Alex Palou claimed his fifth victory of the season by winning the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. The championship leader inherited the lead after a caution period came out during his third pit stop and never looked back. Josef Newgarden finished second, ahead of Team Penske teammate David Malukas.

Early Caution Following Collet Crash

The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix finally got underway on Monday afternoon (local time), 21.5 hours after the originally scheduled green flag. When the green flag waved, polesitter Kyle Kirkwood maintained the lead ahead of Josef Newgarden in second. Newgarden immediately challenged for the lead but was unable to find a way past Kirkwood.

The entire field made it through the opening laps without incident, but on Lap 19 the first caution of the race was displayed. Rookie Caio Collet lost control of his AJ Foyt Racing machine and slammed hard into the wall in Turn 4.

The full course cautions immediately prompted nearly the entire field to make their first pit stop. Scott McLaughlin enjoyed an exceptionally quick stop and emerged from pit lane ahead of Kirkwood, Palou, and Newgarden. Louis Foster, David Malukas, and Christian Lundgaard were the only drivers to stay out and inherited the top three positions.

After the restart, Malukas quickly found a way past Foster for the lead. While Foster and Lundgaard soon began to drop back through the field, Malukas was able to maintain the lead on older tires while committing to an alternate pit strategy. McLaughlin would continue to lead the drivers on the primary strategy ahead of Kirkwood and Rinus VeeKay.

Alex Palou Takes the Lead Thanks to Timely Caution

Malukas' strategy appeared to be paying off. Before making his second pit stop, he held a three-second advantage and looked capable of making it to the finish with one fewer stop than his rivals. However, shortly after his stop, the race's second caution period was triggered. Scott Dixon had made contact with Alexander Rossi's ECR machine as Rossi attempted to dive into pit lane. It was more bad luck for ECR, which had seen Christian Rasmussen hit the Turn 2 wall just a few laps earlier.

At the moment the caution was displayed, Alex Palou had just entered pit lane, allowing him to complete his stop without losing a lap. After his rivals made their pit stops, Palou inherited the race lead ahead of McLaughlin, Kirkwood, VeeKay and Newgarden.

Shortly after the restart, Newgarden passed VeeKay and, on Lap 175, the Team Penske driver also moved past Kirkwood for third place.

Late Caution Shakes Up the Front of the Field

Among the frontrunners, Kirkwood, McLaughlin, and VeeKay were the first to make their final pit stops, leaving themselves vulnerable to a potential caution. That caution came just a few laps later when Dennis Hauger hit the wall exiting Turn 2. It proved especially costly for Kirkwood, McLaughlin and VeeKay, who dropped from the front of the field to 11th, 12th, and 14th, respectively.

Palou, Newgarden, Felix Rosenqvist and Malukas had not yet made their final pit stops and capitalized perfectly on the caution, emerging as the top four after cycling through pit lane.

McLaughlin needed only a handful of laps after the restart to work his way back up to seventh place before gradually closing the gap to the leaders. Meanwhile, Malukas had overtaken Rosenqvist for third position.

Out front, Newgarden was able to keep pace with Palou but lacked the speed needed to challenge the Chip Ganassi Racing driver for the lead. Palou ultimately secured the victory in Nashville, his fifth win of the season.

Full results of the race on Nashville Superspeedway