O’Ward Storms to Pole Position in Nashville Season Finale

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

LEBANON, Tenn. – It’s been coming up all Pato O’Ward Saturday in Nashville.

After leading the opening practice of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway, O’Ward ran it back in qualifying, putting his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at the top of the pylon with a two-lap average of 202.621 mph and scoring his second NTT IndyCar Series pole of 2025.

“Checking off boxes. That’s what we like to do,” said O’Ward. “I’ve got a big one on the list this weekend. I’ve never won from pole ever, ever, ever. I’m determined to make it happen this weekend. Step one done and super happy with my car. I was very comfortable with it in qualifying — in practice and qualifying.

“Yeah, we’ll see what practice later today has got in store, and we can make her as good as possible for the race.”

And if O’Ward can turn a pole on Saturday into a win on Sunday, it’s going to be party time for the Arrow McLaren team in what has been a career year for them with O’Ward having already locked up second place in the championship.

“Straight to Vegas, the whole team, boom,” O’Ward said jokingly. “No, I mean, you obviously — the year has already been a success, so whether it’s good or bad tomorrow, I don’t think it’s really going to play so much with how I feel about the year, because I’m proud of the work that everybody has done.

“You know, proud of Chevy, obviously, bringing the power this weekend and giving us the tools to be able to get it done, at least in qualifying for now.

“It really is all about tomorrow just trying to end on a high. But just if something goes wrong, it doesn’t mean that it’s been a bad year. You know, it doesn’t mean that your whole offseason has to be a bad time or something.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to win tomorrow. Like I said, I’ve never won from pole, so I want to get that done.”

O’Ward will be joined on the front row by David Malukas, who powered his A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet around the 1.33-mile concrete oval at an average of 201.922 mph and looked to be in the catbird seat for the pole until O’Ward made his flying laps.

“The guys just did a fantastic job. When it comes to Nashville here at the superspeedway, everybody is generally pretty much flat, right? It comes down to the guys in setup, and these guys just built a beautiful car,” Malukas said.

“I went out there and was, like, It’s going to be hard to beat, it was a perfect car. Just driving a beauty. It brought me home. That was sweet. Very easy going 200 miles. Can you imagine saying that? That was a piece of cake going 200 miles an hour. That’s because of the guys, the Foyt team. They did such a good job.”

It was a strong qualifying effort overall for Arrow McLaren with Christian Lundgaard posting the third-fastest time and Nolan Siegel timing in seventh-fastest.

“The Arrow McLaren Chevys around here, even from last year, they’re very strong. I think in qualifying we kind of lost it there a bit last year, but this year all three cars are dialed in,” said O’Ward.

“I think Christian is right behind me in third and Nolan is seventh, I believe. It’s the best qualifying that we’ve had as a team, I would say, all year.

“Like I said, hats off to all the work that has also been going on in the background by everybody at the shop, you know, the development program to deliver three very fast race cars. We’re going to be working hard this later practice session to make sure that we can all have a shot tomorrow.”

Four-time and newly crowned 2025 champion Alex Palou will roll off from fourth place, followed by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon in fifth.

The remainder of the top-10 went to Josef Newgarden in sixth, Scott McLaughlin in eighth, Callum Ilott in ninth, and Kyffin Simpson in 10^th.

Teams will have one final chance to get their cars dialed in for Sunday’s main event with high-line and final practice scheduled for 4:30 pm ET on FOX Sports 2. Sunday’s 225-lap race is scheduled for 2:00 pm ET on FOX.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Starting Lineup