For the first time since 2014, an NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship is on the line at an oval track.
Nashville Superspeedway will be the site of this weekend’s season-ending title bout, which essentially features Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou and Team Penske’s Will Power. Palou will take a 33-point lead to the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Presented by Gainbridge. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin is mathematically eligible to win the Astor Challenge Cup, but he will be eliminated once Palou starts Sunday’s 206-lap race (2 p.m. CT, NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Palou can secure his second consecutive season title and third in four years by finishing ninth or better. Power will need to finish in the top three to have any chance at overtaking the Spaniard. Interestingly, Power led the points when title was last decided on an oval a decade ago at Auto Club Speedway, and he exited that race with the first of his two series championships.
This will be the first race on this 1.33-mile concrete oval since 2008 when Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon won for the third year in a row. That was one of eight series races previously held at the track, with Dixon competing in the past six. He also finished second in 2003, and he has twice won the pole.
Power and Graham Rahal have each made one start there, in 2008, finishing 11th and 12th.
Power’s title hopes ride on the fact Team Penske has dominated the oval races this season. There have been six such races, and Roger Penske’s organization has won five, including Power’s victory in the Hy-Vee One Step 250 presented by Gatorade on July 14, the second race of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader. Josef Newgarden and McLaughlin have two oval race wins each this season.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward has the season’s other oval race win – in the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 on Aug. 31, the first of two races at the Milwaukee Mile.
Palou still seeks the first oval victory of his career, although he has twice finished second, including in the Iowa race that Power won earlier this season.
McLaughlin will look to finish the season strong. He has top-three finishes in five of the past eight races to climb from eighth to third in the standings. He has a pair of race wins and three NTT P1 Awards in that stretch. With three race wins this season, McLaughlin shares the series lead with Power and O’Ward. Palou, Newgarden and Dixon have two race wins each.
Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian’s Colton Herta is the other driver with a race win this season, which means there are a host of drivers still hoping to get to victory lane this season. Chief among those are three drivers in the top 10 in points: Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren and Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing. Kirkwood won last year’s street race in Nashville. Ferrucci’s next race win will be his first in the series.
A unique aspect of this event will be the option to use an alternate tire compound provided by Firestone. This will be only the second time in series history that teams will have two compound choices on an oval track. Last year, there were two available in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway, a race won by Dixon.
With the hybrid technology offering additional surges of horsepower, the series is coming off a thrilling event at Milwaukee. On consecutive days there were a season-high number of passes for position: 667 in Race 1, 763 in Race 2.
Now, another oval awaits, and there is a championship trophy to award. Who wins it?
