The 2025 IndyCar championship battle may have been decided for quite some time, with Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou having had a season for the ages to become the first driver to clinch a title with more than one race to go since 2002, but there is a lot at stake heading into this Sunday afternoon's season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
Perhaps the biggest battle still in play is one that hasn't been discussed much ahead of this 225-lap Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix around the four-turn, 1.333-mile (2.145-kilometer) Lebanon, Tennessee oval: the battle for the oval championship.
Palou leads Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, a two-time oval champion, by 13 points at a track where he placed 11th last year, nine spots below O'Ward in second. Palou, now a four-time series champion, entered the year with no career oval wins but has won twice on tracks with exclusively left turns this year, with the highlight obviously being May's Indy 500 triumph.
Last year's oval champion, Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin, entered the 2024 season with no career oval wins himself, then he went on to win two oval races en route to clinching that particular title for the first time.
Who will start where ahead of the oval title decider this weekend? Follow along with our qualifying updates from Nashville.
NOTE: This starting lineup is not official until all 27 drivers are included.
Full IndyCar starting lineup at Nashville
1st - Pato O'Ward - No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 202.621
2nd - David Malukas - No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 201.922
3rd - Christian Lundgaard - No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 201.713
4th - Alex Palou - No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 201.603
5th - Scott Dixon - No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 201.437
6th - Josef Newgarden - No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet - 201.39
7th - Nolan Siegel - No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet - 201.375
8th - Scott McLaughlin - No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet - 201.035
9th - Callum Ilott - No. 90 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 200.822
10th - Kyffin Simpson - No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda - 200.703
11th - Felix Rosenqvist - No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 200.696
12th - Will Power - No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet - 200.64
13th - Kyle Kirkwood - No. 27 Andretti Global Honda - 200.492
14th - Santino Ferrucci - No. 14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet - 200.437
15th - Colton Herta - No. 26 Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian Honda - 200.287
16th - Christian Rasmussen - No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 200.007
17th - Marcus Ericsson - No. 28 Andretti Global Honda - 199.862
18th - Marcus Armstrong - No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda - 199.765
19th - Robert Shwartzman - No. 83 Prema Racing Chevrolet - 199.546
20th - Alexander Rossi - No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet - 199.412
21st - Sting Ray Robb - No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 199.036
22nd - Graham Rahal - No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 198.647
23rd - Devlin DeFrancesco - No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 198.595
24th - Louis Foster - No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda - 198.592
25th - Conor Daly - No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet - 198.187
26th - Rinus VeeKay - No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 197.346
27th - Jacob Abel - No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda - 195.779
Tune in to Fox at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 31 for the live broadcast of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix from Nashville Superspeedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV, which is notably not in a standoff with Fox, now and don't miss any of the action!