Dre’s Race Review – IndyCar’s 2024 Grand Prix of Nashville

“Buckle Up.”

Welcome to the title decider and the final round of the 2024 IndyCar Series, as the series headed to Nashville Superspeedway with three men technically still in contention for the Astor Challenge Cup. 

And well, it wouldn’t be a weird-ass IndyCar Season without its big finale turning into a damp squib almost immediately, but that’s sadly, what we got in what turned out to be a pretty respectable closing of the year. Let’s get into it.

Power Shortage

Before I get going, I have to say, that I’ve very much enjoyed Scott McLaughlin this week. He knew that he’d be eliminated from contention the moment the race started and he leaned into finding creative ways for Alex not to race. From referencing The Simpsons episode over “Fugu” where Homer Simpson wrestles with his mortality, to joking about locking Palou in a porta-loo before the race, including bikes and skydiving – Scott’s very good at being a “lil’ bastard” on socials, and it made for fun drama. 

The drama had a mild increase in qualifying, as Alex Palou had a moment going over the infamous bump at Turn 4 on his second qualifying lap. In addition to a nine-place penalty for taking a new engine, he’d start the race 24th, with Will Power 4th at the front of the field. Still a miracle needed for Power, but the door was left open just a crack.

And within 20 laps in Nashville, it was all over. Will Power’s seat buckle came loose in the car as he was driving and he had to pit to get it fixed. Power loses five laps in the pits. It’s over before it’s barely even begun. Alex Palou is your Champion and he’s still passing backmarkers. From a championship standpoint, it sucks. In another, the dangerous thought of what would happen if he got distracted and crashed with a loose strap… a terrifying prospect.

Don’t let that flattener distract you too much though, we got a very fun race at the front. Pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood led more of an IndyCar race than he probably ever has, Josef Newgarden was strong at the start but faded late on, and the 206 laps blew by, even with three cautions for crashes. Felix Rosenqvist had a tyre fail, Katherine Legge spun out under aero wash and Marcus Ericsson’s suspension also broke before crashing out. There was also a ton of passing off those restarts that were genuinely hard to keep up with.

In the end, it boiled down to a game of fuel mileage. Pato O’Ward was in 20 laps later than his rivals and chasing down the field in his final stint, he was getting caught up in late-race traffic and Colton Herta with the race on the line, sent it down the inside of Sting Ray Robb’s lapped car to get alongside and pass Pato for what eventually became the win. A stunning pass, alone good enough to win the race and likely the Scotty Award at year’s end for Motorsport101. Colton Herta’s tremendous improvement on ovals has him his first win in the discipline. At last. 

Alex Palou further back could only manage 11th after just coming up short on a late fuel-save effort, but it didn’t matter, the Spaniard became IndyCar Champion for the third time, and more terrifyingly, the third time in five years in the sport. Obviously, I’ll go into a lot more detail soon on this, but the man has been sensational all year long, and while he didn’t have the startling upside that some other drivers had (Pato, Power, arguably McLaughlin and Newgarden at times), not making mistakes and maximising results was what led to him winning this crown via “Death by a thousand cuts”. His Iowa crash in Race 1 was the only truly bad day of his own making all year long. 

I said it last year, and I’ll say it again – We’re witnessing the blossoming of a generational talent. Three Astor Cups, despite having not won on an oval yet, the first to retain the title since Dario Franchitti’s three-peat, in arguably one of the strongest fields IndyCar has ever seen. And he’s still only 27. He has another 15 years of this potentially if he wants it. Palou is incredible and I think he still has room to get even better. If he wins a 500… we’re going to be having all-timer conversations. Congrats once again, to the king. 

The Final Lightning Round (Content Warning in Blue)

On another sadly serious note – Why did IndyCar allow Diplo to be Grand Marshal for this event and have his custom livery on Meyer Shank’s cars when the man himself is under a lawsuit for Revenge Porn just three months ago? Not someone you needed to be the face of your sports event and it would have taken 30 seconds of googling to draw that conclusion. I’ve called this out in all three series I follow regularly and will continue to do so.

If I had a nickel for every time IndyCar on NBC had to take a special commercial break due to an act of political violence, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that its happened twice.

Another small season review spoiler – Marcus Ericsson was 3rd from last of all the full-timers this season for oval points scored. Good god. 

Happy Felix Rosenqvist has a two-year extension at Meyer Shank confirmed for 2025. He’s a damn good driver and I’m glad for the first time in his IndyCar career he’ll have true stability.

Rumours are strong that Prema’s two drivers will be announced next week as Robert Schwartzman and Callum Illot. I like this pairing. Schwartzman had tyre conservation issues in F2 but has evolved into a solid Sportscar driver and I’d like to see how he gets on in single-seaters again. And we know that Callum Illot has proven IndyCar pedigree, especially with Juncos as a team that lacked resources. I think he’s really solid for what Prema wants and needs. Hope it holds up. 

Final Leader’s Circle Standings in the end?

18th – #6 Arrow McLaren (251 Points)
19th – #66 Meyer Shank (210 Points)
20th – #78 Juncos Hollinger (209 Points)
21st – #20 Ed Carpenter (190 Points)
22nd – #30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan (186 Points)
23rd – #41 AJ Foyt (185 Points)
24th – #18 Dale Coyne (165 Points)
25th – #51 Dale Coyne (154 Points)

Pietro Fittipaldi crawled over the line by just a point over Sting Ray Robb’s #41. Conor Daly has been superb for Juncos in getting both cars safely in, and Christian Rasmussen did the same for ECR after Ed rightly took a step back. Wonder if SRR ends up at Dale Coyne with his purse?

I say this because the team is cheeks. I know they’ve made a big deal about driver stability and I think Louis Foster would be a superb pick to build around, but this was the worst team in IndyCar and it wasn’t even close. 

And finally, a salute to NBC as they signed off on their IndyCar coverage for good as the series heads to FOX for 2025. Leigh Diffey picked up the mic one more time for a fitting visual tribute on their time together and it was wonderful, talking about the people behind the scenes that make it happen, as well as doing what they did better than any series in Motorsport, gas up just how great their drivers were to watch and to appreciate.

The mentions to the late Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson, the recoveries of Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe, who’s become an outstanding broadcaster in his own right, the flowers to Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Helio Castroneves and the current generation of Alex Palou and Colton Herta were brilliant. Give it 150 seconds of your time. Thanks NBC, it was your coverage that made me a fan, and Leigh Diffey’s loss has already become NASCAR’s gain.

Dre’s Race Review: 7/10 (Good) – This was actually a little bit better than I expected. In IndyCar’s defence, the Saturday night rain really did a number on any chance of getting the high line going, but even without it, there was some good aggressive racing, and the added drama of a fuel-mileage finish and the pass of the year at the end elevated this into a genuinely good race that flew by. See you in… Oh wait, we’re done here.

I just wanted to say thank you once again for reading all of my IndyCar content this year, whether you’re new here or still here in what I think is my sixth year of full-on coverage. Don’t worry, we’re not quite done yet, they’ll be a three-part season review out in the coming fortnight or so, keep tabs on my socials @DreHarrison101 for updates on that. But as ever, it’s been a pleasure to write for you again, and do keep checking back for more. Love, Dre x