Some final thoughts on the final IndyCar race of 2025:
I honestly don’t remember seeing a better non-Indy 500 race. The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix had all the elements of a great race- side by side duels for the lead, an ever-changing front of the field, drama, disappointment, chaos, and 27 drivers with little to lose. The order of the top four spots are in doubt until the checkered flag.
If having Alex Palou winning the championship with two races to go creates what we have seen at Milwaukee and Nashville the last two weeks, let him clinch early every year.
I said after Milwaukee that Nashville had a tough act to follow. Now, Milwaukee, the ball is in your court for 2026.
Here is my breakdown of the race, the event, and the FOX broadcast.
The Race
Kudos to IndyCar and Firestone for hitting an aero and tire combination that was perfect. The racing was as good as I’ve ever seen. There were side by side battles, but nothing like the pack racing of the mid 2010s.
I just watched the race, and I studied the David Maukas/Louis Foster incident. While I agree with the blocking call on Foster, I trhink Malukas has some share of the incident. He came straight down on Foster. Malukas should have shown some patience, especially dealing with a rookie. I understand his urgency to try to get to O’Ward, who was leading, but patience is usually rewarded.
Foster had been lapped by O’Ward, so I don’t understand why he was fighting Malukas so hard. I can understand trying to stay ahead of the leader, but once the leader puts a car a lap down, that driver needs to let the other leaders through.
The top 10 finishers had an average starting position of 11.6. Runner-up Palou was the highest starer in fourth, and fifth place Conor Daly the lowest starter in 24th.
From yesterday:
The Event
Attendance was down from last year, which is puzzling considering the Titans were not playing at home as was the case in 2024. It was a better than both days at Iowa combined, but still lots of bare aluminum showed.
Tram service from the infield to the grandstands and back needws to improve in the event there is a huge crowd in the coming years. There two, maybe three trams running single cars which held 25-30 people, pulled by SUVs. The track needs to double up on the trailer cars, and have larger vehicles towing them so that fans do not have to wait so long for a ride.
The pickup/drop-off locations are quite remote, requiring a long walk to the grandstands. The outside location could be moved into the parking lot. I’m not sure if the infield station can be put anywhere other than where it is outside the paddock.
The event ran smoothly otherwise, and the fans there seemed to be having a good time. I hope the season finale stays at the Speedway, rather than moving back downtown.
FOX
I admit I was skeptical of how well FOX Sports would do televising IndyCar, and the first couple of broadcasts did nothing to lower my level of concern, but slowly and steadily the presentation improved weekly.
The network added graphics and improved the location of the in-car telemetry screen. They finally added a pit stop timer and made the drivers’ pictures more realistic. The Driver’s Eye is a great view.
I have always enjoyed Will Buxton, and he grew into the lead announcer role over the course of the season.
Jack Harvey relaxed and felt right at home covering the pits after a debut in which he was stiff and nervous. I think adding the grid run allowed him to get more comfortable. I think Jack will be even better next season.
It helped the broadcast that they brought James Hinchcliffe, Townsend Bell, Kevin Lee, and Georgia Henneberry over from NBC. They are consummate professionals, and they work well together.
Now we wait for Silly Season the 2026 schedule. I have a feeling there will be news tomorrow.
I will have a season review later in the week. Thanks to all who followed along this season.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 