# 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

The 2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 2023 IndyCar season. The race was held on August 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee at the Nashville Street Circuit. The eleventh edition of INDYCAR in Nashville consisted of 80 laps and was won by Kyle Kirkwood.
The race was accompanied by the Wesley Mortgage Freedom Friday Tribute Concert, on Friday, August 4, featuring Brian Kelley (from Florida Georgia Line), Chris Janson, Vince Neil (from Mötley Crüe), Gavin DeGraw, Sixwire, and others. Concerts by Frank Ray, Dillon Carmichael, and Flo Rida were also announced. On Sunday, August 6, Jay DeMarcus, Jason Crabb, and others performed, presented by Red Street Records.
On February 14, 2024, it was announced because of construction issues with the new Tennessee Titans stadium and the Broadway region issues with closing streets for the race, the Nashville Street Circuit race will be discontinued. It will be replaced by Gladeville's Nashville Superspeedway for the first time since 2008.

## Entry list

| Key | Meaning |
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
| No. | Driver | Team | Engine |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 06 | Hélio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
| 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 7 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 9 | Scott Dixon W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 10 | Álex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong R | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda |
| 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet |
| 14 | Santino Ferrucci | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 18 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports | Honda |
| 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
| 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | Honda |
| 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda |
| 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda |
| 30 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 45 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda |
| 51 | Sting Ray Robb R | Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda |
| 55 | Benjamin Pedersen R | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet |
| 60 | Linus Lundqvist R | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda |
| 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
| 78 | Agustín Canapino R | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet |
| Source: ||||

## Practice
### Practice 2

Due to rain delaying the start time of practice 2, the session was shortened to 30 minutes, from the usual 45 minutes.

## Qualifying

Due to rain causing track conditions to worsen, qualifying was moved to start at 6:15 PM ET.

### Qualifying classification

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Time | Time | Time | Time | Final grid |
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Final grid |
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Group 1 | Group 2 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Final grid |
| 1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:15.1629 | N/A | 01:14.7484 | 01:14.6099 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.1251 | 01:14.5944 | 01:14.9395 | 2 |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0030 | 01:14.7128 | 01:15.2416 | 3 |
| 4 | 10 | Álex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0849 | 01:14.7218 | 01:15.2462 | 4 |
| 5 | 18 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports | Honda | 01:15.7943 | N/A | 01:15.0519 | 01:15.8703 | 5 |
| 6 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:15.1570 | 01:14.7695 | 01:15.9921 | 6 |
| 7 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.4599 | 01:15.1384 | N/A | 7 |
| 8 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:15.0561 | 01:15.1641 | N/A | 8 |
| 9 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:15.9347 | N/A | 01:15.4862 | N/A | 9 |
| 10 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 01:15.8303 | N/A | 01:15.5711 | N/A | 10 |
| 11 | 60 | Linus Lundqvist R | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:16.0892 | N/A | 01:16.0715 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 9 | Scott Dixon W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:15.7094 | N/A | 01:16.7692 | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:16.0985 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:15.4638 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:16.1825 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong R | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:15.5631 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 06 | Hélio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:16.2203 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:16.0170 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| 19 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:16.3356 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 19 |
| 20 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.0420 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| 21 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 01:16.6416 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 |
| 22 | 30 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.1193 | N/A | N/A | 22 |
| 23 | 78 | Agustín Canapino R | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 01:16.6900 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 23 |
| 24 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb R | Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:16.3907 | N/A | N/A | 24 |
| 25 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen R | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | No Time | N/A | N/A | N/A | 25 |
| 26 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:16.4369 | N/A | N/A | 26 |
| 27 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:17.2417 | N/A | N/A | 27 |
| Source: ||||||||||

#### Notes

* Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.

## Warmup

Due to qualifying being delayed to 6:15 PM ET, final practice was canceled.

## Race

The race started at 12:30 PM ET on August 6, 2023.

### Race classification

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Laps | Time/Retired | Pit Stops | Grid | Laps Led | Pts. |
| 1 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 80 | 01:58:02.3028 | 2 | 8 | 34 | 53 |
| 2 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +0.7633 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 42 |
| 3 | 10 | Álex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 80 | +1.7221 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 36 |
| 4 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +3.1416 | 2 | 9 | | 32 |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 80 | +4.1655 | 2 | 12 | | 30 |
| 6 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 80 | +5.9518 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 29 |
| 7 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson W | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 80 | +6.4148 | 3 | 20 | 4 | 27 |
| 8 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 80 | +6.6966 | 2 | 2 | | 24 |
| 9 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 80 | +8.0168 | 3 | 13 | | 22 |
| 10 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 80 | +9.0456 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 21 |
| 11 | 06 | Hélio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 80 | +9.8718 | 3 | 17 | | 19 |
| 12 | 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +10.6859 | 3 | 18 | | 18 |
| 13 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong R | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 80 | +11.4056 | 3 | 16 | | 17 |
| 14 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +11.8172 | 4 | 19 | | 16 |
| 15 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 80 | +14.2271 | 3 | 15 | | 15 |
| 16 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 80 | +14.6874 | 4 | 27 | | 14 |
| 17 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb R | Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda | 80 | +15.1158 | 4 | 24 | | 13 |
| 18 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 80 | +16.5253 | 4 | 21 | | 12 |
| 19 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 78 | +2 Laps | 3 | 10 | | 11 |
| 20 | 78 | Agustín Canapino R | Juncos Hollinger Racing | Chevrolet | 77 | Off-Course | 5 | 23 | | 10 |
| 21 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian | Honda | 76 | Mechanical | 3 | 3 | | 9 |
| 22 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | Chevrolet | 73 | Contact | 4 | 14 | | 8 |
| 23 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen R | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 73 | Contact | 4 | 25 | | 7 |
| 24 | 30 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 71 | Contact | 3 | 22 | | 6 |
| 25 | 60 | Linus Lundqvist R | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 69 | Contact | 3 | 11 | | 5 |
| 26 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 65 | Contact | 3 | 26 | | 5 |
| 27 | 18 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports | Honda | 11 | Mechanical | 1 | 5 | | 5 |
| Fastest lap: Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) - 01:16.7115 (lap 57) |||||||||||
| Source: |||||||||||

## Championship standings after the race

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Álex Palou | 513 |
| | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 429 |
| | 3 | Scott Dixon | 387 |
| 1 | 4 | Scott McLaughlin | 371 |
| 1 | 5 | Marcus Ericsson | 357 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Manufacturer | Points |
| | 1 | Honda | 1108 |
| | 2 | Chevrolet | 1016 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included.