Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

The Music City Grand Prix, known as the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, was an IndyCar Series race held at the Nashville Street Circuit in Nashville, Tennessee. The race's most notable feature was its straightaway across the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the Cumberland River. The bridge layout made the track the only one on the IndyCar circuit and one of the few in the world to cross a significant body of water. Marcus Ericsson won the inaugural event in 2021. The Grand Prix was set to host the season finale from 2024 onwards but was instead moved to the Nashville Superspeedway.

History

Background

On September 16, 2020, the IndyCar Series announced the addition of the Music City Grand Prix as a street circuit race in downtown Nashville for its 2021 schedule. This announcement came after three years of discussion between Nashville sports and tourism officials and IndyCar executives, which had previously resulted in three failed proposals for a race in Nashville. Two of the three failed attempts, which occurred in 2010 and 2015, respectively, were led by former Pocono Raceway president Joseph Mattioli III. The Music City Grand Prix is privately funded and has a three-year contract for IndyCar Series races. The original event ownership group compiled by event founder Matt Crews included Scott Borchetta, Justin Timberlake, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Justin Marks, Stanton Barrett, and Gil West, among others. Nashville's successful hosting of the 2019 NFL draft was one of the deciding factors in the race becoming a reality, according to Penske Entertainment Corporation President and CEO Mark Miles. Nissan Stadium served as a host for the race for the first three years.

Initially in negotiations, IndyCar CEO Roger Penske was dismissive about the idea of a race in Nashville, citing the permitting requirements and infrastructure costs. Event Founder and CEO Matt Crews recalled, “I’ll never forget when Butch Spyridon (President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp) looked him in the eyes when Roger was saying, ‘These things are tough. The permitting is tough,’” Crews said. “Butch said, ‘Sir, you’ve just never done business in Nashville, because that’s what we do here: We’re in the event business.’”

Two-time IndyCar Series champion and Nashville-area native Josef Newgarden called the race "the number-one destination outside of the Indy 500". He further opined that "it is going to showcase the town of Nashville probably the best way possible." Nashville mayor John Cooper called the race "a catalyst for our economic recovery".

Ahead of the inaugural race, IndyCar CEO Mark Miles favorably compared the Nashville Grand Prix to the Monaco Grand Prix, saying, "Nashville is going to join Monaco at the absolute top tier of street racing in motorsport across the globe."

The Music City Grand Prix became the first new street circuit race for the IndyCar Series since the Grand Prix of Houston in 2013. It also became Nashville's first IndyCar race since the Indy 200 was held at Nashville Superspeedway between 2001 and 2008. The Music City Grand Prix was scheduled as the sixth street circuit race of the 2021 season, joining the doubleheader at Detroit along with races at Long Beach, St. Petersburg, and Toronto. All of these races have been run since at least 2012, however, and more recent events on street circuits have already become defunct, including races in Baltimore, Boston (which was never held), and Houston.

Season finale (2024)

On August 3, 2023, IndyCar announced that the Music City Grand Prix would host the season finale from 2024 onwards. The 2024 race would have featured a new layout that would have run through Broadway in Downtown Nashville while retaining the Korean War Memorial Bridge from the original 2021 layout. In addition, the 2024 Music City Grand Prix would have been the 3rd time a street course has held the IndyCar Series season finale (St. Petersburg, 2020 and Long Beach, 2021). However, IndyCar management announced a change of venue to Nashville Superspeedway due to the race conflicting with construction of New Nissan Stadium.

Circuit design

The original Nashville Street Circuit measured and included 11 turns. Running adjacent to Nissan Stadium, the circuit's most notable feature is its straightaway across the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the Cumberland River. The bridge layout makes the track the only one on the IndyCar circuit and one of the few in the world to cross a significant body of water. Top speeds for the IndyCar race were expected to be around . The track varies in width from a minimum of to a maximum of . As at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the Nashville Street Circuit uses a different location for starting the race (between turns 3 and 4) than the finish line. Middle Tennessee State University's School of Concrete and Construction Management created concrete mixes for the track's barriers and pit row. Music City Grand Prix Founder and CEO Matt Crews noted that the event organizers planned to "limit traffic interruptions as much as possible". Track designer Tony Cotman intentionally avoided Nashville's major streets so as not to adversely affect tourism. Discussing the design of the circuit, he called the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge "one of those landmarks where you see that bridge on TV or in photos and you’re going to know exactly where it is. It’s like seeing the '' Queen Mary'' in the background at Long Beach." Cotman also noted that he expects turns 1, 2, and 7 to be the best passing locations on the circuit.

