Race Report: Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix

LEBANON, Tenn. (Aug. 31, 2025) -- The final race of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series mirrored the up and down season of AJ Foyt Racing in 2025--thrilling racing and great finishes punctuated by unfortunate crashes.

David Malukas, starting outside pole in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet, had dipped to fourth by the time of his first pit stop on lap 57 but when the stops cycled through, he was in second place by lap 63.

Malukas was attempting to lap rookie Louis Foster, who was 18th and battling Malukas as if for position. Foster threw a hard block on Malukas down the front stretch and then made contact with him as they entered Turn 1. Malukas spun and backed into the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier. He was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for further tests which came back clear. He was released in the late afternoon.

Santino Ferrucci started 12th in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet and was on the charge in the first stint using the high line and low line to pass cars and had moved into fifth inside of 50 laps.

A solid stop by the 14 crew resulted in Ferrucci maintaining his fifth-place position. Unfortunately, on the next stop which came during the caution for his teammate's accident, Ferrucci pitted off Turn 3 instead of Turn 4 (which is the rule under caution), and it resulted in a penalty that sent him to the back of the field relegating him to 20th.

Strategist Larry Foyt reminded him there were a lot of laps left to make it up and Ferrucci did. He went from 20th to 14th in four laps and was back in the top 10 by the time of the next caution period which stretched from lap 127 to 139. Pole winner Pato O'Ward had hit the wall after a failure sent him into the wall. He was not injured.

Ferrucci continued to progress through the remainder of the 225-lap race and finished eighth for his sixth top-10 finish of the season.

“Honestly, my crew did a phenomenal job all day," Ferrucci said afterwards. "This one's on me. Under the caution - I was in the mindset of Gateway, and I pitted off of turn three, instead of off of turn four. Gave us an end-of-the-line penalty when we were running sixth early on in the race, and that would have made for an easy day.

“But, you know, we came back, finished eighth, passed a lot of cars on one of those restarts. The guys did an incredible job over the wall, passed a bunch of people in pit lane as well. So a little hairy at the end there between a couple of competitors, and it broke the front wing and finished off the last stint with the front wing all mangled too. So, honestly, it was a hell of a day.

“I had a really good feeling for the high line in the first half of the race. Once the front wing broke and I was kind of sure it was if something was wrong, it was a little bit more of a gamble for me. And when I got towards the end of the race, I was just trying not to take too many more chances than I needed to.

"I can't wait until next year and I want to thank Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, VensureHR, ABC Supply and Homes For Our Troops. I mean this whole team's done a phenomenal job. Cannot wait to come back next year."

Santino poses with Homes For Our Troops Director of Development Chris Mitchell (rear) and Army Veteran William Thomas who was a guest of the team this weekend. Thomas, who was critically injured in 2012 when an IED blew up the truck he was in, is set to receive a specially adapted home in nearby Murfreesboro in several weeks.

Tennessean Josef Newgarden claimed his first victory of the year at his home track over 2025 INDYCAR champion Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Kyffin Simpson and Conor Daly.

Malukas finished 11th in the standings and Ferrucci finished 16th, hampered by a string of bad luck in the second half of the season.

Team President Larry Foyt reflected on the season saying, "Overall, it was a good season. Hated to lose a couple spots in the points but we just didn't finish as strong as we needed to these last few races. We had some rough luck, but both our cars are really fast. I hate that the 4 car crashed, and I 'm glad to hear that David was released from the hospital and is okay. With Santino, we had a little adversity, but he fought back hard, and we got another top-10 and a lot to build on for next year. I think it was a successful year, and I like what we're building. I believe we have a strong future."