The 17th and final race of the season sees the NTT IndyCar Series take on 1.330-mile Nashville Superspeedway. The Nashville Superspeedway sits around 35 miles from Nashville’s famous Broadway and is a change from previous years where the series raced on the streets of Nashville.
Alex Palou’s issues in Milwaukee in the second race of the double header prevented him from clinching the title before the season finale. This stumble puts the Team Penske teammates of Will Power (-33) and Scott McLaughlin (-50) within striking distance for the 2024 NTT IndyCar series crown. Power is looking for his second title in three years and McLaughlin is looking for his first career IndyCar title.
With qualifying set for Saturday, September 14th at 2:15 PM EST, starting position will be of utmost importance if either Penske driver wants to dethrone the reigning champion. Who will walk away from Music City with the IndyCar title? Tune in to NBC/Peacock on Sunday, September 15th at 3:00 PM EST to see who takes the title!
Palou’s Dominant Season Puts Him on Cusp of 3rd Title
Alex Palou has had another great year in the IndyCar series and will look to keep up that momentum going into Nashville. With two wins already on the season and sporting a comfortable 33 point lead over his closest competitor, Palou has managed this season as well as previous title wins. What sets Palou apart from many in the series is his ability to remain calm, cool, and collected under pressure, especially when things don’t go his way. Minimizing the impact of bad days is what has put Palou in the catbird’s seat for the 2024 title.
The only hiccup’s on Palou’s record this year are the engine issues at Milwaukee that put him 20+ laps down at the start of the race, and a crash at Iowa. Outside of those incidents, Palou has been as consistent as ever, with only three finishes outside the top 10 all year. As long as Palou can maintain his consistent speed, he should bring home his third title in four years.
Power Looks to Spoil Palou’s Party
A lot was made about Will Power’s winless 2023 campaign while he was dealing with issues both on and off the track. This poor season seemed to reignite the fire in the 2022 IndyCar Champion as he now sits only 33 points back of this third career championship. This would be a storybook ending to the season for Power as he looks to bounce back from a disappointing season and win the title, but he has a steep hill to climb if he wants to accomplish this feat.
Power’s 2024 season started off with three runner-up finished in four races, followed by a 24th place finish at the Indy 500 and a sixth place finish in Detroit. With Palou’s engine issues in Milwaukee, Power had every opportunity to tighten this gap even more but an uncharacteristic mistake on a restart put Power outside the top 10 late in the race. He was able to finish the race in 10th but a better day in Milwaukee could’ve made the margin going into this Sunday’s race a little closer.
Power is tied at the top of the series with three wins on the year and would love to cap off the 2024 season with a race (and possible championship) win. While 33 points is not an insurmountable gap to cover (especially if Palou befalls more mechanical failures like he did in Milwaukee Race 2), Power will need everything to go his way in Nashville if he wants to put an end to Palou’s bid for back-to-back titles.
Herta Looking to Finish Up and Down Season on High Note at Nashville
Even though Colton Herta’s title hopes officially ended after the last race, Nashville offers Herta and the 26 team a shot to finish the 2024 season off with a strong performance. While it looks unlikely he will end up matching his career high of third in the season standings, a fourth place standing would be his best in four seasons since his third place title finish.
Finishes of 23rd and 19th at the Indy 500 and Detroit respectively plummeted him from third in the season rankings all the way down to seventh. He stayed around there in the standings until Gateway where he shot back up into the top three. Herta has only one win on the season and a second win would send him into the offseason with some positive momentum going into next season.
Great preview. Looking forward to seeing who wins the championship!