Alex Palou
No. 10 NTT DATA Honda
“Nashville this weekend and I’m super excited. It was a good race for us last year. It was a bit crazy for everybody but I think it’s one of the biggest races in our calendar. There’s amazing food, amazing music and an amazing atmosphere. Only four races left to go in this championship. I’m super excited to try and do the best we can to get to the last race this season with options to win the championship and hopefully, get our second championship. We’ll give it a try and give it everything we have.”
INDYCAR Returns to the Music City with four races to go in the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Chip Ganassi Racing drivers will look to get their hands on valuable points on the Streets of Nashville as the team chases history. No team has won three straight series championships since Dario Franchitti did it himself with CGR from 2009-11, and no team has ever won it three straight years with three different drivers.
Marcus Ericsson looks to re-gain the top spot on the series standings at the race he won at the inaugural event last year. Ericsson found himself starting in P18 to ‘full airborne mode’ to victory circle in the street course race.
Chip Ganassi Racing earned the only 1-2 finish by teammates across all races last season in Nashville with Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda finishing in 2nd behind the Marcus and the No. 8 Bryant Honda.
Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda team enter Nashville with considerable momentum on his side. Leaving Road America at the midpoint of this season, Dixon sat 6th in the series standings with a 69-point deficit. Since then, he has finished top-5 in four of the five races and top-10 in each of those races. He’s picked up 169 points in that time, the most in the field, and now ranks 4th in points, 38 from the leader.
2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Standings
Entering Big Machine Music City Grand Prix
1 Will Power 431
2 Marcus Ericsson 422
4 Scott Dixon 393
6 Alex Palou 379
21 Jimmie Johnson 166
The street course may lend itself to Dixon and the Ganassi drivers. The Iceman has posted an average finishing position of 4.95 on street course races over the past five seasons, the top mark among the field.
Alex Palou and the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda have also found success on street course races of late. He has gained +36 positions from the start to finish of street course races this season, the most among the field. His average finishing position of 4.25 on such tracks also ranks as the top mark this year.
Jimmie Johnson has been a ‘big mover’ on street courses in the No. 48 Carvana Honda, gaining +20 positions from the start to finish of such races over the past two seasons, tied with teammate Scott Dixon for the 7th-most among the field in that span.
Catch coverage for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on Sunday, August 7 at 3:00 PM ET on NBC and Peacock, and be sure to follow along with the action on the INDYCAR App powered by NTT Data.
Music City Grand Prix I Nashville, TN
80 LAPS | 173.6 MILES
INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is coming to Nashville, Tennessee with the inaugural Music City Grand Prix. For three days in August, the streets of downtown will come alive with the sounds of music, food, and racing, all spun into an experience you just have to be there to feel. This temporary street circuit takes racers by Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL Tennessee Titans, and over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge into downtown Nashville, the first motorsports course of its kind in the world to cross a major body of water.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
