What a roller coaster of a day for David Malukas.
Final Practice – The Kid is Alright
Tag: NTT Indycar Series
Malukas Released; Cleared to Drive
David Malukas returned to Nashville Superspeedway about an hour after qualifying ended. He demonstrated to the satisfaction of IndyCar medical staff that he could enter and exit the car without any issues.
Malukas sustained a knee injury in this morning’s practice and spent much of the day at a local hospital for evaluation. He told FOX news r=that he did not have any broken bones.
\Team Penske issued the following statement”
A large corwd had gathered at the garage of the 12 car waiting for Malukas to undergo the test.
He had no problem entering or exiting the cockpit.
Malukas has gone on track for an install lap. I’m happy to see Malukas return, but it’s hard not ot feel bad for Conor Daly, who would have subbed for Malukas. Daly has driven for every team in the paddock except Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing.
Kirkwood Nips Newgarden for Nashville Pole
Breaking: Per Bruce Martin, David Malukas has been cleared to participate in tonight’s practice and tomorrow’s race if he can prove to IndyCar that he can climb in and exit the cockpit of the car.
Kyle Kirkwood used a huge first lap to edge Josef Newgarden for the pole for tomorrow’s Music City Grand Prix. Newgarden had run the fastest times of the day to post a 196.642 mph average. Kirkwood answered with an opening lap i9n the 197 range, which was enough of a margin to beat Newgarden’s average. Kirkwood’s average was 196.852 mph. he won the pole by five hundredths of a second.
Qualifying was also notable for who didn’t qualify. Team Penske’s car 12 did not present itself for qualifying as the backup car was not completed in time. The team is still waiting to see if David Malukas will be cleared to drive tomorrow or even in practice tonight. Conor Daly had been named to qualify the car, which meant Daly would be the driver for the rest of weekend.
Graham Rahal could not get his car started, and he did not qualify. A fuel pressure issue is suspected.
Points leader Alex Palou, who nearly caught up to Kirkwood in practice, will start fourth.
Strong Team Efforts
Team Penske will star second and third. Scott McLaughlin will line up in row 2
Chip Ganassi Racing has Palou in fourth and Scott Dixon in fifth. Marcus Armstrong starts eighth.
Alexander Rossi qualified sixth and Christian Rasmussen seventh for ECR.
Rinus VeeKay added another top 1 qualifying spot for Juncos Hollinger Racing. He continues to drive above the team’s equipment, yet we hear nothing about him moving to a more competitive team for 2027.
Pato O’Ward qualified 12th, just ahead of teammate Nolan Siegel.
Notes
Qualifying started 10 minutes earlier than the published broadcast time. If the series was concerned about rain, none was imminent.
Weather tomorrow still looks iffy for the scheduled race start time. I would not be bothered if we end up having a night race.
Results
Daly to Qualify Car 12
Conor Daly will qualify the 12 car for David Malukas, who was injured in a practice crash this morning. Malukas’s knee hit the steering wheel and popped it out of the car.
The number 12 car will serve a nine grid spot penalty for an engine change no matter who qualifies it. It is uncertain whether Malukas will return for this evening’s practice sessions.
No announcement, therefore, has come about who will be in the car on race day. Daly is the most likely driver since he drove in the Indianapolis 500 in May.
The 12 car is scheduled to make the 22nd qualifying attempt this afternoon. The Team Penske Verizon crew is currently assembling a backup car.
Should Malukas be able to race on sinday, he car will start 25th.
Kirkwood Leads Practice; Malukas Injured
Kyle Kirkwood set the fast lap early in practice 1 for the Music City Grand Prix. David Malukas crashed heavily in turn 2 about 30 minutes into the session. The red flag lasted 20 minutes to repair safer barrier damage. Malukas has been transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
IndyCar added 10 minutes to the session to make up some of the time lost.
Temperatures rose quickly during the only practice before qualifying it will be ve evenwarmer during qualifying at 2 pm local time.
Alex Palou mounted a challenge to Kirkwood late in the session, but ended the round 0.0158 seconds behind the Andretti driver. Despite Malukas’s crash, he still had the third fastest lap.
Malukas began the day on the back foot as he and Christian Lundgaard received 9 grid spot penalties for unapproved engine changes. We are waiting for an update on Malukas’s status for today and tomorrow.
Next up is qualifying at 3 pm Eastern time on FOX.
Results
Grid Penalties for Lundgaard, Malukas
From IndyCar Officiating:
Nashville: Heat, Rain Loom over Weekend
Good morning from an already warm Nashville. Weather may play a significant role in how the race weekend plays out.
rwx
The weather from @Indycar_Wwxman: from last night:
I think today will be dry, but tomorrow could see a delay in the start of the race, which will hurt the television number the series is seeking. Let’s hope any rain on Sunday is pushed more towards sunset, although I would not mind a night race at this track.
Today’s schedule in Central time:
Qualifying is on FOX, a first for the network. Morning practices are on FS1 and everything after IndyCar qualifying is on FS2.
There are rumblings in the paddock about the historic first charter sale and talk of an existing team getting new ownership. I hope to find out the details this weekend.
I will be back after rthe first practice with results, and I want to see how the track is addressing fan comfort this weekend.
Nashville Preview
IndyCar returns to the oval at Nashville Superspeedway this weekend, ending a six week drought of races on ovals. It will be another six weeks before the next oval race.
Nashville had been the season finale in 2024 and 2025, but the race was moved to be the event following the World Cup in hopes of scoring a huge television rating- good for sponsors and the series. I’m not sure how many soccer fans will stick around after the game, featuring Spain and Argentina, but I think there will be a significant viewing boost.
The racing at Nashville has been great the past two years, and I’m disappointed to hear rumblings of moving the race downtown after the new football stadium is built. In your intrepid reporter’s humble opinion, that would be a mistake. Why give up an exciting oval for a dull street race on a track not likely to be much better than what we saw downtown before? If the series wants a downtown street race in Nashville, fine, as long as the oval is also on the schedule.
Alex Palou enters the weekend with a 56-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas are close behind with deficits of 65 and 66 points respectively. The battle for second place has been fascinating to watch. It seems the spot has changed hands after nearly every race this season.
Josef Newgarden has won 11 of the last 27 oval races, including two of the three in 2026. He has to be the favorite as the weekend begins. Pato O’Ward has dominated the previous two races here but has yet to find winner’s circle. David Malukas still is in search of the elusive first victory.
New Wrinkles
While the usual suspects are likely to be at the front on race day, a couple of changes to the format might add more intrigue to the event. The race distance has increased for third consecutive year, jumping to 300 laps, 399 miles. on Sunday. 400 miles would be too long of a race. Last year the race distance was 225 laps; in 2024 the distance was 206 laps.
The 2025 race ran 1 hour, 54 minutes. Sunday’s race should last 30-35 minutes longer.
Like on street circuits, teams must use two sets of alternate tires during the race, which feature at least five pit stops per car, possibly six. The strategy will be interesting to watch.
There is some rain in the forecast for Sunday, and the chance increase because of the heating during the day. A rain delay would be devastating to the TV number IndyCar is hoping for.
As for the winner, Pato O’Ward finally leads the correct lap at Nashville for his second straight series win. Arrow McLaren has all the momentum. The team has won the last races and one pole. O’Ward and Lundgaard dominated Mid-Ohio. look for the papaya express to continue.
D C Race Releases Schedule
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 