Kirkwood Tops Opening Practice at Nashville; Malukas Transported to Hospital Following Crash

July 18, 2026 David Morgan Headline News, IndyCar 0
Photo: Steve Scaglione/ASP, Inc.
By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – Kyle Kirkwood has struck the first chord of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix weekend at Nashville Superspeedway by leading Saturday morning’s opening practice session.

Powering his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda around the 1.33-mile concrete oval, Kirkwood’s lap of 23.774 seconds, 197.097 mph was enough to boost him to the top of the board ahead of points leader Alex Palou in second place.

“That one practice it was not easy,” Kirkwood said in a video posted to social media. “Obviously saw a car crash. The track is just slick. It’s hot out, it’s greasy. The track’s green, not a lot of rubber that’s been on here recently. It was a tough session. Not many laps were ran by anybody.

“So, we’re going into qualifying a little fresh, so hopefully that goes well. Fingers crossed. We were really fast, so that’s a good thing, but it’s going to be sketchy in qualifying no doubt. We’re trying to decide exactly what we’re going to do. You can definitely gamble to get some reward.

“And then we’ll go into final practice and work on some race runs, but it’s hot out. This is tough.”

David Malukas would time in third fastest, followed by Indy 500 champion Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Caio Collet, Nolan Siegel, and Scott Dixon to round out the top-10.

However, Malukas practice session came to a screeching halt in Turn 2 when his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet got loose underneath him and whipped around and slammed into the outside wall. The impact was heavy enough to rip the steering wheel off following contact with the wall.

Malukas would be helped out of his battered machine by the AMR Safety Team and walked to the ambulance under his own power, but following evaluation at the Infield Care Center, he was transported to a local hospital for further testing.

This marks the second year in a row that a crash at Nashville has sent Malukas to the hospital after crashing during the race last year and having to be helicoptered to a hospital as a result.

Next up for the IndyCar Series at Nashville will be qualifying at 3:00 pm ET on FOX, followed by high line and final practice at 6:00 and 7:00 pm ET, respectively on FOX Sports 1.

Sunday’s Music City Grand Prix is scheduled for 5:30 pm ET on FOX, but the start time is in flux pending completion of the World Cup finale that serves as the lead in for the race.

Music City Grand Prix Practice 1 Results:

Rank Car Driver C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 27 Kirkwood, Kyle D/H/F 00:23.7447 197.097 –.—- –.—- 3 21
2 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 00:23.7605 196.966 0.0158 0.0158 28 30
3 12 Malukas, David D/C/F 00:23.8362 196.340 0.0915 0.0757 4 4
4 60 Rosenqvist, Felix D/H/F 00:23.8473 196.249 0.1026 0.0111 21 23
5 14 Ferrucci, Santino D/C/F 00:23.8804 195.977 0.1357 0.0331 23 24
6 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 00:23.8849 195.940 0.1402 0.0045 15 17
7 3 McLaughlin, Scott D/C/F 00:23.8889 195.907 0.1442 0.0040 6 16
8 4 Collet, Caio (R) D/C/F 00:23.9575 195.346 0.2128 0.0686 14 21
9 6 Siegel, Nolan D/C/F 00:23.9661 195.276 0.2214 0.0086 32 35
10 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 00:23.9932 195.055 0.2485 0.0271 29 29
11 66 Armstrong, Marcus D/H/F 00:24.0006 194.995 0.2559 0.0074 19 24
12 20 Rossi, Alexander D/C/F 00:24.0141 194.886 0.2694 0.0135 29 33
13 28 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 00:24.0246 194.800 0.2799 0.0105 25 30
14 26 Power, Will D/H/F 00:24.0502 194.593 0.3055 0.0256 7 24
15 76 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 00:24.0701 194.432 0.3254 0.0199 28 30
16 21 Rasmussen, Christian D/C/F 00:24.0831 194.327 0.3384 0.0130 17 28
17 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 00:24.1246 193.993 0.3799 0.0415 14 16
18 18 Grosjean, Romain D/H/F 00:24.1850 193.508 0.4403 0.0604 26 31
19 7 Lundgaard, Christian D/C/F 00:24.1985 193.400 0.4538 0.0135 28 28
20 8 Simpson, Kyffin D/H/F 00:24.2053 193.346 0.4606 0.0068 27 32
21 77 Robb, Sting Ray D/C/F 00:24.2791 192.758 0.5344 0.0738 27 28
22 47 Schumacher, Mick (R) D/H/F 00:24.2935 192.644 0.5488 0.0144 37 38
23 19 Hauger, Dennis (R) D/H/F 00:24.2949 192.633 0.5502 0.0014 21 27
24 45 Foster, Louis D/H/F 00:24.5865 190.348 0.8418 0.2916 27 32
25 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 00:24.8933 188.002 1.1486 0.3068 5 39
About David Morgan 1990 Articles
David Morgan is the Associate Editor for Motorsports Tribune. A 2008 graduate from the University of Mississippi, David has followed NASCAR since the early 90’s and became hooked at an early age after attending his first race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1993. He has traveled across the country since 2012 to cover some of the most prestigious events both IndyCar and NASCAR have to offer, with an aim to only expand on that in the near future.
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