IndyCars - Nashville: We start what promises to be a legendary annual event

[MarkyS]

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This weekend the IndyCars return to racing after a Summer break with their first run at the latest new venue on the series calendar, as they do…

The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

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The track is most notable for its two longest straight-aways which are over the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the Cumberland River. The course is 2.17 miles in length, with 11 turns total. The Start line is coming off the bridge while the Finish line will be right in front of Nissan Stadium - home of the Tennesee Titans NFL team. The stadium’s parking lot is turned into the paddock while the pit lane is much like Toronto - bent 90 degrees in the middle to accomodate all the cars. And there will be a LOT of cars. This inaugural race has a field of 27 cars - the most for any IndyCar race, except for Indy 500s, in many years.

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The huge Nashville crowd will be treated to an incredible weekend of family entertainment, with family fun zones, parades, many music concerts at the venue every day, fireworks displays and vintage cars / vintage IndyCars on display and driven on track.

And, of course there will be racing - lots of racing. The crowd will be treated to 6 races over the weekend. They include:

• SRO GT America - 2 races on Saturday and Sunday
• Trans Am, TA-2 class - a race on Saturday
• Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks - 2 races on Saturday and Sunday

And the IndyCars will race on Sunday.

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Let’s look at that support racing:
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SRO GT America - The SRO Motorsports Group puts on some of the best single-driver GT road course racing in North America in the SRO GT America series, which has a manufacturer participation that includes many of the auto brands sold in America, such as Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche and Toyota. Since no IndyCar guys participate, we will wish them safe and happy racing and conentrate elsewhere.

SRO GT America in action

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Trans Am - The Trans Am road racing series dates back to 1966. Throughout the years, some of the greatest names in motorsports have participated in the Trans Am Series. Names like Tommy Kendall, Mark Donohue, Peter Gregg, Bob Tullius and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. have all won multiple championships under the Trans Am name. At Nashville the mighty TA-2 class will be racing. That’s really American iron - Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers. As there will be no IndyCar guys in the field, we will wish them safe and happy racing and conentrate elsewhere.

Trans Am

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continued…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Support series…(continued)…

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Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks - IndyCar veteran and off-road champion Robby Gordon created an off-road truck racing series that competes inside stadiums on purpose-built dirt tracks and then discovered that they were extremely popular when driven on pavement, utilizing metal ramps for jumps. The powerful trucks delight children and adults alike with leaps into the air of over 20 feet high and 200 feet long. The series has become one of the most popular events at every race weekend they support, just for the sheer audacity of them and the incredible noise the 600 horsepower Chevy V-8s make, and Nashville will eat them up. Along with Gordon, there are usually a number of IndyCar or Road to Indy alums in the trucks, which race both here in the US and in Australia.

The current points leader, following their recent popular run at Mid-Ohio, is Road to Indy ace driver Matthew Brabham, with 2 WINS and 6 podiums in 6 starts. Right on his heels is series founder Robby Gordon, with 4 podiums and a WIN.

Stadium Super Trucks in action

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Thursday was the first parade and the big autograph session for locals who got to meet their favortite IndyCar drivers, as well as watch the Pit Stop Competition. The teams also began their track walks, seeing the cicuit in person for the first time. Here, Andretti Autosport gives you a quick view:

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Andretti Autosport

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Friday, the action starts, with the first practice for both the IndyCars and the SSTs.

Let’s get this thing going!!!

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M

[MarkyS]

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Thursday night at Nashville - the celebrity ping-pong tournament was a great success…

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IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden hosted The Celebrity Ping-Pong Challenge to raise funds for Paul Newman’s Serious Fun Camps and it was Josef himself with teammate Ryan Blaney who took home the trophy for the innaugural event, which promises to be a popular staple of the IndyCar weekend in the future. Attending were sports figures, racing luminaries and other celebrities in town for the race.

Take a look:

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Josef Newgarden

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Newgarden raised 136,000 dollars with the help of Powerhome Solar 1, Hitachi, Shell, RiteAid, Firestone and many other sponsors.

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Way to go, guys!

