The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix was a race of attrition won by Josef Newgarden who put in a flawless performance to earn his first victory of the season at the season finale in his home state of Tennessee. The win also marked Team Penske’s second in the last three races, which speaks to the program’s return to form.
Newgarden wheeled the No. 2 Team Penske Chevy to victory lane after holding off new champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by 0.5s and teammate Scott McLaughlin who reclaimed third position with the No. 3 Chevy on the last lap after dueling with Ganassi’s Kyffin Simpson who claimed fourth in the No. 8 Honda.
“I’m just glad we got one without anything going wrong for the No. 2 crew,” Newgarden said. “Just happy to celebrate with this team. They deserve it. It’s rewarding for our team; they’ve done a great job. Obviously, Will won in Portland, which was a huge lift for everybody and he really deserved it. I think he could have won this race today. It was a shame to see what happened to him. He’s a legend. It was great for our team and Team Chevy. Tough year, tough, tough year, but good to get a win here at the end.”
Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Conor Daly charged from 24th to fifth in the No. 76 Chevy to earn his best result of the year and Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood secured sixth in the No. 27 Honda, which was enough to propel himself to fourth in the drivers’ standings behind Palou, polesitter Pato O’Ward, and Ganassi’s Scott Dixon.
On multiple occasions, it felt like a race that nobody wanted to win. O’Ward led more than half the race – 116 laps in total – but suffered a tire failure while leading and smashed into the wall. He was uninjured. Palou was running strong in second and had a tire failure of his own. David Malukas was in contention in second when contact with Louis Foster pitched his car hard into the wall and needed a visit to an area hospital for further evaluation. Will Power was leading but carried too much speed into his pit box, knocked one of his tires down the road, and needed to be pushed back to receive service before stalling while trying to leave.
McLaughlin was leading late but got wide and lightly kissed the wall but continued without damage; it was the moment that allowed Newgarden to motor by and take a lead he never relinquished.
“I had an absolute blast. That was so much fun,” McLaughlin said. “Third’s great, but I felt like I could hold off Josef. Great team win but I’m [mad] at myself.”
Well behind the leaders, Foster was crowned Rookie of the Year after a wild scenario in the closing laps tipped the battle with Robert Shwartzman in his favor. Penalized for blocking Malukas prior to their clash, Foster was already a lap down before receiving a drive-through penalty. If there was a positive to the situation, it was the early nature of the penalty – on lap 101 – which gave Foster plenty of time to recover.
The same couldn’t be said for Shwartzman, who blocked Santino Ferrucci in the closing laps and was given a drive-through on lap 220 – with five to go – which ripped the RoY from his hands and gave it to Foster, who closed the season with a two-point advantage on Shwartzman.
Ganassi won nine of 17 races with Dixon taking one and Palou the other eight. Andretti took three, all via Kirkwood, and Arrow McLaren got two with O’Ward while Penske split their two with Power and Newgarden. Ed Carpenter Racing also got on the board with a win thanks to Christian Rasmussen, who was the first driver out at Nashville after a first-lap solo crash.
It was a wild year dominated by one team and one driver, but the success authored by Ganassi and Palou was countered by some excellent teams and drivers who brought the challenge in the second half of the season. If they’re going to stop the Spaniard from repeating, the challenge begins Monday to take the fight to the No. 10 Honda from the first race in 2026 and sustain that fight until the end.
Lights are out on the 2025 championship and into a long offseason we go before the green flag waves on March 1 in St. Petersburg.
As it happened
The 225-lap race went green at 2:45 p.m. ET with clear blue sky and a warm 83 degrees Fahrenheit to greet polesitter Pato O’Ward who charged into the lead as Palou went from fourth to second before Rasmussen crashed and triggered a caution before the first lap was completed. Rasmussen appeared to make light contact with Foster at the back of the field.
“I went to the high line and lost the rear of the car,” Rasmussen said. “Low grip up there and around she went.”
Lap 9 restart and it’s O’Ward, Palou, Malukas and McLaughlin passes Malukas for third.
Lap 10 and Palou is challenging O’Ward for P1.
Lap 12 and they’re side by side again. Awesome.
