After the festival of interruptions of the last edition, nobody came to the Music City Grand Prix of this year without being aware of the possibility that chaotic situations could be repeated. In that sense, the Nashville circuit has not disappointed and he has lived up to his new nickname of ‘Crashville’, with a race in which the Pace Car intervened up to eight times with a red flag included (one less than 2021 in both cases). Two of those eight directly affected the running order, and as a battle-hardened veteran, it was Scott Dixon who knew how to take advantage of it better than anyone to earn his second win of 2022 from 14th on the grid, despite making a total of six pit stops.
As it happened in classification, the presence of a strong electrical storm forced the start to be postponed by 1 hour and 45 minutes of the event to protect spectators and marshals. The track was already dry when it all started, and a successful Álex Palou he used his first opportunity to overtake Christian Lundgaard for third place, behind poleman Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean. He only had to wait eight laps for the first yellow flag, when Alexander Rossi stopped when his engine went out strangely after a past of braking. A disastrous start for Andretti, as Dalton Kellett left Colton Herta a few laps earlier without a front wing in a duel for position.
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Lundgaard would also lose position with Pato O’Ward at the restart, but soon regained it and went for a Palou who began to show wear on his softs sooner than expected, which ended up being a blessing. The Spaniard had to bring his stop forward to lap 20, and luck smiled at him two laps later when Hélio Castroneves spun in the middle of the bridge. Almost the entire grid had to make its first yellow flag stop, which placed Palou as the leader of the test preceded by a Jimmie Johnson who had done it in the first ‘caution’, and the three drivers who also got ahead of the second yellow (Simon Pagenaud, Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas). At those stops, Will Power outscored three drivers to slip behind Grosjean.
The next outburst didn’t last a lap. In the difficult and narrow north section, the plug caused by Johnson’s car caused an accordion effect whereby Power was hit by O’Ward, and this by Graham Rahal. The Mexican ended up retiring due to damage, Rahal crashed on the bridge when he was trying to return to the pits when his wing came off, and Josef Newgarden was left lying before he could resume the march. Right at the same time, from behind, the stopper made Callum Ilott hit Dixoncausing a five-car incident in which Simona de Silvestro and Kellett were also knocked out.
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In this yellow flag period, Dixon stopped up to three times in the pits to repair damage and refuel, and would do so again with another immediate caution on lap 34 when a desperate attack from Devlin DeFrancesco on Takuma Sato for 15th sent both drivers into the wall. In all these outlets, McLaughlin gradually recovered what was lost until he placed second on lap 43 at the expense of a Pagenaud who began to experience problems in the differential. During this stint, the second that reached 12 green flag laps, Power also lost positions with a brief electrical problem that took him out of the top 10, and Rinus VeeKay spun on lap 50 a good race in which he had passed Felix Rosenqvist and Lundgaard on track.
At the time, Palou held a dwindling margin over McLaughlin to just above second, and Malukas held on to third over Grosjean and Kirkwood, but the race turned again just at the start of the second pit stop window. Located in 15th position, Dixon made his sixth stop on lap 50 alongside Lundgaard and Power in second., and managed to get out ahead of both. Just two laps later, the returning Rahal went wide in a corner and VeeKay crashed into him, causing another providential caution for the ‘lucky’ three in which Dixon was the big winner. Newgarden, who had stopped on the yellow card on lap 38, risked staying out, but Dixon was in effect the actual leader.
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In the totally opposite direction, McLaughlin dropped to 15th after a disastrous stop. Palou came out of the pits sixth after a Jack Harvey who had stopped on lap 45, but which soon sank after the restart. The Spaniard also passed Power, but in his maneuver he suffered damage to his front wing when he touched the rear tire of the Australian, who would lose several places shortly after. Behind, Cars were overtaking in pairs a resurrected Herta and McLaughlin, which gained eight places in five laps. Among those ahead were rookies Malukas and Kirkwood, who saw their promising day end in the Turn 9 guardrails as they battled for seventh.
Newgarden gave up his bet by stopping at this caution, and McLaughlin took the bull by the horns at the start, overtaking Herta and Palou. In this point, Marcus Ericsson saw his seventh position vanish due to apparent engine problems, and Jimmie Johnson’s possible best track finish escaped with a rare crash at the north end of the bridge while running 13th. The highlight five laps from the end was brief, but allowed to see McLaughlin take second position from Lundgaard, and Newgarden who, after beating Herta and Rossi on the inside, tried the same with Grosjean in a controversial maneuver. The Frenchman did not give up the outside, ended up crashed and the red flag flew over Nashville to try to have a competitive ending.
Due to the situation of the finish line with respect to the restarts, it was only one lap and a quarter, but it was not without intensity. Palou was agile to pass Lundgaard, and the victory could well have ended in the hands of a McLaughlin who crossed the finish line parallel to Dixon. Only 107 thousandths separated them, in the closest quarter finish in IndyCar history on trackmore than enough for a victory 53 that places the New Zealand veteran in second position overall and just six points off the lead of a Power that finished eleventh on the day.
the fought fifth podium for Palou in 2022 included a hug and brief subsequent interlude with Chip Ganassi despite their legal battle, and a two-point bonus for leading the most laps with a total of 31. This brings the Spaniard closer to 33 points off the IndyCar lead, though still in fifth place in the table after Ericsson and a Newgarden that finished the race sixth. Rossi and Herta took the top 5 for granted after their rocky start, and Lundgaard tumbled down to eighth place between Rosenqvist and Pagenaud, leaving his big weekend without a prize. Only 15 cars finished the racethe lowest number since 2018, and Harvey took advantage of the circumstance to add his first top 10 of the year.
RESULTS FROM Music City GP – Nashville (80 laps)
After a most explosive and eventful end to five straight weeks of racing, a short break awaits before the Gateway Oval in two weeks. Ahead, only three more duels, with seven candidates for everything separated by less than 60 points.
Photos: IndyCar Media