By: Spencer Neff
August 6, 2023

2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Results

Temporary street circuits have been the highlights early on in Kyle Kirkwood’s career. On Sunday, the sophomore driver continued that trend, wheeling his No. 27 Andretti Autosport machine to victory in the third Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. It is their first win in the race as a team and Honda’s third on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee.

After starting eighth, the Long Beach winner found his way to the front during the first set of green flag pit stops. Despite a pair of late-race cautions, the Jupiter, Florida native hung on for the second win of his career (both on street circuits this season). He led 34 of 80 laps on the afternoon, most any driver in the 27-car field.

Finishing runner-up after starting on pole for a second consecutive year, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin finished .7633 of a second back, best of the Chevrolet teams.

In third, duplicating his 2022 result, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou now has an 84-point lead over Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who finished fourth. 2022 race winner Scott Dixon joined his CGR teammate in the Top Five.

By finishing 13th, Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing maintains a 31-point lead in the rookie standings over Agusting Canapino.

Including today’s race on the 2.1-mile, 11-turn street circuit, Dixon has now made 318 consecutive INDYCAR starts, equaling the record set by former teammate Tony Kanaan at Texas in 2020.

While the race featured a track record nine lead changes among six drivers, four cautions spanning eight laps (fewest in race history) and a red flag slowed the average speed to 85.396 mph.

Race Recap

After needing to retrieve his earbuds prior to the start, Team Penske’s Will Power was able to catch up and rejoin the field from sixth on the grid. Race Control waved off the initial start and forced the field to reset.

On the second attempt, McLaughlin was able to lead the field to the green flag and set the early pace. Within the first six laps, four drivers had made their first pit stop, swapping the guayule (alternate) Firestone tires in order to run the primary sets.

The race would run under green flag conditions until David Malukas suffered a rear-wing failure in Turn 9. As his Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsport entry slowed to a halt, the first caution of the day was brought out on Lap 13. After qualifying fifth, Malukas’ day was over.

McLaughlin and O’Ward continued leading the way after the Lap 16 restart. Further back, Herta dove onto pit road after a barrage of contact during the restart, shuffling him back in the pack. The alternates proved to be a challenge for O’Ward, who pitted on Lap 24 after dro[pping to sixth.

A lap later, McLaughlin pitted from the lead, allowing Grosjean and Kirkwood to lead. The former of the Andretti drivers would pit on Lap 28, giving Kirkwood the lead until his stop a lap later.

It would be the Ganassi teams’ making their way up front, with Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou both spending time in the race lead afterward. On Lap 45, the points leader would pit, giving the lead back to Kirkwood.

On Lap 71, the long green flag stretch ended. Putting a sour end to an impressive debut weekend, rookie Linus Lundqvist crashed in Turn 11. The Meyer Shank Racing driver, who out-qualified the other four rookies in 11th, would see his day come to an end. It would be a 25th-place finish for the 2022 Indy Lights (now INDY NXT by Firestone) Champion, who set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 57 (1m16.7115-98.551 mph).

During the caution, Jack Harvey suffered front wing damage after the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver made contact with the inside retaining wall in Turn 8. Six laps earlier, Andretti Autosport’s Devlin DeFrancesco would fall out of the race due to contact.

On the Lap 75 restart, Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist drifted into the Turn 11 wall during a battle with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay continued on but rookies Agustin Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen were caught up in the ensuing melee. The red flag was brought out with five laps to go.

Despite rallying to make a hard charge in the final laps, McLaughlin fell short as Kirkwood held on for the victory in the final street course race of 2023. With four races remaining, three permanent road courses and one oval remain for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Up Next

The busy stretch to end the 2023 season continues with a return trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Practice 1 for the Gallagher Grand Prix is set for 9:00 a.m. ET with qualifying at 12:30 p.m. and final practice at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 11. The 85-lap race will be run on Saturday, August 12 with USA Network providing broadcast coverage at 2:00 p.m. ET.

IndyCar1909 will have continuing updates on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES through our website and social media platforms.

Header Image BY Travis Hinkle/INDYCAR