TRACK: STREETS OF NASHVILLE
RACE: BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX
DATE: AUGUST 5, 2023
JOSEF NEWGARDEN
No. 2 PPG DALLARA/CHEVROLET
SECOND PRACTICE - 8TH
QUALIFYING - 9TH
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN
No. 3 DEX IMAGING DALLARA/CHEVROLET
SECOND PRACTICE - 4TH
QUALIFYING - 1ST
WILL POWER
No. 12 VERIZON 5G DALLARA/CHEVROLET
SECOND PRACTICE - 3RD
QUALIFYING - 7TH
Rain showers that have persisted throughout the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix weekend continued Saturday morning as the teams of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES prepared for a morning practice session. The precipitation led to a 50-minute delay of the start of practice, which was also cut down to only 30 minutes. The Team Penske trio continued to show speed in the wet conditions with Will Power and the No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet team finished with the third-fastest lap. Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet team slotted in just behind in fourth with Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet team posting the ninth-fastest lap.
Mother Nature again played havoc with the Saturday schedule as the start time for the qualifying session was moved back three and-a-half hours. When it was time to set the field, McLaughlin and the DEX Imaging crew had no equal as he cruised to his fourth career NTT P1 Award and his 63rd pole position since joining Team Penske in 2017. Power and Newgarden also made it into the second round of qualifying and will start seventh and ninth, respectively.
WHAT THEY SAID - "We had a big lap in Q1 that definitely set us up. Every time we're in the printer wagon - the DEX Imaging Chevy - she's a ripper. Really proud of that one. We set it up in Q1, we had a really good run and saved one lap. You gotta do the big laps when you need to do them, and I did twice in that session I'm really proud of that. You never know about this place. Yellows happen out of the blue and strategy can be thrown everywhere. But we start in the number one spot and that's the main thing. Really proud of the whole team and the car. Great strategy there in qualifying. It’s basically the same call we had last year. To put it on pole two years in a row is unreal."- Scott McLaughlin
WHAT'S NEXT - Coverage of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix begins tomorrow at 12:00 pm ET on NBC, Peacock, Sirius XM Channel 209 and INDYCAR Radio