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday at Nashville - the IndyCars take their first bite of the apple, in the P-1 session…

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The IndyCars took to the new track today for the first time for their first of 3 practices and the immediate realization was that the bridge will be very fast, but very bumpy. The question is will the bumps unsettle the car enough to make the drivers pay huge conentration loads to extract the speed out of the long straights? Many were expecting the bridge to be a place where the drivers can relax, after working the hard corners at each end, but it may be that it is where they need to work the hardest.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-1 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

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1 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:16.5875s for a speed of 98.711mph

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2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:16.9653s for a speed of 98.226mph

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3 - Romain Grosjean [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing - time of 01:17.1305s for a speed of 98.016mph

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4 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:17.1742s for a speed of 97.960mph

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5 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01.17.1305s for a speed of 97.906mph

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6 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
7 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
8 - Will Power, Team Penske
9 - Scott McLaughlin [R], Team Penske
10 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

11 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing
12 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
13 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Steinbrenner
14 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
15 - Sebastien Bourdais, AJ Foyt Enterprises
16 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
17 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
18 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
19 - Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan
20 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing

21 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
22 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
23 - Jimmie Johnson [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
24 - Max Chilton, Carlin
25 - Santino Ferrucci, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
26 - Cody Ware [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
27 - Dalton Kellett, AJ Foyt Enterprises

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Notable:

• Colton Herta, Scott Dixon and Romain Grosjean are all known for an ability to learn a new track quickly, and here they are - learning a new track quickly.

• The first 6 cars are Hondas, while Chevy takes the next 4 spots. Andretti put two guys in the TOP FIVE while Chip Ganassi put two guys in the TOP FIVE, but put THREE cars in the TOP SIX. Team Penske put three guys in the TOP TEN, including fantastic rookie Scott McLaughlin.

• While Alex Palou and Scott Dixon are getting most of the ink and airtime, Marcus Ericsson has quietly been the Ganassi driver who amassed the most series points since the Indy 500.

• Finding the walls in Turn 3 was Pato O’Ward for Arrow McLaren, who clipped the right wall, sending him hard into the left wall. He was checked and released without harm but it ended his session early.

• Also finding the Turn 9 wall was Conor Daly for Ed Carpenter Racing. Conor hit a bump that unglued him in just the wrong place and the rear end took off. He also hit fairly hard but did no damage to himself. The car took a good hit but should just need rightside suspension.

• Dalton Kellett got a new engine today and during the installation laps the team discovered a mechanical problem that kept the Canadian off the track for the P-1 session - not ideal.

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Sad boys, left to right, Pato O’Ward, Conor Daly and Dalton Kellett

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Pato’s hit…

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Conor’s hit…

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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And, Colton is a hit…

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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The IndyCars will practice again in the early afternoon on Saturday and then qualify on Saturday afternoon, late. Next up, the Stadium Super Trucks practice…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday at Nashville - the Stadium Super Trucks practice and qualify…

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As this is a new track for the SSTs, the location of the jump ramps is still being worked out for the maximum show and the track may change from day to day. Take a look at today’s practice and qualifying session:

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2021 Nashville Practice and Qualifying

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Here was the qualifying order:

1 - Matthew Brabham
2 - Robert Stout
3 - Max Gordon
4 - Robby Gordon
5 - Arie Luyendyk, Jr.
6 - Jett Noland
7 - Zach van Matre
8 - Jeff Ward
9 - Jacob Abel
10 - Ricky Johnson
11 - Bill Hynes
12 - Bo LeMastus
13 - Stanton Barrett

Matty Brabham has qualified on pole for every race, this season so far. In Stadium Super Truck racing, the qualifying order is reversed for gridding the race, so this is the way they will grid for Race 1, to be run on Saturday:

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Row 1

P1 - # 31 Stanton Barrett
P2 - # 42 Bo Lemastus

Row 2

P3 - # 57 Bill Hynes
P4 - # 5 Ricky Johnson

Row 3

P5 - # 40 Jacob Abel
P6 - # 84 Jeff Ward

Row 4

P7 - # 22 Zach van Matre
P8 - # 50 Jett Noland

Row 5

P9 - # 25 Arie Luyendyk, Jr.
P10 - # 7 Robby Gordon

Row 6

P11 - # 77 Max Gordon
P12 - # 28 Robert Stout

Row 7

P13 - # 83 Matthew Brabham

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Notable:

• The IndyCar guys in the field are Robby Gordon, Jeff Ward, Arie Luyendyk, Jr, Matthew Brabham and Jacob Abel, who is a current Indy Pro 2000 driver.

