1570 | 01:14.7695 | 01:15.9921 | 6 |
| 7 | 12 | Will Power
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.4599 | 01:15.1384 | N/A | 7 |
| 8 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0561 | 01:15.1641 | N/A | 8 |
| 9 | 2 | Josef Newgarden
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:15.9347 | N/A | 01:15.4862 | N/A | 9 |
| 10 | 7 | Alexander Rossi
|
Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 01:15.8303 | N/A | 01:15.5711 | N/A | 10 |
| 11 | 60 | Linus Lundqvist R
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:16.0892 | N/A | 01:16.0715 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 9 | Scott Dixon W
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:15.7094 | N/A | 01:16.7692 | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 45 |  Christian Lundgaard
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:16.0985 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist
|
Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.4638 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 15 | Graham Rahal
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:16.1825 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong R
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:15.5631 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 06 |  Hélio Castroneves
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:16.2203 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 77 |  Callum Ilott
|
Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:16.0170 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| 19 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:16.3356 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 19 |
| 20 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson W
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.0420 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| 21 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 01:16.6416 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 |
| 22 | 30 | Jack Harvey
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.1193 | N/A | N/A | 22 |
| 23 | 78 |  Agustín Canapino R
|
Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 01:16.6900 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 23 |
| 24 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb R
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.3907 | N/A | N/A | 24 |
| 25 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen R
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | No Time | N/A | N/A | N/A | 25 |
| 26 | 29 |  Devlin DeFrancesco
|
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:16.4369 | N/A | N/A | 26 |
| 27 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:17.2417 | N/A | N/A | 27 |
| Source:[6] | |||||||||
- Notes
- Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.
Warmup edit
Due to qualifying being delayed to 6:15 PM ET, final practice was canceled.[5]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CANCELED | ||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| Source: | |||||
Race edit
The race started at 12:30 PM ET on August 6, 2023.
Race classification edit
Championship standings after the race edit
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References edit
- ^ "BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX ANNOUNCES THE WESLEY MORTGAGE FREEDOM FRIDAY CONCERT LINE-UP AND THE IHEART MUSIC STAGE". Visit Music City. 18 May 2023.
- ^ Bradley, Charles (August 2, 2023). "IndyCar Nashville: Start times, how to watch, entry list & more". Motorsport. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
- ^ "Practice - Results". indycar.com. August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ "Practice 2 Results". indycar.com. August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Kelly, Paul (August 5, 2023). "Qualifying Moved to 6:15 P.M. ET; Ericsson Leads Wet Practice". IndyCar.com. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
- ^ "Qualifications - Postings" (PDF). indycar.com. August 5, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ a b "Race - Results - Final" (PDF). indycar.com. August 6, 2023. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ @INDYCAR (August 6, 2023). "Points - Indycar Engine" (PDF). Retrieved August 8, 2023 – via NBC Sports.