Round 14: Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, August 05--07, Nashville, Tennessee.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 14: Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, August 05--07, Nashville, Tennessee.

Last year Nashville, the music capital of Country and Western, hosted the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. After three years of negotiations between Nashville sports and tourism officials and IndyCar series executives, which had previously resulted in three failed proposals to hold the race, it was announced on September 16, 2020, the NTT IndyCar Series would add the Music City Grand Prix to the 2021 calendar.

The Big Machine Music City Grand Prix marked the return of IndyCar to Nashville since the Indy 200, which was held at Nashville Superspeedway between 2001 and 2008. It was also the first new street race for the IndyCar Series, since the Grand Prix of Houston in 2013.


The race itself was marred by 9 caution periods, consisting of 33 laps and 2 red flags.

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Track layout:


The track layout was designed by former IndyCar Project Manager Tony Cotnam, and is 2.17 miles (3.49 km) long with 11 turns. The track layout is highlighted by and features the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, which utilises the bridge as the main straight away in both directions.

Since last year's race, a number of changes have been made. In order to reduce the traffic jams and multi-car crashes that caused mayhem during restarts, the restarts have been moved from the stretch between Turns 11 and 1, in front of Nissan Stadium, to the long straight exiting the Korean Veteran's Bridge that goes into Turn 9, which served as the section of the track where the 2021 race was started.

The large bump, that sent cars airborne in Turn 5, has been repaved. The exceptionally wide section entering Turn 9 has been narrowed to 50 feet, in order to add more hospitality suites and at the the narrow Turn 11, has been widened by six feet at the apex.

Work has also taken place to soften going on and off of the Korean Veteran's Bridge, in order to reduce the hard bottoming and sideways moments encountered by the cars.

Lap record:
Colton Herta, 1:13.6835. 102.601 mph (165.120 km/h)
Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian.
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6

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Last year's race:
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...d-win/6644656/

Pole
Colton Herta, 1:13.6835. 102.601 mph (165.120 km/h)
Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian.
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6.

Winner
Marcus Ericsson,
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6

Laps: 80
Distance: 173.6 Miles (279.38 Km)
Race Time: 2:18:50
Average Speed: 99.074 Mph (159.444 Km/h)
Fastest lap: Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian. Lap 30, 76.3064 sec. 99.074 mph (159.444 km/h)

Cautions: 9
Laps: 2 - 3, 5 - 8, 16 - 18, 20 - 22, 31 - 35, 41 - 49, 51 - 52, 55 - 56, 75 - 77

Red flags: 2
Laps: 20, 77.

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Practice and Qualifications

Practice 1
Friday, Aug 5
4:15 PM - 5:30 PM ET

Practice 2
Saturday, Aug 6
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1
Saturday, Aug 6
4:30 PM - 4:40 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2
Saturday, Aug 6
4:50 PM - 5:00 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 2
Saturday, Aug 6
5:10 PM - 5:20 PM ET

Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6
Saturday, Aug 6
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM ET

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TV Coverage: Aug 7
NBC: 3:00pm ET, 7:00pm UTC
Sky Sports F1, 8:00pm BST