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This was the last on-track activity of the day.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Nashville - The IndyCars hold their second practice…

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…in anticipation of knock-out qualifying later today for the Music City Grand Prix. The session saw a lot of red flags - especially near the end of it, when everyone was trying to get some time on red alternate tires, to see how they will perform during qualifying. As a result, very little information was gleaned, and everyone will be going into qualifying somewhat blind.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndfyCar P-2 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

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1 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 1:15.3529s for a speed of 100.328mph

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2 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport - time of 1:15. 8292s for a speed of 99.698mph

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3 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 1:15.8837s for a speed of 99.626mph

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4 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 1:15.9810s for a speed of 99.499.mph

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5 - Sebastien Bourdais, AJ Foyt Enterprises - time of 1:16.0137s for a speed of 99.456mph

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6 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP
7 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
8 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
9 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
10 - Scott McLaughlin [R], Team Penske

11 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske
12 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
13 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing
14 - Will Power, Team Penske
15 - Romain Grosjean [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
16 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
17 - Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan
18 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
19 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Steinbrenner
20 - Santino Ferrucci, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

21 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
22 - Jimmie Johnson [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
23 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
24 - Max Chilton, Carlin
25 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
26 - Dalton Kellett, AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 - Cody Ware [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing

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Notable:

• Colton Herta again tops the session and this time with help from the set-up off Alexander Rossi’s car. Herta was an astonishing 0.4763 seconds quicker than P2 Rossi. Those kinds of numbers are hard to come by these days.

• That’s Honda on top again for the first 4 cars with wiley veteran Sebastien Bourdais for AJ Foyt holding up Chevy pride in 5th place, followed by Chevys all the way out to P11. Andretti Autosport had two in the TOP FIVE, as did Chip Ganassi Racing. Both Arrow McLaren cars made the TOP TEN, as did Rinus VeeKay for Ed Carpenter, but the only Team Penske car to make TOP TEN was rookie Scott McLaughlin.

• There were lots of spins and some wall-clouting. Hitting the walls were Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon, who managed to hit the walls twice - once at the start of the session and once at the end, when he was trying to spin out of a corner.

• Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay are struggling, and they are also rumored to be on the chopping block for 2022. This is NOT the time to be struggling. Conversely, Jimmie Johnson is doing better than ever before, eclipsing a few series regulars.

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Colton Herta on his practice:

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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The qualifying will take place at 4:30 EASTERN time on Peacock
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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Nashville - the IndyCar are qualified!..

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…and what a hairy session it was as Colton Herta for Andretti Autosport was in a completely different time zone, taking pole by besting the rest of the Firestone Fast Six by almost 6/10ths of a second.

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Here is the way the IndyCars qualified for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie

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Row 1

Pole - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:13.6835s for a speed of 102.601mph

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P2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:14.2327s for a speed of 101.842mph

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Row 2

P3 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:14.6316s for a speed of 101.298mph

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P4 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:14.6646s for a speed of 101.253mph

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Row 3

P5 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP - time of 01:15.0045s for a speed of 100.794mph

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P6 - Romain Grosjean [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing - time of 01:15.3980s for a speed of 100.268mph

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Row 4

P7 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing
P8 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

Row 5

P9 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP
P10 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Steinbrenner

Row 6

P11 - Will Power, Team Penske
P12 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Row 7

P13 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P14 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport

Row 8

P15 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P16 - Sebastien Bourdais, AJ Foyt Enterprises

Row 9

P17 - Santino Ferrucci, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P18 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing

Row 10

P19 - Dalton Kellett, AJ Foyt Enterprises
P20 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 11

P21 - Max Chilton, Carlin
P22 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

Row 12

P23 - Scott McLaughlin [R], Team Penske
P24 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 13

P25 - Jimmie Johnson [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
P26 - Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan

Row 14

P27 - Cody Ware [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing

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Notable:

• Herta was so good in the Q-1 session that he converted to the Q-2 session without using any red tires. He then cruised in Q-2 to a safe third fastest. With his extra set of reds from the Q-1 session he was able to destroy everyone else in the Q-3 session and take the first-ever pole for a Nashville Grand Prix, named the Bryan Clauson Pole Trophy, after the late great USAC driver.

