Kyle Kirkwoodcaptured pole for the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway.
The Florida native, second in the championship, was the penultimate driver to qualify and produced a stunning two-lap average of 196.852mph in the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda. It’s his first pole of the season, and second at Nashville Superspeedway.
“Quite honestly, it’s the car that Andretti gives me here,” said Kirkwood, 27. “We were quick in practice. We’ve been good here the past couple of years. I mean, do the same as everybody else is doing: hold it flat and hope your car goes fast. And they build really good cars around me. Did everything right, managed the tools a little bit, got aggressive with some trim; it worked out well.
Josef Newgarden, the defending race winner, ended up second after a 196.642mph two-lap average run.
Team Penske’s David Malukas did not qualify following his crash in opening practice that prompted a visit to a nearby hospital and the crew bringing out and preparing a backup car. Malukas’ status for the remainder of the weekend has yet to be determined.
The rundown
ECR’s Christian Rasmussen set the fastest early time, with a 195.585mph two-lap average, to move ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel and AJ Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, the ninth driver to go out, jumped to second on the timesheets with a 195.332mph two-lap average.
After the opening nine runs, Rasmussen led Ferrucci, Siegel, Collet, Mick Schumacher and Louis Foster.
Alexander Rossi was the 10th driver to go out and delivered a strong qualifying effort in his #20 ECR Chevrolet, posting a 195.664mph two-lap average to dethrone teammate Rasmussen from provisional pole.
Neither Kyffin Simpson nor Will Power could challenge the provisional front row, although Power briefly moved into fifth at 194.892mph.
Graham Rahal never completed a qualifying run after multiple stalls left him unable to leave pit lane within the mandatory 60-second window. He called over the radio with the “fuel pressure at zero” in his #15 RLL Honda. He was forced out of line and towed back to the garage as a result.
Marcus Armstrong the 13th driver to go out following Rahal’s misfortunes, put together a couple of solid laps and put his #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda in third at 195.578mph.
The #76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Rinus VeeKay went out next and managed to vault into fourth at 195.434mph. Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson followed VeeKay in the order and slotted into fifth.
Six-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon went out next and posted a 195.802mph average to take provisional pole away from Rossi.
McLaughlin immediately eclipsed Dixon with a 196.087mph average in his #3 Team Penske Chevrolet.
Meyer Shank Racing Felix Rosenqvist was next up and dished out a less-than-stellar two-lap run of 194.808mph to sit 13th.
Defending race winner Newgarden was the 19th of the initially expected 21 drivers to go out, and relegated his Team Penske teammate to second after a two-lap average of 196.642mph.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward couldn't challenge for pole with a 195.154mph two-lap run to slot 10th, directly ahead of teammate Siegel.
Christian Lundgaard’s oval woes continued, with a miserable qualifying outing of 194.086mph that left him holding in 17th with two drivers left to go.
Kirkwood backed up his practice pace with a 196.852mph average to knock Newgarden off provisional pole.
Reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou went out last and couldn't improve on fourth with a 196.050mph average.
