Scott Dixon at Nashville Superspeedway. Image: James Black
McLaren’s Pato O’Ward took pole position for the season-ending 225-lap race, setting a two-lap average of 202.621 mph at the concrete speedway.
David Malukas was second for AJ Foyt Racing (201.922 mph) while O’Ward’s teammate Christian Lundgaard was third (201.713 mph).
Champion-elect Alex Palou will start fourth ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dixon in fifth.
Josef Newgarden, who goes into the final race of the season still without a win, was the best of the Team Penske trio in sixth.
Nolan Siegel was seventh for McLaren but took a nine-place grid penalty for an unscheduled engine change.
That promoted Team Penske’s McLaughlin ahead of Kyffin Simpson (Chip Ganassi Racing), Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing), and Power (Team Penske).
Callum Ilott was poised to start ninth, but he too took a nine-place grid penalty for an engine change.
IndyCar’s most recent race winner, Christian Rasmussen, also took a nine-place grid penalty for an engine change, which dropped him out of his 16th place qualifying result.
Pole winner O’Ward has never won a race from top spot, a streak he is eager to end.
“The car was great,” O’Ward said.
“Felt really comfortable in practice and didn’t give me any scares or anything. I was happy with that. Very good.”
Monday’s race gets underway at 4am AEST with coverage live and exclusively on Stan Sport.
Results: Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot Qualifying, Nashville Superspeedway
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Lap 1
Lap 2
Time
Speed (mph)
1
5
Pato O’Ward
Arrow McLaren
23.5968
23.6639
47.2607
202.621
2
4
David Malukas
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
23.6537
23.7706
47.4243
201.922
3
7
Christian Lundgaard
Arrow McLaren
23.7347
23.7387
47.4734
201.713
4
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
23.752
23.7474
47.4994
201.603
5
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
23.7324
23.806
47.5384
201.437
6
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
23.7727
23.7768
47.5495
201.39
7
6
Nolan Siegel
Arrow McLaren
23.7511
23.802
47.5531
201.375
8
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
23.8059
23.8275
47.6334
201.035
9
90
Callum Ilott
PREMA Racing
23.8125
23.8716
47.6841
200.822
10
8
Kyffin Simpson
Chip Ganassi Racing
23.8973
23.815
47.7123
200.703
11
60
Felix Rosenqvist
Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian
23.8454
23.8685
47.7139
200.696
12
12
Will Power
Team Penske
23.8057
23.9215
47.7272
200.64
13
27
Kyle Kirkwood
Andretti Global
23.8346
23.9278
47.7624
200.492
14
14
Santino Ferrucci
A.J. Foyt Enterprises
23.8089
23.9666
47.7755
200.437
15
26
Colton Herta
Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian
23.89
23.9215
47.8115
200.287
16
21
Christian Rasmussen
Ed Carpenter Racing
23.8725
24.0059
47.8784
200.007
17
66
Marcus Armstrong
Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian
23.9682
23.9171
47.8853
199.978
18
28
Marcus Ericsson
Andretti Global
23.9179
23.9951
47.9130
199.862
19
83
Robert Shwartzman
PREMA Racing
23.9865
24.0024
47.9889
199.546
20
20
Alexander Rossi
Ed Carpenter Racing
23.9562
24.0651
48.0213
199.412
21
77
Sting Ray Robb
Juncos Hollinger Racing
24.0414
24.0704
48.1118
199.036
22
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
24.0973
24.1088
48.2061
198.647
23
30
Devlin DeFrancesco
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
24.0748
24.144
48.2188
198.595
24
45
Louis Foster
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
24.0555
24.164
48.2195
198.592
25
76
Conor Daly
Juncos Hollinger Racing
24.0761
24.242
48.3181
198.187
26
18
Rinus VeeKay
Dale Coyne Racing
24.2247
24.2991
48.5238
197.346
27
51
Jacob Abel
Dale Coyne Racing
24.4519
24.4603
48.9122
195.779