2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

The 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 2023 IndyCar season. The race was held on August 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Street Circuit. The eleventh edition of INDYCAR in Nashville consisted of 80 laps and was won by Kyle Kirkwood.

2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

Race details
13th round of the 2023 IndyCar season ← Previous race Next race →
Layout of the Nashville Street Circuit
Date	August 6, 2023
Official name	Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
Location	Nashville Street Circuit, Nashville, Tennessee
Course	Temporary street circuit 2.100 mi / 3.380 km
Distance	80 laps 168.00 mi / 270.37 km
Pole position
Driver	Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske)
Time	01:14.6099
Fastest lap
Driver	Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing)
Time	01:16.7115 (on lap 57 of 80)
Podium
First	Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport)
Second	Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske)
Third	Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Chronology
Previous Next 2022 2024

The race was accompanied by the Wesley Mortgage Freedom Friday Tribute Concert, on Friday, August 4, featuring Brian Kelley (from Florida Georgia Line), Chris Janson, Vince Neil (from Mötley Crüe), Gavin DeGraw, Sixwire, and others. Concerts by Frank Ray, Dillon Carmichael, and Flo Rida were also announced. On Sunday, August 6, Jay DeMarcus, Jason Crabb, and others performed, presented by Red Street Records.^[1]

On February 14, 2024, it was announced because of construction issues with the new Tennessee Titans stadium and the Broadway region issues with closing streets for the race, the Nashville Street Circuit race will be discontinued. It will be replaced by Gladeville's Nashville Superspeedway for the first time since 2008.

Entry list

Further information: 2023 IndyCar Series § Confirmed entries

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

No.	Driver	Team	Engine
2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet
5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
06	Hélio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
6	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet
8	Marcus Ericsson  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
11	Marcus Armstrong  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet
14	Santino Ferrucci	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
18	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports	Honda
20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian	Honda
27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	Honda
28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	Honda
29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
30	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
51	Sting Ray Robb  R	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda
55	Benjamin Pedersen  R	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
60	Linus Lundqvist  R	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet
78	Agustín Canapino  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet
Source:[2]

Practice

Practice 1

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:16.4042
2	10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:16.6494
3	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	01:16.7192
Source:[3]

Practice 2

Due to rain delaying the start time of practice 2, the session was shortened to 30 minutes, from the usual 45 minutes.

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	8	Marcus Ericsson  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:31.7999
2	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	01:32.6910
3	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:32.8167
Source:[4]

Qualifying

Due to rain causing track conditions to worsen, qualifying was moved to start at 6:15 PM ET.^[5]

Qualifying classification

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Time				Final grid
					Round 1		Round 2	Round 3
					Group 1	Group 2
1	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:15.1629	N/A	01:14.7484	01:14.6099	1
2	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	N/A	01:15.1251	01:14.5944	01:14.9395	2
3	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	N/A	01:15.0030	01:14.7128	01:15.2416	3
4	10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	N/A	01:15.0849	01:14.7218	01:15.2462	4
5	18	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports	Honda	01:15.7943	N/A	01:15.0519	01:15.8703	5
6	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	Honda	N/A	01:15.1570	01:14.7695	01:15.9921	6
7	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	N/A	01:15.4599	01:15.1384	N/A	7
8	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	Honda	N/A	01:15.0561	01:15.1641	N/A	8
9	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	01:15.9347	N/A	01:15.4862	N/A	9
10	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	01:15.8303	N/A	01:15.5711	N/A	10
11	60	Linus Lundqvist  R	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	01:16.0892	N/A	01:16.0715	N/A	11
12	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	01:15.7094	N/A	01:16.7692	N/A	12
13	45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:16.0985	N/A	N/A	N/A	13
14	6	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	N/A	01:15.4638	N/A	N/A	14
15	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	01:16.1825	N/A	N/A	N/A	15
16	11	Marcus Armstrong  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	N/A	01:15.5631	N/A	N/A	16
17	06	Hélio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	01:16.2203	N/A	N/A	N/A	17
18	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	N/A	01:16.0170	N/A	N/A	18
19	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	01:16.3356	N/A	N/A	N/A	19
20	8	Marcus Ericsson  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	N/A	01:16.0420	N/A	N/A	20
21	14	Santino Ferrucci	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	01:16.6416	N/A	N/A	N/A	21
22	30	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	N/A	01:16.1193	N/A	N/A	22
23	78	Agustín Canapino  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	01:16.6900	N/A	N/A	N/A	23
24	51	Sting Ray Robb  R	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda	N/A	01:16.3907	N/A	N/A	24
25	55	Benjamin Pedersen  R	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	No Time	N/A	N/A	N/A	25
26	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	N/A	01:16.4369	N/A	N/A	26
27	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	N/A	01:17.2417	N/A	N/A	27
Source:[6]

Notes

• Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

Warmup

Due to qualifying being delayed to 6:15 PM ET, final practice was canceled.^[5]

Top Practice Speeds

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Lap Time
1	CANCELED
2
3
Source:

Race

The race started at 12:30 PM ET on August 6, 2023.

Race classification

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.
1	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport	Honda	80	01:58:02.3028	2	8	34	53
2	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	Chevrolet	80	+0.7633	2	1	25	42
3	10	Álex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	80	+1.7221	2	4	12	36
4	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	80	+3.1416	2	9		32
5	9	Scott Dixon  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	80	+4.1655	2	12		30
6	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport	Honda	80	+5.9518	2	6	4	29
7	8	Marcus Ericsson  W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	80	+6.4148	3	20	4	27
8	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	80	+6.6966	2	2		24
9	45	Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	80	+8.0168	3	13		22
10	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	80	+9.0456	2	7	1	21
11	06	Hélio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	80	+9.8718	3	17		19
12	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	80	+10.6859	3	18		18
13	11	Marcus Armstrong  R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	80	+11.4056	3	16		17
14	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	80	+11.8172	4	19		16
15	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	80	+14.2271	3	15		15
16	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	80	+14.6874	4	27		14
17	51	Sting Ray Robb  R	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing	Honda	80	+15.1158	4	24		13
18	14	Santino Ferrucci	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	80	+16.5253	4	21		12
19	7	Alexander Rossi	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	78	+2 Laps	3	10		11
20	78	Agustín Canapino  R	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet	77	Off-Course	5	23		10
21	26	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	76	Mechanical	3	3		9
22	6	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren	Chevrolet	73	Contact	4	14		8
23	55	Benjamin Pedersen  R	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	73	Contact	4	25		7
24	30	Jack Harvey	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	71	Contact	3	22		6
25	60	Linus Lundqvist  R	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	69	Contact	3	11		5
26	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda	65	Contact	3	26		5
27	18	David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports	Honda	11	Mechanical	1	5		5
Fastest lap: Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) - 01:16.7115 (lap 57)
Source:[7]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Álex Palou 513 2 Josef Newgarden 429 3 Scott Dixon 387 1 4 Scott McLaughlin 371 1 5 Marcus Ericsson 357 Source:[7]

Engine manufacturer standings Pos. Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 1108 2 Chevrolet 1016 Source:[8]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.