Josef Newgarden ran new alternate tires to become the first driver to duck into the 1min16s, a 1min16.4338sec putting him at the top of the times, until being eclipsed by 0.4sec by teammate Scott McLaughlin, who will start the race from his second IndyCar pole position.
Dixon and Marcus Ericsson of Ganassi Racing got in the top-four mix, too, while Dixon was running on primaries.
With 16mins remaining in the 30min session, Dalton Kellett went long at Turn 9 and stalled his AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet, bringing out the red flag.
Graham Rahal, on what has been one of the strongest weekends this year for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda team, moved into the top five when running primaries, while Colton Herta’s Andretti Autosport-Honda – starting 23rd today – ran a barely used set of alternates to deliver a 1min15.6760sec.
The alternates are green-sidewalled this weekend, to signify Firestone’s use of rubber from the guayule shrub, a more sustainable source.
Rahal ran long at Turn 9 and needed a restart but managed to avoid causing a red flag. His teammate Christian Lundgaard, starting third today, made a late improvement on green tires to move into the top five, as did the Foyt car of Kyle Kirkwood.
Splitting these two with his final lap was defending champion Alex Palou, whose teammate Dixon then sprang to the top (on greens) with a 1min15.6050sec.
The session ended in somewhat limp manner, as David Malukas’ Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD-Honda rolled to a halt on track, bringing out local yellows.
To help deal with the heat and humidity in Nashville, IndyCar has mandated the air scoops on top of the aeroscreens for this afternoon’s race which starts at 2.30pm local (Central) time.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Scott Dixon |  Chip Ganassi Racing | 16 | 1'15.6050 | 99.993 | |
| 2 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | 20 | 1'15.6760 | 0.0710 | 99.900 |
| 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 20 | 1'16.0134 | 0.4084 | 99.456 |
| 4 | Kyle Kirkwood | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 16 | 1'16.1015 | 0.4965 | 99.341 |
| 5 |  Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 18 | 1'16.2629 | 0.6579 | 99.131 |
| 6 |  Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 16 | 1'16.3255 | 0.7205 | 99.049 |
| 7 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 20 | 1'16.4338 | 0.8288 | 98.909 |
| 8 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 17 | 1'16.4364 | 0.8314 | 98.906 |
| 9 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 21 | 1'16.4525 | 0.8475 | 98.885 |
| 10 |  Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | 18 | 1'16.5822 | 0.9772 | 98.717 |
| 11 |  Patricio O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 20 | 1'16.6675 | 1.0625 | 98.608 |
| 12 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 17 | 1'16.8581 | 1.2531 | 98.363 |
| 13 |  Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank Racing | 19 | 1'16.8584 | 1.2534 | 98.363 |
| 14 |  Takuma Sato | Dale Coyne Racing | 15 | 1'16.9031 | 1.2981 | 98.306 |
| 15 |  Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Autosport | 9 | 1'17.0714 | 1.4664 | 98.091 |
| 16 |  Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 18 | 1'17.1388 | 1.5338 | 98.005 |
| 17 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne Racing | 19 | 1'17.2301 | 1.6251 | 97.889 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti Autosport | 21 | 1'17.3710 | 1.7660 | 97.711 |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 14 | 1'17.3767 | 1.7717 | 97.704 |
| 20 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 19 | 1'17.5928 | 1.9878 | 97.432 |
| 21 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 17 | 1'17.9180 | 2.3130 | 97.025 |
| 22 |  Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing | 16 | 1'17.9617 | 2.3567 | 96.971 |
| 23 | Dalton Kellett | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 16 | 1'18.3315 | 2.7265 | 96.513 |
| 24 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 18 | 1'18.3786 | 2.7736 | 96.455 |
| 25 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 19 | 1'18.5407 | 2.9357 | 96.256 |
| 26 |  Simona de Silvestro | Paretta Autosport | 17 | 1'18.5601 | 2.9551 | 96.232 |
| View full results | ||||||
