The mayhem and crashes , a hallmark of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix over the veryfirst 2 years, were missingouton for most of the IndyCar race Sunday when Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Motorsports won by holding off polesitter Scott McLaughlin on the last 3 laps after a reboot.
The preliminary 80-lap race with 11 turns consistedof 9 warns, a race blockage and 2 red flags. Last year’s race had 8 warns, a red flag and 10 vehicles that stoppedworking to surface following 8 crashes.
Compare that to 2 warns and a red flag Sunday in the race, which will relocation in 2024 to the end of the season heading into its 2nd three-year agreement.
The red flag set up the huge surface reminiscent of last year when Scott Dixon held off McLaughlin. The longest stretch of last year’s race under green was 24 laps.
“I think this year with everybody being so, ‘It’s going to be a crash fest, it’s Crashville,’ and that sort of thing,” Kirkwood stated. “Maybe there’s a hesitancy from all the motorists. We had that last year at Detroit where everybody was like, ‘It’s a street course so we’re going to anticipate some yellows, get off the greens early, blah, blah blah.’ Then Will (Power) began on primaries (tires) and strolled away from everybody and it remained green the whole race.”
It was Kirkwood’s 2nd win in his 2nd IndyCar season. He won in April at Long Beach, California. The 24-year-old Florida native endedupbeing the veryfirst American winner of the Music City Grand Prix.
He took his veryfirst lead on Lap 29 and onceagain on46 After pitting Kirkwood moved back into the lead on Lap 54 and neverever givenup it.
Kirkwood stated he felt he was in position to win throughout the race and specifically after the reboot.
“I was quite calm (after the reboot) to be truthful,” Kirkwood stated. “A lot calmer than I needto’ve been. I simply desired to reboot this race and get it over with.”
Finishing 2nd was no alleviation for McLaughlin, who made the pole in 2022 as well. He was not able to difficulty Kirkwood on the reboot or present a severe hazard at the end.
“I’m disap