IndyCar | Nashville | Race | Newgarden takes first win of 2025 in final round - Motorsport

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The final race of the 2025 IndyCar season at Nashville superspeedway is in the books, view the full report and results below. Pato O’Ward started on pole after dominating qualifying.

Instant pain for Christian Rasmussen

Milwaukee race winner Christian Rasmussen was out of things by turn 2. He lost his car in dirty air and found the wall.

It was a great start for Alex Palou as he jumped Malukas and Lundgaard. Felix Rosenqvist was sent to the back as he jumped out of line before the green flag.

On the restart, Scott McLaughlin got an unbelievable jump, passing Lundgaard, Newgarden, Dixon and Malukas to jump up to 3rd. Meanwhile Palou and O’Ward went side-by-side for multiple laps as the Spaniard desperately tried to move around the outside and take the lead. However, the Mexican held out.

Brilliant starts were made by Colton Herta (+7) and (+5) to move up to 6th and 7th by lap 15. Newgarden dropped to P8, with Lundgaard 9th. Ferrucci cleared Herta on lap 25 for 6th and quickly set off after Dixon and Malukas.

From P24 on the grid, Conor Daly made up nine spots by lap 30.

Palou has a tyre failure

On lap 51, Alex Palou had a right front tyre failure. Fortunately for him, he could feel it as he went through turn 2 and made it back to the pits from 2nd place. Dixon and McLaughlin came in five laps later. Malukas followed a lap later.

O’Ward, McLaughlin, Malukas, Palou and Ferrucci was the top 5 on the main strategy. That quickly changed as the #4 AJ Foyt and the Spaniard passed the Kiwi.

On lap 70 O’Ward led Malukas, Palou, McLaughlin, Ferrucci, Herta, Newgarden, Dixon, Kirkwood and Lundgaard.

A second caution appears

Running in P2, David Malukas crashed out of the race on lap 83. As Louis Foster defended aggressively to keep him behind despite running a lap down, the AJ Foyt driver came down a little bit too much into turn 1 and contact was made. Malukas was quite slow to get out of his car.

As the leaders boxed under caution, Santino Ferrucci made a mistake by coming down into pit road at turn 3 and not out of turn 4. He was sent to the back.

O’Ward, McLaughlin, Palou, Newgarden, Herta, Dixon, Kirkwood, Power, Simpson and Lundgaard was the top 10 on the restart on lap 101. Herta used the high line to pass Newgarden, with Power doing the same to Kirkwood. He quickly cleared Dixon for P6 as well.

It was an astonishing restart for Ferrucci as he made up 11 spots in 6 laps to be P14.

Power on the rampage

A nightmare couple of laps saw McLaughlin fall behind Herta, Palou, Newgarden and Power. The Aussie then overtook his American teammate to move into 4th.

By lap 116 he was 2nd as the high line was paying off for Power. He overtook Herta and Palou to take P2.

It left O’Ward, Power, Herta, Palou, Newgarden, McLaughlin, Dixon, Kirkwood, Armstrong and Lundgaard.

On lap 122, Newgarden passed Palou for P4 as backmarkers Graham Rahal baulked the Spanish driver. Behind them, Scott Dixon cleared McLaughlin for 6th.

Unfortunately for Christian Lundgaard, he boxed on lap 124 with unspecified car gremlins.

Tyre failure ends Pato O’Ward’s day

Unlike Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward had no chance of avoiding the wall following a tyre failure on lap 127. As he took turn 2, the right front gave up and he hit the wall, ending his day. The Mexican had dominated and led almost all the way to that point.

Unbelievably there was more drama through the pit sequence. Will Power overshot his pit box, before he was stuck on pit road for many seconds. He dropped from the lead to the back of the pack and went a lap down. Colton Herta was put to the back of the lead lap for an unsafe release.

Rossi, who didn’t pit, held the lead ahead of Newgarden, McLaughlin, Palou, Armstrong, Kirkwood, Dixon, Daly, Ferrucci and Ericsson as the race went green on lap 141.

Reluctant to take the high line, Palou was eaten up. Armstrong, Daly and Kirkwood all passed him to drop the CGR driver to 7th. Daly had already overtaken Dixon and Kirkwood, meaning he was P5.

On lap 147 Josef Newgarden got down the inside of Alex Rossi into turn 3 for the lead of the race. The ECR driver boxed 11 laps later from 2nd.

Newgarden led McLaughlin, Armstrong, Daly, Kirkwood, Palou, Dixon, Ferrucci, Simpson and VeeKay with 50 laps remaining.

CGR catch Penske asleep

Comfortably out front, Team Penske got caught out by Palou undercutting them. A slide into his box hurt Newgarden against McLaughlin who boxed a lap later. They both dropped behind the champion. Daly, Rossi, Simpson, Kirkwood, Ferrucci, Dixon and Armstrong completed the top 10. A slow stop for the MSR driver cost him dearly.

With Palou stuck behind Siegel and not using the high line, McLaughlin and Newgarden took full advantage of it and passed the Spanish driver to take P1 and P2 on laps 200 and 201 respectively.

McLaughlin survives huge scare

As Newgarden closed in, McLaughlin got into the marbles up high, gently touched the wall and lost the lead. However he remained in the race and only lost out to Newgarden. The caution was thrown.

Newgarden led McLaughlin, Palou, Daly, Simpson, Kirkwood, Ferrucci, Rosenqvist, VeeKay and Shwartzman on the restart with 11 laps to go. Alex Rossi was the lead driver who pitted under this caution, followed by Scott Dixon. Ilott and Herta were the remaining drivers on the lead lap.

Palou had a great restart, passing McLaughlin immediately. Simpson overtook Daly, and he then engaged in a multi lap side-by-side battle with the Kiwi. He got the job done with 6 laps to go.

Newgarden held off Palou to take a win for an eleventh straight season. In the fight for P3, McLaughlin swept around the outside on the final lap at turn 3 to take 3rd from Kyffin Simpson.

Daly, Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, Ilott and Rossi rounded out the top 10 in an extraordinary race.