• Several drivers clouted the walls during qualifying, including Jimmie Johnson, Marcus Ericsson, Rinus VeeKay, Scott Mclaughlin and Josef Newgarden. Romain Grosjean had a spin but recovered quickly enough to avoid bringing out a yellow and losing a lap.

• Newgarden was safely in 3rd place during the Q-2 session and probably on his way to the Firestone Fast Six when he misjudged Turn 10 on a flyer and destroyed his Chevrolet’s right side. He was assesed a penalty for blocking with his yellow and dropped to P12. His drop allowed Romain to advance to the Fast Six.

• While Alex Palou qualified P3 he will have to start the race from P9, as he was assessed a six-spot penalty for an unapproved engine change following testing at Portland, last week. That helps points rival Pato O’Ward, who will now start next to him, instead of a few rows behind him.

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NBC has released qualifying highlights:

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2021 QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS // BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX

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Next up for the IndyCars will be a third practice - a pre-race “warm up” scheduled for broadcast at 1:00pm EASTERN time on Peacock. The race itself will be broadcast LIVE on NBC-SN starting at 5:30 EASTERN time.

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Next up, the Stadium Super Trucks hold Race 1 of the weekend…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday afternoon at Nashville - the Stadium Super Trucks hold Race 1…

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…of the weekend, and we have the video here (The grid for this race is in post # 5):

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2021 Nashville Race No. 1

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WOW! What a finish!. No wonder the SSTs are such a fan favorite.

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The Stadium Super Trucks will hold Race 2 on Sunday in the mid-afternoon, right before the IndyCar race.

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This was the last on-track activity of the day.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday at Nashville - the IndyCars hold their final practice…

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A post-qualifying practice - known as a “warm-up” - is always hard to read, because one never knows what each team or even each driver within a team is trying to accomplish. Are they trying to find speed missing from qualifying? Are they testing their race-day set-up? Are they testing tire wear? One never knows why they end up where they end up, but the fast guys are usually trying to double-check or sort out race-day speed set-ups.

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Here was the order of speed for the P-3 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

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1 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - time of 01:15.8489s for a speed of 99.672mph

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2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:15.8794s for a speed of 99.632mph

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3 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP - time of 01:16.2012s for a speed of 99.211mph

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4 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - time of 01:16.3758s for a speed of 98.984mph

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5 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 01:16.4870s for a speed of 98.840mph

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6 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
7 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
8 - Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing
9 - Romain Grosjean [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
10 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

11 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
12 - Scott McLaughlin [R], Team Penske
13 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
14 - James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Steinbrenner
15 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
16 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
17 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
18 - Will Power, Team Penske
19 - Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser Sullivan
20 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP

21 - Sebastien Bourdais, AJ Foyt Enterprises
22 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
23 - Santino Ferrucci, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
24 - Jimmie Johnson [R], Chip Ganassi Racing
25 - Cody Ware [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
26 - Dalton Kellett, AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 - Max Chilton, Carlin

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Notable:

• Graham Rahal has a bad habit of finding speed in his cars all weekend but failing to qualify well. That makes his races a lot tougher, as he is always making up ground he should have acquired in qually. This weekend is no different.

• Scott Dixon has had some off-track excursions, this weekend, but he has also always been in the TOP group. Today he is again a top performer and when the race starts, all of his championship rivals will be nowhere near him. This ccould be a great day for points for the Kiwi.

• Spinning during warm-up were Rinus VeeKay - no damage, Felix Rosenqvist - no damage, and Jimmie Johnson, who had extensive damage from his spin coming off the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge heading towards the stadium complex. It may be tough for his team to get the car ready again for the race.

