On a baking hot summer day in Nashville, Tennessee, South Florida’s Kyle Kirkwood bested the field and took the checkered flag in the third annual Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. Kirkwood’s win patches some, but not all of the wounds that he and his team sustained this season. Expectations for Andretti Autosport in 2023 weren’t filled, which means the team are already ahead in their preparation for a better 2024. This win is a sign of great things to come for both Kirkwood and the Andretti team.

Kyle Kirkwood led 34 of the 80 laps from P8 off the starting grid. His qualifying performance was two spots shy of making the Firestone Fast Six on Saturday, but the Floridan’s hard work paid off anyways. This is his second career NTT IndyCar Series win, with Kirkwood’s first coming at the similar circuit at Long Beach.

For the second consecutive year in Nashville, Scott McLaughlin came second fiddle to the winner. On Saturday, McLaughlin scored his fourth career NTT IndyCar Series pole position with a lap time of 1:14.6099. Come race time, he was the early favorite leading for 25 laps. In the end, the Kiwi was only +0.7633s shy of reaching Kyle Kirkwood for the win.

This would not have been a 2023 NTT IndyCar Series street course race without mentioning Álex Palou with high regards. Palou started fourth, led 12 laps during the middle portions of the race and rounded out the podium in P3. To get the job done, Palou successfully held of rival Josef Newgarden in the closing laps. This masterclass drive by Álex Palou puts him 84 points ahead of Newgarden with four races left.

Romain Grosjean’s string of forgetful races came to a relieving end when he crossed the finish line in P6 after a grueling Sunday afternoon drive with pit strategies on hand. Grosjean led four laps and started sixth. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course suits him better than any other track, which provides excitement for fans of Romain Grosjean, notably in 2021 when he won his first career IndyCar Series pole at the circuit.

Meyer Shank Racing might not have achieved anything home to write about in Sunday’s Music City Grand Prix, but they still have reasons to be proud. Hélio Castroneves has not seen much success in his 2023 season. His eleventh place finish on the streets of Nashville is his best finish on a road/street course this year. As for the sister car, 2022 Indy NXT Champion, Linus Lundqvist made his NTT IndyCar Series debut filling in for the recovering Simon Pagenaud. Lundqvist clocked the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:16.7115 on lap 57 before getting collected in a late race multi-car crash.

Despite the unfavorable outcome, all hope is still not lost for Josef Newgarden. Newgarden’s P4 performance before a home Tennessee crowd still provides optimism for him to snatch the Astor Cup from Palou. Looking ahead at the remaining rounds, the recordbooks are in favor of Newgarden. Team Penske has won the Indianapolis Grand Prix more times than any other team (six), Josef Newgarden is the winningest driver at Gateway (four) with his latter three victories in the St Louis oval all coming consecutively, and Team Penske is the winningest organization in the closing round at Laguna Seca. Regardless of the circumstances, time is running out for Josef Newgarden in this championship bid.

With the final street course race of 2023 in the books, the NTT IndyCar Series returns to familiar territory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course for the Gallagher Grand Prix. This time, IndyCar will serve as the undercard for the NASCAR Cup Series. TV coverage of the Indianapolis Gallagher Grand Prix goes live Saturday, August 12th at 2:00pm EDT on USA Network.