IndyCar headed to the Nashville Superspeedway for Round 12 of the 2026 season. The weekend was far from dull, despite the dark clouds looming around the 1.33-mile-long oval and the race being forced into a Monday afternoon slot; the race was worth the wait.
The drivers drove 225 laps in Nashville’s beating heat, with 11 lead changes, an incredible recovery drive from last to third for David Malukas, Alex Palou claiming his fifth victory of the season in Palou-esque fashion, and a career-best result for Mick Schumacher.
Here are some of the top stories from the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville
Weather delays tangle IndyCar’s plan on capitalising on World Cup viewership
For the first time since 2024, Nashville will not host the season finale; instead, Laguna Seca will close out the 2026 season. The decision was made as the FIFA World Cup final would be televised on FOX, before a lead-in to IndyCar. An exciting oval, known for chaos, drama and the longest race outside the Indianapolis 500 – what better way to introduce a new audience to the sport?
But this plan began to fall apart slowly as lightning was reported a few miles from the track, delaying the start. This originally worked in IndyCar’s favour as the final against Spain and Argentina headed into 30 minutes of extra time. The game and trophies wrapped up, but the IndyCar coverage was nowhere to be seen. This was due to severe rain that hit the track. While they were able to begin drying processes and start coverage, the race was getting further and further postponed. The decision was finally made to move to Monday – the first time since 2016 that IndyCar has moved a race to the following day. It was also announced that due to the intense heat the drivers will be racing under, the race was shortened to 225 laps.
While the race turned out to live up to expectations for its twists and surprises, it’s unfortunate that weather issues hindered what could’ve been a breakthrough weekend for IndyCar.
An incredible recovery drive from last to third in Nashville
David Malukas has been a consistent runner in his inaugural season with Team Penske, with the 24-year-old inching closer to his maiden victory. In ten out of 12 rounds, Malukas has finished in the Top 10, four of which ended with him celebrating on the podium under a stream of champagne.
It’s no secret Malukas excels around ovals, with five podiums and a further seven top four finishes; the No.12 driver entered the weekend as a favourite hoping to undo the bad luck that has plagued him around the Nashville track in the past two years.
Bad Luck Continues
The drivers hit the track on a sunny Saturday afternoon, where Malukas shot to the top of the boards with the fastest time of 196.340mph. But that all changed 19 minutes into the session, after the Chicago native lost control of his car at Turn 2 and spun 180 degrees before hitting the barriers at around 130-140 mph.
On the onboard footage, it showed Malukas quickly removed his hands from the wheel, but the high impact of the crash caused his knee to dislodge the steering column. He was rushed to hospital, where he waited six hours before being discharged with a severely bruised knee but, significantly, was cleared to race.
Crucially, he missed qualifying, meaning he would be starting the race from the back of the pack. Though during the final practice, Malukas once again topped the timings, a positive sign after a difficult start. With the race being postponed, the unfortunate circumstance played in Malukas’ favour, who had an extra day of rest to recover.
“If we raced yesterday [Saturday], it was survival. Today [Monday] was game on,” Malukas said.
“That was the situation I was in; I am not going to lie; I heard the rain on my bus. I thought, ‘That’s really nice; I was already lights out at 8 p.m.
“I just thought if I go to bed, we’re not going to race today, it’s going to be committed. So I woke back up a couple minutes later, they told me that they canceled it. I said, ‘I knew it, this is good.’” He concluded.
The Comeback for Malukas in Nashville
On lap 20, Caio Collet brought out the yellow flag after he got loose in Turn 4 and hit the barriers. The drivers out in front all opted to pit, while Malukas took a strategic gamble to stay out; he kept the lead until lap 61 when he was forced to pit as his tyres started losing performance.
He came out in 23rd, but once again another composed drive meant he worked his way through traffic and took the lead again on lap 110, where he built a three-and-a-half-second gap to teammate Scott McLaughlin in second.
Malukas pit again, but this time he wasn’t so lucky as Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon crashed nine laps later, bringing out another caution period.
Once again, bad luck was plaguing Malukas’ race around Nashville. But that would be reversed, as another caution came out. The Penske driver pitted alongside Alex Palou, and they exited the lane at the front of the field. With 31 laps to go, Malukas was running in third, inching closer to grab second from Josef Newgarden, but was unable to.
The race remained unchanged in the final ten laps, and Malukas crossed the line in an incredible third place.
Perfect Palou pulls off flawless strategy
Alex Palou is stellar in many ways, but his Achilles heel in most of his IndyCar career has been ovals. That was until 2025, when the Spaniard took his maiden Indianapolis 500 and sealed another oval victory in Iowa, mastering the multi-discipline in IndyCar. Palou qualified in fourth and if anyone knows anything about Palou, it’s to not write him off.
After Dixon and Rossi collided, only three cars were lucky enough to dart into the pit lane three-tenths of a second before it was closed: Will Power, Christian Lundgaard and Palou himself. This was crucial, as the drivers at the front of the pack had to wait until it reopened before peeling in and when they did, the No.10 took the lead of the race.
While the lucky gamble was one of the reasons he sealed his race victory, Palou’s composed drive to the chequered flag was another as he came under pressure from a Penske 2-3-4 train with Newgarden leading the trail.
But, the Chip Ganassi driver made a significant pass on backbencher Louis Foster, while the hometown hero became stuck behind the Briton, which increased Palou’s lead to just under a second.
The Nashville victory marked Palou’s fifth victory this season and extended his gap in the standings to 83 points over Malukas. While starting on pole, Kyle Kirkwood couldn’t capitalise on the position and dropped down to tenth in the race, meaning he fell back to third in the standings.
A turnaround in performance for Schumacher in Nashville
Schumacher’s maiden IndyCar season hasn’t been the season he would’ve wanted. His best result before Nashville was 17th at Road America in June. The 27-year-old’s season has been plagued by bad luck, from mechanical issues and poorly timed cautions to retiring on the first lap of his first IndyCar race in St. Petersburg after a collision which caused a wrist fracture.
But, he has shown pace throughout the season; he sealed the top of the board during Indianapolis 500 testing and qualified fourth at Phoenix – his first oval.
In Nashville, he started in 16th, but throughout the race made up positions and held drivers off to secure his first Top 10.
Despite the breakthrough weekend, the German is now left in the dark about his future after Rahal Letterman Lanigan announced they have sold one of their charter entries to Dreyer & Reinbold, who will return to the grid next season. While Schumacher has remained firm that he will continue in IndyCar in 2027, it seems that it might not be with RLL. This is just another piece in the IndyCar silly season.
There is now a two-week break before Portland begins the final stint of the season, with five races taking place in six weekends.
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IndyCar returns August 9th in Portland.
Featured Image: Joe Skibinski