The IndyCar season finale will take place this weekend at the Nashville Speedway in Tennessee. Alex Palou and Will Power are both seeking a third drivers’ title, as the championship fight between the pair has come down to the final race.
IndyCar will crown its 2024 champion at this weekend’s Music City Grand Prix, which is the final round of the season. It will see drivers race around the 1.33-mile D-shaped Nashville Speedway circuit, with an oval-shaped finale taking place for the first time in over a decade.
It is the first time in 16 years that an IndyCar race has been held on the track and was initially supposed to take place in downtown Nashville - but ongoing building works for the New Nissan Stadium had called for a change of plans, as it would interfere with the construction.
When is the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
Date: Sunday 15 September 2024
Start time: 8pm BST | 9pm CEST | 3pm EST | 12pm PT
The IndyCar Music City GP will take place between Saturday 14 - Sunday 15 September 2024. The race will start at 8pm BST on Sunday 15 September, with drivers set to take on a 206-lap finale.
How to watch the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
British viewers can watch all the action of both the IndyCar Music City GP and the Indy NXT finale on Sky Sports F1, with both races broadcast live. Sky Sports F1 will also run the IndyCar practice and qualifying sessions live on Saturday, around Formula 1’s Azerbaijan GP coverage.
Extended highlights from the race will be available to watch a couple of days after the event on the IndyCar YouTube channel. Following the previous Milwaukee Mile 250s races at the start of September highlights for the races were premiered live on the channel the following day.
IndyCar’s streaming service IndyCar Live also gives viewers full access to the practice and qualifying sessions as well as in-car cameras and the similar NXT sessions. The platform costs £3.99 for a monthly subscription, but those in the United Kingdom are unable to watch the live races or replays as Sky Sports has exclusive rights.
What are the timings for the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
Here are the full timings for the IndyCar Music City GP, including the timings for Indy NXT:
|
Session
|
Date
|
BST
|
CEST
|
ET
|
PT
|
|
Indy NXT - Practice 1
|
Saturday 14 September
|
3pm
|
4pm
|
10am
|
7am
|
|
IndyCar - Practice 1
|
Saturday 14 September
|
4pm
|
5pm
|
11am
|
8am
|
|
Indy NXT - Practice 2
|
Saturday 14 September
|
6pm
|
7pm
|
1pm
|
10am
|
|
IndyCar - Qualifying
|
Saturday 14 September
|
7.15pm
|
8.15pm
|
2.15pm
|
11.15am
|
|
Indy NXT - Qualifying
|
Saturday 14 September
|
8.45pm
|
9.45pm
|
3.45pm
|
12.45pm
|
|
IndyCar - Final practice
|
Saturday 14 September
|
10.15pm
|
11.15pm
|
5.15pm
|
2.15pm
|
|
Indy NXT - Race
|
Sunday 15 September
|
4.50pm
|
5.50pm
|
11.50am
|
8.50pm
|
|
IndyCar - Race
|
Sunday 15 September
|
8pm
|
9pm
|
3pm
|
12pm
|
What is the weather forecast for the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
IndyCar’s Music City GP is set to be impacted by wet weather across the weekend, with Nashville expected to be affected by Hurricane Francine. Thundery showers should hit Nashville on both days of the event which could make for an interesting title decider.
Saturday 14 September:
Thundery showers from Friday will carry over to Saturday’s running. The first practice session at 10am (local time) will be impacted by a 70% chance of light rain with a gentle south-easterly breeze. Temperatures are expected to hit highs of 21C (69.8F) but forecasted to feel like 27C (80.6F).
Qualifying later in the day will be affected by thunder showers and they are forecast to start at 12pm before continuing until the end of the day. The chance of rain remains at 70% and temperatures will slightly increase to 23C (73.4F) and is expected to feel like 29C (84.2F).
Sunday 15 September:
Further thunder showers are forecast from 11am through to 8pm for the final race of the IndyCar season. A 70% chance of rain continues throughout the early afternoon but begins to reduce from 4pm onwards, meaning there is a high chance of rain for the early stages of the Music City GP as it begins at 3pm. Temperatures are expected to be 23C (73.4F) but are predicted to feel like 30C (86F).
What are the headlines for the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
The Music City GP will see the crowning of the 2024 IndyCar champion. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou holds a 33-point advantage over Team Penske’s Will Power in his pursuit of back-to-back titles and his third in four seasons. To claim the title, Palou just needs to finish ninth or higher regardless of where Power is classified.
Elsewhere, Dale Coyne Racing has announced that Katherine Legge will race at the Music City GP. IndyCar’s only female driver has competed in every oval race this season, where her best finish came at The Milwaukee Mile when the Briton finished 15th in the second race.
Ahead of the finale, IndyCar bosses came under fire after attempting to play down Pato O’Ward’s popularity when it came to a potential race in Mexico.
Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said: “I will say that it’s clear that Pato isn’t as famous as the last previously famous Mexican driver, Adrian Fernandez, but he’s really gaining ground, and he’s actually on some billboards now.”
But the McLaren F1 Team has since announced that O’Ward will drive for the team in free practice at the Mexican GP in October.
McLaren’s IndyCar squad, meanwhile, has announced that NASCAR’s Kyle Larson will return to the team next year for the historic Indianapolis 500.
It means that Larson will once again attempt The Double, which is when a driver contests the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca Cola 600 across the same weekend. This will come after his failed attempt in 2024, where a rain delay to the Indy 500 meant Larson was unable to start the NASCAR event in Charlotte, which got cut short because of wet conditions.
What are the tyre compounds for the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix?
IndyCar teams will have the choice between Firestone black primary tyres or Firestone alternate red tyres for the IndyCar Music City GP - the second time this year that alternates have been brought to an oval race. It is not common for alternate tyres to be used on oval tracks for a variety of reasons including cost and safety, but with changes to where the event was held, bosses opted to minimize disruption and keep the different compound tyres.
Each car will be given six sets of primary black compound tyres, as well as four sets of the alternate red compounds which are a softer compound and allow for faster speeds. The use of two compound tyres will offer teams different strategy options and should make for some more wheel-to-wheel action.
Where is the IndyCar Music City Grand Prix being held?
The IndyCar Music City GP will take place at the Nashville Superspeedway, which has hosted both IndyCar and NASCAR races. The 1.33-mile circuit was opened in 2001 and features a D-shaped oval track and 14-degree banking on the turns.
IndyCar has not visited the track since 2008 after negotiations for a contract renewal broke down. It returns in 2024 after the construction of the New Nissan Stadium interferes with the street course which had been used since 2021.
The IndyCar lap record at the Nashville Superspeedway was set by Sam Hornish Jr in the Dallara IR-02. The three-time champion set the record time of 0:22.9685 seconds during the 2003 Indy 200 at the track.
