SHERIDAN, WYOMING – October 6, 2024 – Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood closed out the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season with his second career pole position, leading Honda qualifying efforts for Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway.
Kirkwood’s pole effort in his #27 Andretti Global Honda came at the same track where he scored his second career INDYCAR win a year ago, albeit on a temporary street circuit surrounding the Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium, rather than on the 1.33-mile oval where the series is competing this weekend.
Two Meyer Shank Racing Hondas also qualified well for Sunday’s season finale. Felix Rosenqvist qualified third in his #60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda, with teammate David Malukas sixth in the #18 HMD Honda.
However, championship leader Alex Palou will have his work cut out for him in his bid to win his second series title. Palou will start last in the 27-car field after posting the 15th-fastest time in qualifying, then incurring a nine-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change prior to the start of the race weekend.
Despite the penalty, Palou carries a 33-point lead over rival Will Power into Sunday’s season finale. Palou can clinch his second consecutive title – and third in the last four years – with a ninth-place or better result on Sunday.
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results
1st Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda
3rd Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda
6th David Malukas Meyer Shank Racing Honda
10th Linus Lundqvist -R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Colton Herta Andretti Global Honda
13th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
14th Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
15th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
18th Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda
19th Pietro Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
21st Kyffin Simpson -R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
22nd Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
23rd Jack Harvey Dale Coyne Racing Honda
24th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
25th Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
Quotes Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) pole qualifier, second career IndyCar pole, first oval track pole: “It’s huge for our season. I was a little upset that we hadn’t gotten a pole yet this season. This was our final chance and we got it done. Super happy. The #27 AutoNation Honda was absolutely on rails today. The Honda engine gave us great power, and we were good from the start. We were fast in practice. We rolled out of the trailer extremely well and made some minor changes for qualifying, and was super happy with the car’s performance.’
Felix Rosenqvist (#60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda) qualified 3rd: “That was a pretty good run. I think we could’ve done a better one if we’d had a bit more practice running. Track conditions were a bit of a moving target, so we came into qualifying pretty much blind, making a last-minute trim as well. I did kinda run out of gear a little bit, so I wish we’d had a taller gear, but that was a pretty good lap. It was fun.”
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) championship points leader, qualified 15th, will start 24th due to an engine change penalty: “The first lap wasn’t too bad, but then the second lap was really, really bad. So not what we wanted or needed. It’s not making it any easier for sure, but tomorrow it will be time to see what we can do.”
Fast Facts This weekend’s season-finale at Nashville will be the sixth oval track event in the Hybrid era of NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The system also has been employed this year at Iowa Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, Portland and Milwaukee.
Where to Watch Television coverage of Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix starts at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage for both races also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 218).