Malukas retakes the reins to top second Nashville IndyCar practice

David Malukas spent most of Saturday in an emergency room, but he ended it at the top of the timesheets when the checkered flag waved on the second IndyCar practice session at Nashville Superspeedway.

Malukas was taken to a local hospital for evaluation after crashing the No.12 Team Penske Chevrolet in the morning’s opening session and was forced to miss qualifying while medical personnel continued to assess his condition.

He was cleared to return to the cockpit shortly before the high line session, during which he ran just enough laps to confirm that his car had been rebuilt properly, and then returned for second practice, where he strung together a total of 75 laps before popping up in P1 near the end with a 193.766mph on Firestone’s alternates.

Scott McLaughlin made it a Team Penske 1-2 with his 193.484mph best in the No.3 Chevrolet, leaving Marcus Armstrong as best of the Hondas – and fastest driver on the harder compound tires – with a 193.325mph in Meyer Shank’s No.66 entry.

Armstrong’s performance came with some added drama in the final minutes when he hit the wall at Turn 4, sending him into a wild drift down the middle of the front straight. Santino Ferrucci exited the final corner to find most of the track blocked by a sideways Armstrong and avoided catastrophe by diving onto the grass near the pit entry.

Mick Schumacher was an encouraging fourth-fastest in RLL’s No.47 Honda, narrowly beating out Felix Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, and polesitter Kyle Kirkwood, who’d also topped the high line session.

Malukas aside, many drivers who had a miserable time earlier in the day had a similarly miserable time on Saturday evening.

Case in point: Graham Rahal, who was last in morning practice, then missed qualifying altogether due to a fuel pressure problem, spent the first part of the second practice session trying to convince his team that something in the rear of the No.15 Honda felt broken.

He spent the second part of the session saying some version of “I told you so” after finally losing his battle with the car’s handling and hit the wall, bringing out the first yellow of the evening with about 40 minutes still on the clock.

“The car is loose in a straight line,” he said. “I don’t know what to say. I’m feeling sensations that I’ve never had in my career.”

It was a similar story for Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean, who was 22nd in qualifying and then doinked the wall with his right rear after wandering too high in Turn 2 with 18 minutes left on the clock.

Christian Lundgaard, who was an unhappy 17th in qualifying before his nine-place grid penalty was applied, simply couldn’t conjure any pace from the No.7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in the evening and was stuck in 24th at 187.452mph.

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