By: Spencer Neff
August 30, 2025
After posting the best lap in Saturday morning’s practice, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward followd it up by winning the NTT P1 Award. The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES runner-up posted a two-lap average of 202.621 mph on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.
He will start at the front of the 27-car field for Sunday’s 225-lap Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot. It is O’Ward’s seventh pole and second of 2025 (Thermal Club), as well as his first on an oval. Arrow McLaren earns their 31st pole as an IndyCar team.
O’Ward started seventh and finished runner-up in las year’s race at the track.
Joining him on the front row will be A.J. Foyt Racing’s David Malukas, who finished .1067 of a second back of the pole-winning effort from O’Ward.
O’Ward’s teammate Christian Lundgaard earned his best oval start in third as part of a 1-2-3 start for Chevrolet entries.
Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was best among the 13 Hondas in the field. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion will start fourth as he wraps up his fourth championship season.
Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon will start fifth as he looks for a fourth win at the concrete oval. 20-2024 race winner Colton Herta of Andretti Global qualified 15th as he, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin (sixth and eighth) all look end the 2025 with their first victory.
PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman (19th) was best among the rookies in the field. Shwartzman trails Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster by eight in Rookie of the Year standings.
Foster will start tomorrow’s race in 24th.
PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen qualified ninth and 16th but each face nine-place grid penalties for engine changes.
Up Next
Here is the remaining weekend schedule at Nashville. Stay with IndyCar1909 for the latest on the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot.
At-track schedule (all times Central):
SATURDAY, AUG. 30
3:45-4:15 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Group Session (Two groups, 15 minutes each), FS2
4:30-5:30 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES Final Practice, FS2
SUNDAY, AUG. 31
10:31 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix “Drivers, start your engines”
10:35 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone Music City Grand Prix (65 laps/86.45 miles), FS1
1 p.m. – FOX on air
1:40 p.m. – “Drivers, start your engines”
1:45 p.m. – Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot (225 laps/299.25 miles), FOX (Live)
Header Image By Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR
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