Colton Herta was fastest again in practice Saturday for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. (IndyCar Photo)
Colton Herta was fastest again in practice Saturday for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix. (IndyCar Photo)
NTT IndyCar Series

Herta Tops Chaotic Second Practice In Nashville

August 7, 2021

NASHVILLE – After Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series practice session concluded, team owner Bobby Rahal proclaimed, “It’s going to be a great weekend for Dallara.”
 
Rahal was referring to Dallara’s spare parts truck, as four drivers including Graham Rahal, Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, and Scott Dixon damaged their race cars in the practice session that began at Noon. The teams were preparing for Saturday evening’s qualification session for Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.
 
Colton Herta of Andretti/Curb-Agajanian was the fastest driver for the second-straight practice with a fast lap of 1:15.3529 around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street course. He is the only driver to crack the 100 mph barrier with a speed of 110.328 mph in the No. 26 Honda.
 
Rossi was second at 1:15.8292 for a speed of 99.698 mph in the No. 27 Honda before he damaged his front wing on the first lap after a red flag that was brought out when Team Penske rookie McLaughlin crashed in turn six. Rossi crashed in turn 10.
 
Rahal’s Honda also had to return to the team’s paddock area for repairs after hitting the wall.
 
At the end of the practice session, Dixon’s Honda was dragging the entire rear wing assembly behind him after contact with the wall.
 
Dixon finished third in practice at 1:15.8837 (99.626 mph) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou was fourth in the No. 10 NTT Data Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:15.9810 (99.499 mph) with Sebastien Bourdais of A.J. Foyt Racing rounding out the top five in a Chevrolet at 1:16.0137 (99.456 mph).
 
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and IndyCar rookie Jimmie Johnson finished 22nd out of 27 entries with a fast time of 1:17.2131 (97.911 mph). That was better than IndyCar regular Conor Daly, Max Chilton, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato, Dalton Kellett and rookie Cody Ware.
 
Some modifications were made to the street course overnight. There was some grinding done on the concrete patch between the last two expansion joints on the bridge prior to turn four.