By: Spencer Neff

July 20, 2026

2026 Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Results

After waiting overnight and going through a race shortened by a quarter of its original length, Alex Palou matched the World Cup victory his native Spain achieved on Sunday. Palou won Monday’s rain-delayed Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix.

This is Palou’s fifth win of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign and his first on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. Palou, who finished runner-up in 2025, swapped places with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden from last year’s running order and won by .8731 of a second.

He led 97 of 225 laps, including the final 95.

Palou ties Ralph DePalma and Bobby Rahal with his 24th INDYCAR victory and earns Chip Ganassi Racing their 150th in the series.

After starting 25th and leading 59 laps, Newgarden’s teammate David Malukas finished third, two sports short of that so-far elusive first career victory. Malukas is 86 points behind Palou in the championship standings with six races to go.

Scott McLaughlin made it a 2-3-4 finish by Team Penske, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist charging from 17th to fifth.

After starting 16th, Mick Schumacher worked his way to eighth and finished among the 16 of 25 entries on the lead lap. It is the Gland, Switzerland-born German driver’s best INDYCAR result and matches Rookie of the Year leader Dennis Hauger’s best finish of the season (Indy GP).

Recap

Kirkwood held off an early charge from Newgarden to maintain the lead in the early laps of the race. On Lap 19, A.J. Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet broke loose and made contact with the wall exiting Turn 4. Colllet would climb from his car but his day would end with a third consecutive DNF (did not finish) in as many oval starts for the rookie.

After starting on the pole and leading 24 laps, Kirkwood finished tenth.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster led a trio of drivers who elected to stay out during the ensuing caution. However, the newer tires allowed the field to quickly usurp the lead as Malukas would eventually find his way up front despite being on the older primary tires like Foster had been on.

Malukas would hold on to the lead until making his pit stop at Lap 61, handing the lead back to McLaughlin, who had been first off pit road during the Lap 23 stops. Malukas found his way back to the lead at Lap 88.

The alternate pit strategy put the race into Malukas’ hands until contact between Scott Dixon of CGR and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi brought out the third caution of the day on Lap 123.

Palou would inherit the lead for the second time of the day on Lap 131. While Hauger did fall out of the running and brought out the last caution of the day with contact in Turn 3 on Lap 181, he still has a 20-point lead in Rookie of the Year standings over Collet.

After the Lap 194 restart, Palou continued on to victory and yet another notch in his growing list of accomplishments.

Three cautions did slow the race down to an average speed of 157.193 mph, while the 11 lead changes on the afternoon were spread out between seven drivers in the 25-car field.

Up Next

Following a two-week break, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action on the west coast at the Portland International Raceway for the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland.

Opening practice on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn permanent road course in Oregon is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday, August 7 (FS1).

On Saturday, August 8, Practice 2 will run at 1:00 p.m. ET (FS1) with qualifying at 7:00 p.m. ET (FS1).

Race Day begins with the morning warmup at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 9 (FS1). The 110-lap race is set for a 1:27 p.m. green flag (FOX). Stay with IndyCar1909.com and our social media platforms to get the latest on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Header Image By Joe Skibinski/INDYCAR