AllRacing

O’Ward rockets to Nashville IndyCar finale pole

Arrow McLaren and Pato O’Ward rocked qualifying for Sunday’s Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway.

Like last weekend in Milwaukee, where a huge performance by David Malukas appeared to have pole position secured until Alex Palou ripped it away as the last to run, it happened again to Malukas who stood atop the field until O’Ward – the second-to-last qualifier – rocketed to pole with an average of 202.621mph in the No. 5 Chevy, well clear of the 201.922mph generated by Malukas in the No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy.

“The car was great; felt really comfortable,” O’Ward said before expressing his goal for the 225-lap season finale. “I’ve never won a race from pole. That’s on my to-do list this weekend.”

Malukas was second for Foyt and also the fastest among the Foyt-Team Penske alliance.

“Definitely disappointed,” Malukas conceded. “Perfect car. I was driving a beauty. It was a piece of cake doing 200mph. It was hard to beat. I wanted a (pole position) sticker.”

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was third, emphasizing the team’s strength and his own evolution as an oval performer with the No. 7 Chevy (201.713mph). Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was fourth in the No. 10 Honda, best among the Honda brigade (201.603mph) and led teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda (201.437mph) and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in sixth with the No. 2 Chevy (201.390mph).

Some fast drivers struggled in qualifying which could make for a fun race if they’re able to find what was missing, starting with Will Power in 12th, last year’s polesitter Kyle Kirkwood in 13th, oval ace Santino Ferrucci in 14th, last year’s winner Colton Herta in 15th, last weekend’s winner Christian Rasmussen in 16th and perennial oval threat Conor Daly in 25th.

Halfway through the qualifying line, Josef Newgarden was fastest among the 13 runners with a 201.390mph average ahead of Nolan Siegel, whose 201.375mph tour stood as the best of the group for quite some time.

David Malukas was the 17th person to qualify and eclipsed Newgarden to take first with a big two-lap average of 201.922mph.

Christian Lundgaard was the 24th driver to run and he was fast, splitting Malukas and Newgarden to take second at the point with a 201.713mph average.

Scott Dixon was next and fell in between Lundgaard and Newgarden for third with a 201.437mph performance.

It was down to Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou to try and depose Malukas.

Would they have the speed? Absolutely, as O’Ward ran a 202.909mph on his first lap and closed with a 202.334mph to take pole with an average of 202.621mph.

Last to go was Palou and he had nothing, posting a 201.603mph to secure fourth as O’Ward clinched his seventh career pole and first on an oval.

UP NEXT: Final practice, 5:30-6:30pm ET

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