IndyCar Nashville: Will Power fastest, then crashes in practice

Power lapped the 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street course in 1m16.4042s but ended his session by smashing into the wall at Turn 1.

After a rain shower that impacted the preceding Indy NXT practice, the track had dried completely for the 75-minute session.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s rookie Marcus Armstrong set the early pace at 1m18.2776s, less than a tenth clear of Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

Lundgaard then improved to 1m18.009s to take P1 away, 0.02s ahead of Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport).

Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was an early visitor to the Turn 9 run-off but rejoined to take the top spot at the halfway point with 1m17.4437s. Series dominator Alex Palou then took over at the top for Ganassi with 1m16.9063s, 0.06s quicker than Colton Herta (Andretti).

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was third fastest on primary tires, ahead of Scott Dixon and his Ganassi team-mate Armstrong.

Teams ran the green-sidewalled alternate rubber inside the final 15 minutes after their race-run sims were completed on primaries.

Palou produced 1m16.6494s to extend his advantage, before Power toppled him with 1m16.4042s. Alexander Rossi (McLaren) went P3 just before a red flag for Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger Racing) becoming stranded in the Turn 11 run-off.

The session restarted but was red flagged again when Power slammed the wall at Turn 1 and was forced into an awkward rejoin, while Benjamin Pedersen stalled at Turn 11. “I just locked-up a little bit on the way in, thought I was going to make it. Not ideal,” rued Power.

O’Ward was fourth, ahead of Lundgaard, Herta, David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing), Grosjean, McLaughlin and Dixon.

Linus Lundqvist, Meyer Shank Racing Honda, Michael Shank (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Series debutant Linus Lundqvist was a hugely impressive 11th for Meyer Shank Racing, as he fills in for the still-sidelined Simon Pagenaud.

Armstrong, Rossi and Jack Harvey (Rahal) were others to visit the Turn 9 run-off, while McLaughlin also had a moment that caused him to come to a halt at Turn 10. Marcus Ericsson also slithered to a halt, this time at Turn 4, and the inaugural race winner here struggled to the 25^th fastest time.

Cla	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delay	Laps
1	12	Will Power	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'16.4042		20
2	10	Alex Palou	Dallara/Honda	1'16.6494	0.2452	20
3	7	Alexander Rossi	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'16.7192	0.3150	18
4	5	Patricio O'Ward	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'16.7778	0.3736	16
5	45	C.Lundgaard	Dallara/Honda	1'16.9262	0.5220	27
6	26	Colton Herta	Dallara/Honda	1'16.9698	0.5656	16
7	18	David Malukas	Dallara/Honda	1'17.1536	0.7494	17
8	28	Romain Grosjean	Dallara/Honda	1'17.1793	0.7751	23
9	3	Scott McLaughlin	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'17.2800	0.8758	17
10	9	Scott Dixon	Dallara/Honda	1'17.2876	0.8834	15
11	60	Linus Lundqvist	Dallara/Honda	1'17.3524	0.9482	30
12	11	Marcus Armstrong	Dallara/Honda	1'17.4024	0.9982	24
13	2	Josef Newgarden	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'17.4154	1.0112	18
14	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Dallara/Honda	1'17.5096	1.1054	21
15	15	Graham Rahal	Dallara/Honda	1'17.8201	1.4159	18
16	06	H.Castroneves	Dallara/Honda	1'17.8872	1.4830	25
17	77	Callum Ilott	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'17.9399	1.5357	19
18	6	Felix Rosenqvist	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'17.9457	1.5415	17
19	21	R.van Kalmthout	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'17.9932	1.5890	26
20	20	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'18.1291	1.7249	21
21	30	Jack Harvey	Dallara/Honda	1'18.1597	1.7555	23
22	29	D.Defrancesco	Dallara/Honda	1'18.1869	1.7827	19
23	55	B.Pedersen	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'18.2303	1.8261	28
24	78	Agustín Canapino	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'18.3036	1.8994	24
25	8	Marcus Ericsson	Dallara/Honda	1'18.7294	2.3252	17
26	51	Sting Ray Robb	Dallara/Honda	1'18.9303	2.5261	24
27	14	Santino Ferrucci	Dallara/Chevrolet	1'19.4545	3.0503	2