Dixon shows pace in truncated final practice at Nashville

It was an interesting and extended evening at Nashville Superspeedway as rain delayed the running of the 60-minute final practice by two hours, and with the condensed schedule that remained, drivers put in work to apply rubber to the second lane and moved into a shortened 15-minute outing.

Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon was fastest in the No. 9 Honda with a lap of 195.621mph and had Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas behind him in the No. 66 Honda (194.087mph) and Andretti Global’s Colton Herta in third with the No. 26 Honda (193.879mph).

The quick run was remarkable in two ways. Polesitter Kyle Kirkwood crashed with less than three minutes to go when a supposed suspension failure occurred.

“I’m all good. Something broke,” he said.

The other was the absence of time for teams to properly benchmark the longevity of Firestone’s new alternate tires, which were used sparingly in earlier sessions. As a result, few of the 27 entries will head into the championship-deciding final race on Sunday with a real understanding of how long the alternate tires will last per stint, and which aerodynamic or suspension settings will work best for both the primary compound and the alternate. As such, the 206-lap race, which goes green at 3:30pm ET on NBC, will have a greater wild card element than expected.

RESULTS

STARTING LINEUP (including grid penalties)