Lebanon, TN

  • Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global qualifies his #27 Honda P1 at Nashville Superspeedway
  • Championship leader Alex Palou goes fourth
  • Scott Dixon makes it two Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top five with fifth-place qualifying effort

Kyle Kirkwood put his #27 Andretti Global Honda on pole position for tomorrow's Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway with a two-lap average of 196.852 Miles per hour.

Kirkwood was the only driver to set a lap in the 197 MPH bracket across all 25 NTT INDYCAR SERIES entrants. Kirkwood has finished in the top 10 in 10 of 11 IndyCar races this season, including scoring the victory at the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington earlier this year.

The point Kirkwood will earn for pole position will help close the gap to championship leader Alex Palou, who enters the weekend with a 56-point margin over the driver of the #27 car.

Alex Palou, for his efforts, will roll off fourth in his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The Spaniard has four wins already this season and will be looking to further his lead with his first oval victory of the 2026 season in tomorrow's race from Nashville—after he watches Spain in the World Cup final, of course.

Palou's Chip Ganassi Racing stablemate, Scott Dixon, qualified fifth in his #9 Honda machine. The veteran driver has yet to win in 2026 and is hoping to extend his streak of consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES seasons with a victory to an impressive 22.

Both Marcus' also qualified their Honda-powered Indy cars in the top 10, with Marcus Armstrong setting the eighth fastest time for Meyer Shank Racing and Marcus Ericsson going P10 for Andretti Global.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results

1st Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Global Honda
4th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
5th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
8th Marcus Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing Honda
10th Marcus Ericsson Andretti Global Honda
14th Will Power Andretti Global Honda
16th Mick Schumacher - R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
17th Felix Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing Honda
18th Kyffin Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
20th Louis Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Romain Grosjean Dale Coyne Racing Honda
23rd Dennis Hauger - R Dale Coyne Racing Honda
25th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) qualified first: "Another pole! in the books for us! It's has been quite a long time since I've had a pole. That Honda power basically forced me to get a pole out there, our car was so strong. I'm happy to get this because I feel like I've been giving pole positions away all year long. So, I'm thrilled to get one in the books this year. Hopefully that's one of many more to end the season with six more races after this. But, for now, I'm just excited to lead the field to green in this Andretti Global Sam's Club Honda tomorrow."

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified fourth: "Honestly, I'm happy with the second row. It's the same place we were last year. Our car was good, it was really fast, I just didn't have the absolutely perfect qualifying run. I'm looking forward to tomorrow!"

Where to Watch

  • Television coverage of Sunday's Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix will air at 4:30 PM CT / 5:30 PM ET on Fox, following the completion of the World Cup final. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
  • The green flag for the race will be delayed should the World Cup go into extra time.

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