Lap 14 and O’Ward and Palou continue to mingle. O’Ward’s making the low line work while Palou has a slight advantage on the high line for brief moments in the corners.
Lap 17 and Palou falls in line behind O’Ward.
Lap 25 and it’s O’Ward, Palou, McLaughlin, Malukas, Dixon, and Ferrucci.
Lap 40 and O’Ward is driving away from Palou, who appeared to overtax his tires with the early challenge for the lead. Palou’s 2.2s behind, then it’s McLaughlin at 4.4s to O’Ward and 4.9s for Malukas to the leader.
Lap 43 and Palou’s 3.4s down and McLaughlin’s 5.1s shy to O’Ward. Masterful performance so far by the leader.
Lap 48 and Dixon is falling back; he’s down to P8.
Lap 52 and Palou pits with a flat right-front tire. He trades Firestone’s primaries for alternates. He returns in P25.
Lap 57 and O’Ward and McLaughlin pit for alternates.
Lap 58 and Malukas and Ferrucci pit; alternates for Ferrucci and primaries for Malukas.
Lap 62 and Malukas passes McLaughlin for P2.
Lap 64 and Palou passes McLaughlin for P3.
Lap 80 and Palou leads Malukas by 2.9s and Palou by 4.8s. Malukas gets wide and taps the wall with the right-rear tire.
Lap 83 Malukas and Foster make contact after Foster weaves and blocks Malukas. Malukas crashes while the lap-down Foster escapes unscathed. Malukas is slow to climb from the car and sits on the sidepod after getting out.
Lap 86 and the leaders pit. O’Ward leaves in the lead while McLaughlin jumps Palou, who needed to sit for a moment longer to fill his tank after pitting four laps before everyone else with the flat tire.
Lap 89 and repairs to the SAFER barrier are required after the gearbox from Malukas’s car punched a hole…
Lap 98 and Ferrucci is sent to the back of the field for improperly entering the pits from the apron instead of off of Turn 4.
Lap 99 Foster is given a drive-through penalty for blocking Malukas, which must be served once the race returns to green.
Lap 101 restart and O’Ward leads McLaughlin who is challenged by Palou.
Lap 106 and Herta is on a charge and fires part Palou for P3.
Lap 107 and Herta takes P2 from McLaughlin.
Lap 109 and Newgarden takes P4 from McLaughlin and Power is next to demote him to P5.
Lap 111 and Power takes P4 from Newgarden.
Lap 113 and Power takes P3 from Palou.
Lap 115 and Power goes ahead of Herta for P2.
Lap 123 and O’Ward leads Power by 1.1s and Herta by 2.8s. Newgarden takes P4 from Palou.
Lap 125 and Lundgaard is in the pits and sitting idle.
Lap 127 and O’Ward crashes. “Tire failure” he said of the right-front which went down in the middle of the turn.
Lap 130 and the leaders pit. It all goes wrong for Power who slides into his pit box at an angle. The stop is long and he stalls trying to leave. He gets going just as the field comes around. Herta leaves his box just as Abel is trying to pit and blocks Abel from getting into his box.
Lap 133 and Power resumes in P19.
Lap 137 and Herta is given a drive-through penalty for his pit lane procedure infraction.
Lap 138 and Lundgaard’s out of the race. He’ll drop from fourth in the standings to as low as sixth.
Lap 141 restart and Rossi, who didn’t pit, is leading.
Lap 143 and Palou sinks to P6.
Lap 144 and it’s Rossi, Newgarden, McLaughlin, Armstrong, the charging Daly, Kirkwood, Palou now in P7, Dixon, Ferrucci, and Simpson.
Lap 147 and Newgarden takes the lead from Rossi.
Lap 168 and Newgarden leads McLaughlin by 2.3s, Armstrong by 2.8, and Daly by 3.8s.
Lap 175 and Newgarden is cruising.
Lap 182 and Palou pits for the final time and takes primaries.
Lap 187 and Newgarden pits from the lead. Slid slightly long, took an extra second. He takes primaries.
Lap 189 and McLaughlin pits for alternates.
Lap 193 and Palou leads McLaughlin and Newgarden.
Lap 197 and Palou’s losing time behind Siegel as the Penske drivers drawn near.
