LEBANON, Tenn. — The wait was worth it for Matteo Nannini, in more ways than one.
Nannini earned his first pole of this season and the second of his Indy NXT by Firestone career Saturday by taking the top spot for the Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. He turned a two-lap average speed of 177.427 mph in the No. 20 Enve Motorsports car fielded by Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR.
The Italian was forced to wait to celebrate Saturday at the 1.33-mile concrete oval, as he stared at the timing screen in his pit while 10 drivers that followed him in the qualifying line unsuccessfully tried to topple him from the pole. The performance surprised Nannini, who was a disappointing 20th out of 23 drivers in practice this morning.
“I was kind of mad with what was going on,” Nannini said about his mood after practice. “I didn’t think we were going to be able to turn it as good. A top 10 would have been good, but P1 is kind of surprising. Obviously, we’ll take it.
“The race is a totally different deal – 65 laps. We’ll do our best, and we’re starting from the best spot in the house.”
Nannini’s pole came more than three years after his first, earned in May 2023 for the opening race of the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He won that race with Juncos Hollinger Racing in his sole season in the IndyCar development series before returning this year with the Cape team.
Rookie Alessandro de Tullio qualified second at 177.114 in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry. It’s his 11th front-row start in 13 races this season, including a series-leading seven poles.
Fellow rookie Nikita Johnson will start third in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car after his run of 177.072, capping a strong session for the team. Myles Rowe, winner of three of the last four oval races in the series, will join Johnson on the second row after his run of 176.873 in the No. 99 Abel Motorsports with Force Indy machine.
Niels Koolen continued his strong weekend by qualifying a career-best fifth at 176.816 in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry. Rookie Max Garcia also will start in Row 3 after his qualifying run of 176.276 in the No. 12 Abel Motorsports car.