Pundits and drivers, including former Formula One drivers Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson, have compared the Nashville Street Circuit to the Baku City Circuit that hosts the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Nashville Street Circuit's downtown section and long straightaways on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge have been compared to the castle section and long straights at Baku.

For the 2024 iteration of the race, the course would have been revised. The new course would have maintained the same distance and bridge straights, but only featured seven turns. The new circuit would have gone into the heart of downtown Nashville and passed many of the famous honky tonk bars of the city.

Race summaries

Nashville Street Circuit

*2021: The inaugural Music City Grand Prix was held at 5:30 pm EDT on August 8, 2021. During the August 6–8 race weekend, the GT America series, the Trans-Am Series TA2 class, and the Stadium Super Trucks also competed as support series. Marcus Ericsson took victory in the inaugural event despite being involved in an early incident in which his car became airborne after running over the car of Sebastian Bourdais. Polesitter Colton Herta lead the most laps, but crashed while attempting to retake the lead from Ericsson. Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe completed the podium. The race was incident-filled, with nine caution periods resulting in a total of 33 of the event's 80 laps run under caution conditions and two race stoppages.
*2022: Scott McLaughlin qualified on pole. The race was delayed by an hour and a half due to thunderstorms, though the track was dried before the start of the race. McLaughlin held the lead through the early stint of the race before a large caution period saw Scott Dixon cycle to the front around lap 54 by virtue of being the first one to make his last pitstop. Dixon would hold the lead for the remainder of the race despite his car suffering floor damage earlier in the race that took away significant downforce. McLaughlin made a late charge to a near photo finish with Dixon by virtue of conserving his push to pass but ultimately settled for second place. Alex Palou rounded out the podium. Much like the inaugural Music City GP the race was incident filled, with eight total caution periods during the race.
*2023: Scott McLaughlin qualified on pole for the second consecutive year. After a brief early caution caused by David Malukas, the race ran almost entirely under a green flag, contrasting from the first two races in Nashville. McLaughlin lost the lead to Kyle Kirkwood in the second sequence of green flag pit stops. A late red flag caused by a three car pileup led to a end of race shootout between Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Alex Palou, and Josef Newgarden for the podium. Kirkwood prevailed for the win, with McLaughlin again settling for second place. Alex Palou rounded out the podium.

Nashville Superspeedway

*2024: For 2024 the Music City Grand Prix was moved to Nashville Superspeedway and scheduled as the season finale. The race would be a championship deciding showdown between Alex Palou and Will Power. Palou only needed to finish ninth or better to secure the championship, while Power had to win the race and hope Palou finished no better than tenth to win the championship. A glimmer of hope was given to Power during qualifying when he managed to qualify fourth while Palou had to take a nine position grid penalty for an unscheduled engine change, leaving him to start 24th on the grid. Kyle Kirkwood meanwhile qualified on pole, earning his first oval pole position. Power's championship hopes faded early in the race when he had to make an unusual early green flag pit stop on lap 13 for a seatbelt that had come undone in his car. Josef Newgarden took the lead before a yellow on lap 56 came out when Felix Rosenqvist blew a tire. Through two more caution periods the race turned to a head to head battle between Newgarden and Colton Herta, with Herta finally getting the best of Newgarden on lap 147. After clearing David Malukas and Scott Dixon, Herta battled with lapped traffic and eventually Pato O'Ward to retake the lead for good, taking his first victory on an oval. With Power multiple laps down, Palou secured his third IndyCar championship. Pato O'Ward finished second while Josef Newgarden rounded out the podium in third.

Race results

NTT IndyCar Series

Support events

GT America Series

Trans-Am Series TA2

Stadium Super Trucks

Indy NXT / Indy Lights

Toyota GR Cup America

Lap records

As of August 2023, the fastest official race lap records at the Nashville Street Circuit are listed as:

References

External links

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{{Trans-Am tracks

Music City Grand Prix
Recurring sporting events established in 2021
2021 establishments in Tennessee
IndyCar Series races
Motorsport in Nashville, Tennessee