QUALIFYING REPORT: Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix

• Following a fourth-place finish in Practice 1, defending race winner Colton Herta entered qualifying this afternoon looking to secure a strong starting position in his second start at Nashville Superspeedway. 
• After struggling with pace during his run, Herta’s two-lap average run placed the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda in 15th for tomorrow’s 225-lap event. 

“We qualified in a similar spot last year. The Gainbridge Honda just didn’t quite have the pace we were hoping for, but I feel a lot more confident in the car this time. I felt that again in practice, so I think we’re in a good spot for tomorrow. Winning these races takes a lot out of you, and strategy is always a big part – especially with the two-tire option. We saw it play a role last year, and I think it will again. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”

• Following an impressive Practice 1 session this morning that saw the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda leading the charge for the Andretti INDYCAR team on the leaderboard in second, Kyle Kirkwood was unfortunately unable to transfer that same speed into the afternoon’s qualifying session.
• Despite struggling with balance in qualifying, Kirkwood will lean on his fourth-place performance at last year’s season finale on the Tennessee oval and his oval win at World Wide Technology Raceway earlier this season as he looks to deliver a strong result tomorrow from the seventh row.

“We didn’t quite have the pace we showed here last year, with the conditions being a little different, but overall I’m really happy with the Sam’s Club Honda in race trim. It gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. Unfortunately, in qualifying, I wasn’t really happy with the balance. We probably had a bit too much understeer, but overall I think we’ll be in good shape for the race.”

• Going out eighth in the single-car qualifying format, Marcus Ericsson was the first of the Andretti INDYCAR lineup to take on qualifying at Nashville Superspeedway.
• After initially clocking a two-lap average in third, the Swede ultimately secured an 18th-place starting position for tomorrow’s race once the full field had completed their qualifying runs. 

“The track is a bit slick now in the heat of the day. I thought we were going to be a bit better than what we achieved, so I’m slightly disappointed with that. But we still have another practice this afternoon to work on the race car. It’s a longer race tomorrow where a lot of things can happen, so I’m feeling confident in the Browning Chapman car.”

“I think as we saw last year, the important thing is to have a good race car with good balance for the race, and I think we have that in all our cars this weekend. So we’ll look forward to the race tomorrow.”