- Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin earns second NTT P1 Award on the season; Nashville’s Josef Newgarden to start sixth.
- 14-year-old Brent Crews wins Trans Am race, Nashville’s Scott Borchetta grabs first career podium.
- Onofrio Triarsi takes first GT America race, Matt Brabham wins Stadium SUPER Trucks opener
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (August 6, 2022) – Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin captured the pole position Saturday for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix with a stellar final lap in qualifying on the temporary street circuit in downtown Nashville.
McLaughlin (No. 3 Chevrolet) recorded a final lap of 1 minute, 14.5555 seconds (101.401 mph) on the 2.1-mile, 11-turn layout in the Firestone Fast Six to secure his second pole of the season. His other pole came at the season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg, where he went on to his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES win.
Romain Grosjean (No. 28 Honda) of Andretti Autosport qualified a season-best second with a lap of 1:14.6975 (101.208 mph). Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing rookie Christian Lundgaard Lundgaard (No. 30 Honda) also established a season-best qualifying performance by taking third with a lap of 1:14.7149 (101.185).
Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou (No. 10 Honda) of Chip Ganassi Racing qualified fourth (1:14.9087 | 100.923 mph) and Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Chevrolet) was fifth (1:14.9261 | 100.899).
Nashville’s Josef Newgarden (No. 3 Chevrolet) of Team Penske rounded out the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1:15.1461 (100.604 mph).
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES will return to the track at 9:15 a.m. CT Sunday for a 30-minute warm-up session. The 80-lap Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, Round 14 of the 17-race NTT INDYCAR SERIES, will take the green flag at 2:30 p.m. NBC television coverage begins at 2 p.m.
Saturday Notebook: Fourteen-year-old Brent Crews (No. 70 Ford), who became the youngest Trans Am winner in history last race at Road America, made it two in a row with a win in Saturday’s race. Crews, who started second, earned a 1.54-second victory over Connor Mosack (No. 28 Chevrolet) in the 70-minute timed race. Nashville’s Scott Borchetta (No. 48 Ford), who finished 3.213 seconds back of Crews, finished third for the first podium of his career. … Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather. The starting line-up will be based off entry points. Points leader Linus Lundqvist of HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing will start on the pole while Hunter McElrea of Andretti Autosport will start second. Lundqvist leads McElrea by 76 points coming into Sunday’s race that begins at 12:10 p.m. … Onofrio Triarsi went wire to wire to take the win in the SRO GT America opener of the weekend doubleheader. Justin Wetherill finished runner-up to give Ferrari the top two spots. Jason Daskalos, in an Audi, was third with SRO3 drivers sweeping the podium. Robb Holland was the top GT4 finisher in a Porsche, taking 10th overall. The weekend finale is a 40-minute, timed race that starts at 10:55 a.m. Sunday. … Matt Brabham won the opening race of the Speed Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks doubleheader weekend, edging Gavin Harlien by 0.7009 of a second in the 10-lap event. Max Gordon finished third. Brabham’s win was his first of the season and 24th of his career, which ranks third all time.
