Marcus Ericsson mounted a stunning comeback to win a chaotic inaugural Music City Grand Prix after launching himself into the air and a serving drive-through penalty early in the race.
The maiden race on the streets of Nashville saw an incident-filled race from start-to-finish, with eight caution periods that totaled 33 of the 80 laps. Two red flags interrupted the session as well, leading to a long race that lasted into the twilight.
With the incredibly high temperatures, IndyCar mandated the cars to be fitted with the cooling scoop which is mounted on the aeroscreen.
The IndyCar field also saw the largest field outside of the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 2013, as 27 entrants took to the streets of Nashville.
Ericsson’s race looked to be over after just five laps due to launching off the back of Sebastien Bourdais’ No 14 RoKIT-Chevrolet on the first restart and was handed a drive-through penalty for his transgression.
After going off strategy during one of the many caution periods, the Swede would run a long final stint to fend off his rivals to claim his second win of the season.
Scott Dixon made it a Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 finish and made back valuable points in the fight for the championship, the Kiwi now sits 42 points behind team-mate Alex Palou.
Colton Herta had been the dominant figure across the weekend, but despite his superior pace in the race, it all came to an abrupt end just 5 laps from the finish after crashing into Turn 9 trying to chase down Ericsson for the race win.
James Hinchcliffe secured his best result in two years as he fought off Andretti Autosport team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay and RLL’s Graham Rahal to claim the final spot on the podium.
Dale Coyne Racing’s Ed Jones was the biggest mover of the race after gaining 20 positions to finish in sixth place ahead of the recovering points leader in Palou.
Felix Rosenqvist also kept his nose clean to score his best result of the season in eighth place ahead of Helio Castroneves.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden would round out the top 10 albeit with his No.2 Hitachi-Chevrolet suffering a bent steering rack after tangling with Rahal on lap four.
IndyCar will return to action at its spiritual home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a second race around the road course on August 14.
| # | Driver | Time / Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Ericsson | 02:18:49.8305 | 37 | 51 |
| 2 | Scott Dixon | 1.5596 | – | 40 |
| 3 | James Hinchcliffe | 2.3918 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 2.8015 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | 4.0833 | – | 30 |
| 6 | Ed Jones | 4.7715 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Alex Palou | 5.5333 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Felix Rosenqvist | 5.9667 | – | 24 |
| 9 | Helio Castroneves | 6.7874 | – | 22 |
| 10 | Josef Newgarden | 7.5286 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Santino Ferrucci | 8.4929 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Conor Daly | 8.8320 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Pato O’Ward | 9.1207 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Will Power | 9.5956 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Jack Harvey | 11.0919 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Romain Grosjean | 12.2761 | 4 | 15 |
| 17 | Alexander Rossi | 16.5295 | – | 13 |
| 18 | Max Chilton | 24.8453 | – | 12 |
| 19 | Colton Herta | -6 laps | 39 | 15 |
| 20 | Cody Ware | -10 laps | – | 10 |
| 21 | Simon Pagenaud | -12 laps | – | 9 |
| 22 | Scott McLaughlin | -13 laps | – | 8 |
| 23 | Dalton Kellett | -43 laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Rinus VeeKay | -56 laps | – | 6 |
| 25 | Takuma Sato | -61 laps | – | 5 |
| 26 | Jimmie Johnson | -62 laps | – | 5 |
| 27 | Sebastien Bourdais | -75 laps | – | 5 |
No penalty for poll vaulting over Bourdais and taking him out?
Yep, he was handed a drive-through penalty for that.