It’s Race Day in Nashville!
Good morning from the sauna that is Nashville Superspeedway. As we were driving in this morning, my car said it was already 91°. It is usually pretty accurate, so I have no reason to think it has suddenly gone crazy. Coupled with the sultry humidity, it’s safe to say that this is going to be a hot one. The saving grace is that the race will have a relatively late start, past the heat of the day.
Of course, the pessimists around here seem certain that it will be raining at that time. It’s quite possible since late-afternoon pop-up thunderstorms are quite common here at this time of year. It has rained every day for the past two weeks here. It never rained at the track yesterday, but when we got home last night, you could tell that we had quite the downpour earlier. But I’m going to stay positive. However, I will admit to bringing a change of clothes with me, and I am prepared to be here late tonight if that’s needed.
We left with about thirty minutes remaining in the yesterday afternoon’s Final Practice session. Just as we were leaving, Graham Rahal hit the wall, putting an exclamation point on a very brutal day for the No. 15 team. It was also a sign of things to come. Marcus Armstrong backed his car into the wall along the front stretch, almost taking out Santino Ferrucci in the process. Then Romain Grosjean also backed his Dale Coyne entry into the wall just before the end of the session.
David Malukas, who drove the entire session said that the marble buildup on the high line was massive. He indicated that we could be seeing more of that in today’s race after long, green-flag stints. The soft rubber on the alternates could add to that, as all teams are required to run to sets of the reds.
We are going to go grab an early lunch and watch the Vintage Indy cars on track. They have some beautiful cars that sound great – including a replica of Calhoun, the 1963 Indianapolis 500 winning livery for Parnelli Jones. There is also a replica of the Travelon Trailer Special, the car that Jim Hurtubise brought within an eyelash of the 150 mph mark at the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 1960.
It could be a long afternoon. Indy NXT will race at Noon local time, but after that there is not much going on except for bands and soccer, neither of which really interest me.
Hopefully, when FOX switches from soccer to the IndyCar race, you will see blue skies above. Check back here after the race, where I’ll have a wrap-up. Then I will have my usual Random Thoughts on Monday.
Enjoy the race!
George Phillips
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