Lebanon, TN – The NTT INDYCAR Series held its 17th and final race of the season at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway oval to decide the championship between Alex Palou and Will Power. Of the 27 drivers in the field, only three had raced on the all-cement, higher-banked (turns 14 degrees), D-shaped track before: Scott Dixon, Power and Graham Rahal.
The title fight anticlimactically ended on Lap 12 of 206, when Power had to pit to reattach a loose lap belt. The Australian started fourth but fell five laps down, handing the 2024 championship to Palou, who earned his third title in four years. Finishing 11th at Nashville, the Spaniard accumulated 544 total points, with two wins this season.
Delighting the fans, Colton Herta passed cars high and low, with a number of daring moves. With four laps to go, the Nashville resident took the lead from Pato O’Ward with a thrilling three-wide pass, earning his first oval victory by a margin of 1.81 seconds. Joseph Newgarden followed in third.
“My car has been so fast this whole weekend,” said Herta, earning his ninth career win after leading 24 laps. “The car was fantastic and I could do a lot with it. I was able to pass coming off the corners. Our strategy was great and we put it all together. It’s been an amazing year, finishing second in the championship. I couldn’t ask for a better ending. Hopefully, we can do a little bit better next year.”
Drivers had only 13 minutes of final practice after rain delays on Saturday, preventing them from determining the longevity of the alternate red tires, designed to degrade faster than the primary black side wall tires. The only other time INDYCAR has required using alternate tires on an oval was at World Wide Technology Raceway (St. Louis) last season.
“I had no idea where I was until the end of the race,” revealed O’Ward, who made his fourth and final pit stop on Lap 161, fulfilling the requirement of using his second set of Firestone alternate tires. “We continued pushing. We really took these tires to the limit to what they’re capable of. Those red tires at the end had so much vibration that I couldn’t see straight and struggled to even talk to the team. It was pretty gnarly at the end. Had the race been a lap longer, Newgarden would have probably passed me.
“We got stuck with traffic, which gave Colton (Herta) a run,” continued the Arrow McLaren driver. “That one stings a little bit. (The victory) got taken from us pretty late. But it was a fantastic race and a really good way to end the season. We have work to do to catch up to Ganassi. That team set the bar high. We fell a little bit short. You can never count out the Penske’s and Ganassi’s.”
Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood captured his second career pole and first on an oval with a two-lap average speed of 201.520 mph. The pole record of 206.211 mph (22.6952 seconds) was set by Dixon in 2003 in a much different chassis, long before the added extra weight (over 70 lbs.) from the hybrid system and aeroscreen (60 lbs.).
Kirkwood led the most laps, 67, to finish fourth, followed by Scott McLaughlin. Newgarden battled with Kirkwood at the beginning, having started on the front row, and led 54 laps, but lacked pace to chase down Herta.
“It’s good to be back here racing in Nashville,” stated a disappointed Newgarden, who has had an up-and-down season. “We had an incredible crowd for making the shift year over year (from the downtown street course to the oval). Everybody’s efforts should be applauded.
“As for our race, we made up about 12 seconds in the last 25 laps,” continued the Nashville resident. “It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow. It’s hard to not be upset today because we had a winning car.”
Power qualified fourth but Palou struggled, qualifying 15th after being fastest in practice. Due to an unapproved engine penalty, Palou gridded 24th (using more than four engines required to reach 2,500 miles each during the 17-race season).
“On the lap belt (that came undone), that was weird,” described Power, who joins Paul Tracy and Robby Gordon, who each suffered a similar fate during their careers. “That’s a very abnormal thing. I just don’t know what went wrong. We’ll have to send it back to the manufacturer. Very strange failure. Disappointing, but big congrats to Alex (Palou). Tough guy to beat.
“Ganassi did a great job this year,” continued Power. ”It’s been fun racing those guys. We dropped back to fourth (in the championship). If you don’t win, it doesn’t matter. Happy with the season. Obviously, stoked to win three races this year. It’s a tough series and very difficult to win. The whole team won about half of the races. I want to win that championship, so I’ll come back fighting next year.”
Power, who finished 24th, earned just six points for a season total of 498, dropping him to fourth overall. Palou finished the season with 544 points by finishing 11th in the race.
“I had to go for it at the beginning and take some chances,” explained Palou, who gained ten spots in the first stint. “I was starting so far back and needed to move up. I saw the No. 12 going into pit lane and wondered what their strategy was. After that, I was just doing our own race and moving forward. But my red tires had 40 to 50 laps so I couldn’t do much.
“It was very dangerous to not have a seat belt,” continued Palou, about Power’s situation. “We had a battery issue two weeks ago (Milwaukee race). When it’s not your day, you can’t do anything.”
Chip Ganassi Racing has now earned 16 titles compared to Team Penske’s 17.
The Nashville event resulted in a US $23 million payout. Beyond the champion receiving the $1 million prize and the Astor Cup trophy, the top 22 entrants receive about $1 million each as a form of appearance money through the Leader’s Circle program. Only three cars per team are eligible, eliminating two of the five Ganassi cars.
Teams fighting to make the cut were Juncos Holliger, Meyer Shank, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL), AJ Foyt, Ed Carpenter, and Dale Coyne Racing. The RLL No. 30 car of Pietro Fittipaldi took the final paying spot in 22nd by eclipsing the No. 41, driven by Sting Ray Robb for AJ Foyt Racing, by one point.
Linus Lundqvist wrapped up the Rookie of the Year award for Chip Ganassi Racing, worth $50,000, driving the No. 8 American Legion “Be the One” Honda, earning 279 points over teammate Kyffin Simpson, driving the No. 4 Journie Rewards car, with 182 points.
Chevrolet earned their third consecutive Manufacturer’s Title and ninth since returning to competition in 2012 with the 2.2 L, V-6 twin turbocharged engine formula. Collecting 11 wins and eight pole awards, they finished with 1,498 points to Honda’s 1,350 (counting the top two finishers’ points who have not exceeded the four allotted engines).
