– Not on a permanent oval track, nor on a street circuit, but actually on an oval completely unknown to him until now, Mick Schumacher achieved his first top-10 result of his rookie season in the IndyCar series on Monday. In the 225-lap race at the Nashville Superspeedway, which took place one day later than planned due to weather, Schumacher finished in a strong eighth place.
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Schumacher started on the Nashville oval from 16th position. From this starting point, he not only kept in touch with the significantly more experienced drivers ahead of him but also left one or another competitor behind in direct duels during the race, which this time held no stumbling blocks for him.
With P8 at the finish, Schumacher was clearly the best-placed representative both among the three rookies and within the three-car Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) team on race day in Nashville. His two rookie colleagues Caio Collet (Foyt-Chevrolet) and Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda) both retired from the race due to independently occurring crashes.
As for Schumacher’s teammates, Louis Foster finished 17th, one lap down, while Graham Rahal parked the car in the pits shortly before the end of the race. The veteran in the team struggled with handling problems throughout the weekend and also had a fuel pressure issue in qualifying, which forced him to start from 23rd place.
For Mick Schumacher, P8 is by far the best result of his first season as an IndyCar driver. Until this weekend, P16 in St. Louis (also an oval race) had been his best result. In the standings, he is no longer last, and in the rookie classification, he is now within five points of Collet, keeping contact with his rivals in the fight for the title of the highest-scoring rookie of the year.
Exciting race with a one-day delay
With almost 24 hours delay, but completely in daylight, the Nashville race was held on Monday as the 12th of 18 races in the 2026 IndyCar season. On Sunday, thunderstorms and rain were the major obstacles that ultimately led to the postponement, while on Monday, the 25 IndyCar drivers faced intense heat. The thermometer rose above 30 degrees Celsius.
Unfazed by this, Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda) took his fifth win of the season and his first victory at the Nashville Superspeedway. Local hero Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) finished second, having hoped to repeat his previous year’s win but found no way past Palou in the final stint.
Scott Dixon crashes into Alex Rossi’s rear – Alex Palou takes the lead
Palou, who started from P4, took the lead during the second of three yellow phases of the day. This was triggered by a misunderstanding between Alexander Rossi (Carpenter-Chevrolet) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda). Rossi wanted to pit under green but decided very late on the back straight to move inside and slow down there. Dixon, following behind, was completely surprised and crashed into Rossi’s rear.
At the car of Dixon’s teammate Palou, the second routine pit stop was just underway when the yellow flag was called due to the Dixon-Rossi crash. Rossi’s race ended on the spot. Dixon finished 18th, six laps down, after repairs to his car. Meanwhile, Palou led the field at the following restart for the first time and only briefly relinquished the lead during subsequent pit stops.
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Alex Palou extends his points lead with fifth win of the season
After 225 laps, of which 184 were run under green, Palou had a winning margin of just under 0.9 seconds over Newgarden, who was visibly unhappy with P2. Directly behind Newgarden were his two Penske teammates David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin.
Malukas secured third place with a different strategy starting from the last grid position, while McLaughlin, after bad luck with the timing of the last yellow phase, started fourth and ultimately finished fourth as well.
Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist (Shank-Honda) completed the top 5. In the second half of the top 10, Mick Schumacher in P8 had only Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda; 6th) and Patricio O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet; 7th) ahead of him, with Kyffin Simpson (Ganassi-Honda; 9th) and pole-sitter Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 10th) behind him.
Two weeks off – then six races in five weeks
In the 2026 IndyCar overall standings, Alex Palou as the points leader after 12 of 18 season races now has an 83-point lead over David Malukas, whose race weekend turned positive with P3 in the race after a heavy crash in the first free practice and missing qualifying.
Penske youngster Malukas has climbed from fourth to second in the standings with his sixth podium of the current season. Andretti spearhead Kyle Kirkwood, who came to Nashville as second in the standings, has dropped to third with now 87 points behind Palou.
There are now six races left on the 2026 IndyCar calendar, taking place over five consecutive weekends. The next two weekends at the end of July and beginning of August are race-free, but then the action comes thick and fast.
On August 9, the race will be in Portland, on August 16 for the first time in Markham (Canada), on August 23 for the first time in Washington. On August 29/30, there is a double-header in Milwaukee, the only weekend this season with two races. On September 6, the season finale will take place at Laguna Seca Raceway (The IndyCar tracks 2026 in detail).
By the first weekend of September at the latest, it will be decided who becomes the 2026 IndyCar champion, who is the highest-scoring rookie this year, who wins the manufacturers’ championship, and possibly some seats for 2027 will already be firmly assigned by then.
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