US racer Kirkwood captures IndyCar Music City title

Kirkwood sped away at the late restart and kept the Kiwi at bay for the victory after 80 laps on an 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street course in Nashville, Tennessee.

"He was so fast at the end," Kirkwood said. "We were good on the initial lap but right there at the end they were so fast and they ran me down in that last lap."

Pole-sitter McLaughlin settled for the runner-up spot for the second year in a row.

"I gave it my all, tried my hardest," McLaughlin said. "Bummed we didn't get the win but we weren't best on the day."

IndyCar season points leader Alex Palou of Spain was third ahead of his nearest points rivals, American Josef Newgarden in fourth and New Zealand's Scott Dixon in fifth.

Kirkwood, who started eighth, took his only other win in two IndyCar seasons in April at Long Beach.

"It's super cool," the 24-year-old Floridian said.

Palou, the 2021 season champion, stretched an already-commanding 80-point lead with four races remaining this season, the next on Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

"It was a tough race but we made it work and we're on the podium." Palou said. "We need to get that championship so we'll keep pushing."

McLaughlin jumped to the lead and stayed there until pitting on lap 25 and several drivers exchanged the top spot until Kirkwood took over and kept it into the final restart after a four-car crash.

Kirkwood surged ahead of McLaughlin on the restart and kept his advantage all the way to the end.

Dixon, last year's Nashville champion, made his 318th consecutive IndyCar start, matching the all-time record streak owned by Brazil's Tony Kanaan.

Next year's Nashville race will be moved to September, where it will serve as the 2024 season finale, and have a revamped downtown layout.