Race Report: Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix

LEBANON, Tenn. (July 20, 2026) -- Unlucky 13. After running in the top five to seven for most of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet, Santino Ferrucci appeared to be headed for a top-six finish.

Instead, he finished an unlucky 13th, a victim of an untimely yellow flag. Running fifth, he made his last stop for tires and fuel on lap 177 which went off without a hitch. However, the caution flag flew just four laps later for rookie Dennis Hauger who tagged the wall. The drivers who had not pitted yet were able to pit under caution instead of the race conditions when Ferrucci pitted.

A handful of the others in the top ten, including pole winner Kyle Kirkwood, had pitted with Ferrucci and were in the same situation--they had to start behind those who pitted later under caution.

Ferrucci restarted 15th just behind Rinus Veekay and Kirkwood. Although the trio were able to make some passes on track, when the race ended after 225 laps, Kirkwood finished 10th, Veekay 12th and Ferrucci 13th.

"Honestly the guys did a great job; our Homes For Our Troops Chevy was good, especially early," said the 28-year-old who looked none the worse for wear despite the ambient temperatures in the low 90s.

"I think late (in the race) with the heat and the rubber down, I think we started to pick up a little entrance instability to a little push on exit but nothing we really couldn't cope with. We just got really unfortunate with a badly-timed yellow again," he said with the emphasis on again. "I don't know what it's going to take for us to turn this luck around. It's a damn shame missing out on another top-five this year due to something that's not our fault."

Santino fistbumps his engineer Adam Kolesar after the race.

There were three cautions totaling 41 laps in the race that was shortened from 300 laps to 225 because of the high temperatures predicted for the Monday afternoon race which was postponed due to torrential rain yesterday evening.

The first caution came on lap 17 for rookie Caio Collet in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet. Since the drop of the green flag, Collet had been battling with a 'loose' race car where the rear of the car was unstable or 'loose.' He tried to adjust with his tools inside the cockpit to no avail.

Entering Turn 4, he tried to correct as the car got loose but it shot up the track and pancaked the wall hard. Collet was examined at the mobile INDYCAR care unit and released.

"I’m all good, thanks once again to INDYCAR Medical for their attention on everything," a contrite Collet said. "Since the beginning, I was a little bit loose and it was just a stupid mistake from my side. I should’ve just waited until the first round of [pit] stops to make an adjustment. I tried to correct what I had in the car but, I should’ve just been more patient and waited for the first round of stops. It’s a really long race and I just threw mine away."

Alex Palou won the race, having led 97 laps. Teammates Josef Newgarden, David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin finished second through fourth with Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist rounding out the top five.

The Only Bulls Grand Prix of Portland will be broadcast on FOX on Sunday, August 9th starting at 4 p.m. ET.

In the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix which did run yesterday afternoon, Alessandro de Tullio started second but ended up ninth as he struggled a bit with the car's handling. His teammate Nicholas Monteiro started 23rd and finished 17th for one of his better finishes this season. The next race will be Sunday, August 9th and will air on FS1 at 2 p.m. ET.

 The scene Sunday night that forced postponement of the race.