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Graham Rahal - TOPS in the warm-up

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The race is scheduled for broadcast on NBC-SN starting at 5:30pm EASTERN time.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday at Nashville - the Stadium Super Trucks close out their weekend…

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…with Race 2. Here was the starting grid, based on a combination of points from qualifying and the Race 1 results. The higher the points, the lower on the grid a driver starts, so Race 1 WINNER Robby Gordon starts near the back, as does top Race 1 qualifier Matthew Brabham:

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1 - Ricky Johnson
2 - Jacob Abel
3 - Bo Le Mastus
4 - Zach van Matre
5 - Bill Hynes
6 - Stanton Barrett
7 - Arie Luyendyk, Jr.
8 - Jeff Ward
9 - Max Gordon
10 - Jett Noland
11 - Robert Stout
12 - Robby Gordon
13 - Matthew Brabham

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The race:

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- YouTube

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The next scheduled outing for the Stadium Super Trucks is at the IndyCar Long Beach Grand Prix, September 24-26.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday at Nashville - The indyCar race: CHAOTIC!..

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That’s the only way to describe the inaugural Music City Grand Prix which had what has to be a record 9 cautions and 2 red flags in a two-hour race. Improbably, the WINNER was Marcus Ericsson for Chip Ganassi Racing who drove a masterful 37 laps in the lead, trying desperately to save fuel while also trying to keep a hard-charging Colton Herta behind him. Improbable, because five laps into the race, following a caution, Ericsson rammed into the rear of Sebastien Bourdais’ # 14 Chevy on the restart, failing to see Seb check up. Ericsson’s car leapt into the air and almost back-flipped, coming down hard enough to break his front wing completely off. He not only suffered the damage but also a penalty for taking the Frenchman out of the race.

Yet, by the second half of the race, there he was, in the lead to the end, followed across the line by teammate Scott Dixon and Andretti Steinbrenner’s James Hinchcliffe, in his best finish of the season, at P3. You couldn’t write that for a Hollywood movie and have it believed.

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Notable:

• The racing was often fantastic but also often ridiculous. A big part of the problem was the restart after cautions was in front of Nissan Stadium, where the track is too narrow and suffers a 90 degree turn in the middle of a full-field restart - not gonna happen without carnage, which we had, too often. Better to start and restart coming off the bridge, where the initial race start happened.

• As we predicted, the race was great for Scott Dixon, whose points rivals were almost never around him. Scott leapt past Pato O’Ward in the points and closed up on points-leader Alex Palou, who finished in P7. With his 2nd season WIN, Ericsson moved up 3 spots in the title chase and is now another points rival for Dixon and Palou - an embarrassment of fortune for Chip Ganassi Racing.

• Colton Herta was clearly the class of the field but overcooked it in Turn 9 trying to get past Ericcson and hit the wall in the same spot where Josef Newgarden did in qualifying, Herta was absolutely devastated with throwing away his chance for the WIN, and he probably hurt his wrist, which will be very sore at Indianapolis, next weekend.

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When race highlights are released, we will add them here:

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2021 RACE HIGHLIGHTS // BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX

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In the mean time, here is Ericsson’s incredible day in a few seconds:

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Nashville:

1 - Alex Palou, 410
2 - Scott Dixon, 368
3 - Pato O’Ward, 362
4 - Josef Newgarden, 335
5 - Marcus Ericsson, 332

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The next outing for the IndyCars will be on the road course at Indianapolis for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, next weekend, in conjunction with NASCAR’s XFinity series and Cup series - both racing on the same road course.

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M

[GrandWazoo]

After watching the race I am not a great fan of the course layout. In some ways it reminds me of when they tried to do the course at the Astro Dome. It was horrible and cost Dario Franchitti his career. I don’t like street courses that are so tight that it allows for a build-up of marbles that cut down on the slide that the cars can do. Sure the drivers have to be more precise. But it sure takes away the number of possible passing turns. Going over the bridge is a novel idea. But the turns on the back end are way too tight IMHO.