Rookie stuns Lundgaard with fastest time in FP1

Lundgaard’s podium finish in last week’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway appears to have opened his confidence, as Nashville’s 2.1 mile bumpy street track cut 1 minute 15.9695 seconds to lead the field by more than twenty.

With an extra set of primaries to use, it was the rookies who mostly hit the 2.1-mile course in the opening 15 minutes, with Dale Coyne Racing’s David Malukas with HMD-Honda setting one minute 18.1595 seconds, with an average speed of 96.725 mph. . He was ahead of Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Devlin Di Francesco, and rookie points leader Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

Then Joseph Newgarden was the first to show his hand among the race winners, achieving 1 minute 18.0728 seconds for the Penske-Chevrolet team.

Mayer Shank Racing Helio Castroneves, who will suffer a six-place penalty on Sundaythen had a misfire in his new Honda and had to dig.

By this time, Newgarden began extending his lead by 1 minute 17.3855 seconds, with Romain Grosjean (Andretti) trailing in second but 0.61 seconds behind. Then Dalton Kellett’s red flag slipped out on the Turn 1, not having enough room to turn AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet again.

Scott McLaughlin had time to finish second – still half a second behind Newgarden – before Rinus VeeKay had a similar problem at Turn 1 and the Newly re-signed Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet driver need rescue.

After the green flag, Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Pato Award and Penske Championship leader Will Power advanced to second and third, 0.045 and 0.26secs respectively off the Newgarden scale, while last year’s Colton Hertha finished fifth. Newgarden then slashed his best time to 1 minute 17.2591 seconds (97.853 mph), and last year’s Nashville runner-up Scott Dixon moved up to third, trailing 0.19 seconds.

Castroneves, whose engine issue had been fixed, held a tie on the wall during braking and had to get back into the pits with 30 minutes of session remaining.

McLaughlin then moved into the match with an effort of 1 minute 16.8441 seconds in the primaries, 0.415 seconds ahead of teammate Newgarden and the first 98 mph lap of the weekend.

Felix Rosenqvist moved up to fifth, just 0.3secs off his teammate O’Ward, then flew the third red flag for a stalled Hertha in the first-round replay, complaining of clutch issues.

With the session resuming with less than 20 minutes remaining, several drivers took a set of alternative fireballs – green sidewalls this weekend, since the side rubber is made from guayule bush. Using these, Series Champion Alex Ballou moved his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda to second.

This was completely skipped by Rosenqvist, also using the Greens to deliver a 1min16.2050sec – 99.206mph lap. No less impressive was rookie Lundgaard who finished fourth by 0.79sec, but using a tough primaries. Then with alternates, Lundgaard clocked an impressive 1min 15.9659sec to lead, 0.24secs ahead of Rosenqvist, while his rookie rival Malukas finished third.

Alexander Rossi spent most of the session stuck in the pits, after his brakes bled, but when he got out, he took alternates and produced 1min 16.7041, his sixth best.