The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back in action this weekend and will compete on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee, for the first time using a new street circuit. Drivers will race on the 11-turn, a 2.17-mile temporary street course over 80-laps. Scott Dixon currently sits in third position, 56-points behind lead Alex Palou.
The race is set to go at 4:45pm Sunday 8 August local time (9:45am Mon 9 August NZ time).
NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings: Palou 384, O’Ward 345, Dixon 328, Newgarden 315, Ericsson 280, Pagenaud 271, Herta 260, VeeKay 257, Rahal 256, Sato 226
Here’s the Fast Facts heading to the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
There have been eight different winners in 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Alex Palou (Barber Motorsports Park, Road America), Colton Herta (Streets of St. Petersburg), Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway-1), Pato O’Ward (Texas Motor Speedway-2, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2), Rinus VeeKay (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1), Helio Castroneves (Indianapolis 500), Marcus Ericsson (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1) and Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) have all won in 2021. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
There have been eight different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races (Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Helio Castroneves, Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden) The only repeat winners in that stretch are O’Ward (Texas-2, 2021 and Belle Isle-2, 2021) and Palou (Barber 2021 and Road America 2021)
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES will compete on the streets of Nashville for the first time using a new street circuit that incorporates some of the city’s most iconic sites. Among the landmarks incorporated into the 2.17-mile, 11-turn track is the Korean Veterans Memorial Bridge and the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. The race’s start of the race will take place over the bridge’s eastbound lanes between Turns 8 and 9.
Middle Tennessee hosted INDYCAR SERIES racing from 2001-2008 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee. Scott Dixon, who won three consecutive races at the 1.33-mile oval from 2006-2008, is one of five drivers entered who raced in the most recent Nashville event along with Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power and Graham Rahal.
The last driver to win an inaugural event was Will Power, who won the Grand Prix of Baltimore in 2011. The last driver to win the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship after winning an inaugural event at a track was Dario Franchitti in 2007. Franchitti is grand marshal for this weekend’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.
The 27 cars entered in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix is the most in a non-Indianapolis 500 NTT INDYCAR SERIES race since Long Beach in 2013 when 27 cars started that race.
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