Kyle Kirkwood scorched the sphere in IndyCar Collection qualifying to take pole for the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
The 25-year-old Florida native delivered two composed laps within the No. 27 Andretti World Honda with a mean of 201.520mph on the 1.33-mile oval, which was sufficient to knock off Crew Penske’s Josef Newgarden by 0.0395s. The pole was the second of Kirkwood’s profession, and first on an oval.
“It’s big for our season,” stated Kirkwood. “I used to be just a little upset that we hadn’t bought a pole but this season. This was our closing likelihood and we bought it achieved. Tremendous completely happy. The No. 27 AutoNation Honda is completely on rails; Honda gave us nice energy.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist managed to qualify third. Crew Penske’s Will Energy made a optimistic begin to his last-gasp championship push by slotting fourth, simply 0.2112s off pole.
The No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci ended up fifth, with David Malukas sixth in his closing race with Meyer Shank Racing, transferring to AJ Foyt Racing in 2025 alongside Ferrucci.
Hassle for the championship chief
Championship chief Alex Palou was the final driver to exit on observe, with the qualifying order being set in reverse of total factors. Throughout his run, there was a noticeable battle for tempo in his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, working at 199.532 mph to fit fifteenth. Nevertheless, with a nine-place grid penalty for an engine change coming into the weekend, his hopes of hoisting the Astor Cup Trophy will begin from twenty fourth for Sunday’s 206-lap contest.
“It wasn’t splendid,” Palou stated. “I used to be just a little extra comfy this morning in observe. So, don’t actually know occurred to the No. 10 automotive. We simply need to examine and see that, however first lap wasn’t too dangerous. However the second lap was actually, actually dangerous. So yeah, not what we needed or what we want however we have to transfer from there tomorrow.”
There was additionally an in depth second for Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi, who was left saving his No. 7 Chevrolet after going over the identical bump in Flip 3 that took out teammate Nolan Siegel in opening observe. Rossi was twentieth by the top of his laps, however like Siegel, will fall down beginning positions as a consequence of a nine-spot grid penalty for an engine change.
“I don’t know why that’s occurred to 2 of our automobiles,” Rossi stated, who’s working his closing race with Arrow McLaren. “… a little bit of a thriller.”
Siegel didn’t run in qualifying and isn’t anticipated to run in closing observe as a consequence of repairs from his crash initially of the day.
The one different driver left to endure a nine-spot grid penalty is Crew Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who certified ninth.
