Good morning from Nashville Superspeedway. There was quite a line to get into the track as I arrived about 25 minutes ago. If this is an indication of what attendance will be like, it is going to be a very good weekend, fan wise.

Like last year, the track and facility look great.

Today’s schedule, in Central time:

Indy NXT is on track now.

Christian Rasmussen and Callum Ilott have just been issued nine place grid penalties for engine changes.

The big news yesterday was Dale Coyne has partnered with Todd Ault, adn the Coyne cars in 2026 will both carry the liveries of Ault’s block chain companies. Rinus VeeKay will have the livery on the 18 this weekend.

Ault had an association with ECR the last couple of years, but ECr partnered with Ted Gelov. It is nice to see Dale Coyne get more financial backing. Coyne hopes to have his driver lineup set by October, ad he hopes to retain Rinus VeeKay. I honestly don’t see anywhere else for Rinus to be next year.

DC Race?

IndyCar is exploring the possibly of a street race in Washington, DC in 2026 as a tie in with the nation’s 250 birthday. With an already scrambled calendar shaping up, I don’t know where it would fit in. At any rate, don’t expect a full 2026 schedule anytime soon.

This race would be the third new race on next year’s schedule with the Texas event and likely Mexico City.. Three new races seems like quite a lot for a series to take on.

I will be back after morning practice.