By David Morgan, Associate Editor
LEBANON, Tenn. – It could be a pivotal weekend ahead for David Malukas as the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series reaches the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
The current driver of the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet has found his name being thrown around in the rumor mill about a possible change in address next season, with a strong performance in the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix possibly tipping the scales one way or another.
Malukas and Foyt brought the speed in qualifying for Sunday’s finale, with the 23-year-old from Chicago rocketing around the 1.33-mile concrete oval at a two-lap average of 201.922 mph to put himself on the outside of the front row for start of the 225-lap race.
“Man, that car was so beautiful,” Malukas said after climbing from his car after his qualifying lap.
“I mean, I knew as soon as I even did the warmup lap, I was like, ‘Whoa, they just gave me an epic car’, so this is going to make me look pretty good. But big kudos to the guys. I mean, they gave me a damn near perfect car. We were thinking about it all the way until we got into that, until I got seated in the car. So good job from all of them.”
Malukas has been extremely strong on the ovals all season long, with three of his five top-10 finishes on the year coming on an oval, including a runner-up finish at Indianapolis, fourth place finish at Iowa, and eighth place finish last weekend in Milwaukee.
In addition, all but two of the 96 laps he has led this season have come on ovals, so the only question remains is how to translate the speed from Saturday into a run on Sunday to contend for the win?
“Things just need to go our way,” said Malukas. “I feel like that’s kind of been the season. We get these almost…I even said in Milwaukee we’re almost, but man, it’s the last one of the season.
“It would be good to just no more almost and just do it. Victory lane or a sticker or something. We want it bad. And I mean, this crew’s young, so we just keep pushing for it.
“I don’t know, it’s going to take everything, right? 110%. It’s the hardest thing ever to win IndyCar, to win a race. And especially when we got Alex Palou having the season of his life. I mean, I was right behind him in Milwaukee, man, it was tough. We were figuring it out halfway through and then things obviously went sideways for us. But yeah, we’ll give it everything.”
Malukas added that with a strong car under him like he has this weekend in Nashville, there is pressure to perform, but nothing out of the ordinary with the driver and team both gunning for that elusive first win.
“I’m very competitive. I want to get that win,” said Malukas. “I want to be out there. I want to get that sticker. I want to get the pole. And no matter what, I always get the pressure. I feel it, the intensity. I want to make sure that no matter what the car is, that it’s going to be close to P1 if it’s not P1.”
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