Conor Daly delivered a thrilling drive through the field, climbing 19 spots to finish fifth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet -- his best result of the season – during Sunday’s Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix presented by WillScot.

Daly (photo, above) has developed a reputation for excelling at race starts and restarts, especially on ovals. Last weekend at the Milwaukee Mile, he surged from eighth to fourth on the opening lap. On Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, Daly vaulted from 25th to 19th by the end of Lap 1.

A Lap 1 crash involving last week's Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 winner, Christian Rasmussen, brought out an early caution. On the restart at Lap 8, Daly continued his charge, gaining four more positions within three laps to break into the top 15.

By the final restart, Daly was up to fifth and pushing for more. But tire strategy proved crucial.

“If we were on the black (primary) tire at the end, it becomes a different game,” Daly said.

Of the 27 starters, 25 started on the more durable Firestone primary (hard) tire. Only Alexander Rossi (No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet) and Rinus VeeKay (No. 18 askROI Honda) began the race on Firestone alternate tires.

Daly pitted on Lap 56 for alternates as part of a strategy to meet race regulations, which required using at least one set of primary and two sets of alternate tires during the 225-lap race.

He saved his second set of alternates for the final stint, switching to them on Lap 190. Among the top eight finishers, only Daly and Scott McLaughlin ended the race on alternate tires – a bold choice in a four-stop race in which tire wear often defines results.

Nevertheless, a top-five finish for Daly was a strong recovery from a rough start to the weekend Saturday in qualifying.

“I thought all hope was lost,” Daly said. “It was a tough qualifying effort. We changed everything but the color of the car. We wanted to go a certain direction that we thought might work, and it did. We found something in the car today that we hadn’t tried all season.

“I’m really proud of the team for taking a chance. To be in the top five is still pretty good.”

Kyffin Simpson Dario Franchitti

Simpson Shines With Best Oval Performance

Kyffin Simpson (photo, above left) enjoyed a breakout weekend on the oval, qualifying eighth and finishing fourth in the No. 8 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda -- both personal bests on a circle track.

“Ovals are something I really needed to work on this year,” Simpson said. “To be in the top five, battling for a podium with Scott McLaughlin, that wasn’t something I expected.”

Simpson restarted fourth with 12 laps to go and immediately went wheel-to-wheel with McLaughlin in a fierce scrap for the final podium spot. McLaughlin ultimately passed him on the final lap to secure third in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet.

“That kid raced me with a lot of respect,” McLaughlin said. “He's getting better every week. That was probably my best oval battle ever.”

Simpson, who finished a career-best third in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto on July 20, took plenty away from the experience.

“Honestly, I wasn’t super confident going into that last restart,” he said. “Our first few restarts were rough. I kept choosing the wrong lane. But those last two, I picked right. God just kind of showed me the way through.”

Simpson scored five top-10 finishes this season, all in the final 11 races, and improved to 17th in the championship standings after placing 21st as a rookie.

O’Ward’s Season Ends in Disappointment

Pato O’Ward secured his seventh career NTT P1 Award on Saturday and aimed a day later for his first win of his career while starting from the pole.

With second place in the championship locked up, a win would have provided momentum into the offseason.

Instead, disaster struck on Lap 126 when a right-front tire failure sent him into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2 (video, above). It was his first failure to finish this season.

“It’s one of the worst feelings,” O’Ward said. “We had rockets under us all weekend. We were doing everything right. Just a real shame to end the year like that.”

O’Ward led a race-high 116 laps but walked away with his second finish of 24th or worse in the last three events despite posting six top-five results in the previous seven races.

Ganassi Wins Firestone Pit Performance Award

Chip Ganassi Racing snapped Team Penske’s five-year reign by capturing the Firestone Pit Performance Award, which recognizes the crew with the shortest cumulative pit lane time throughout the season.

The award this year came down to Scott Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda crew vs. O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren team, with Dixon’s crew prevailing.

Since 2020, Penske had won every edition of the award, with Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 crew victorious in 2020 and 2021 and Will Power’s No. 12 crew taking it the past three seasons.

Christian Rasmussen Dave Portnoy

Odds and Ends

  • Alex Palou finished second Sunday for his fourth top-two result in six oval races this season. He led the series in oval points (252). O’Ward was second with 208.
  • Newgarden extended his streak of at least one oval win per season since 2016. His 18 oval wins rank second among active drivers behind Dixon’s 24. Newgarden finished third in overall oval points.
  • Team Penske was winless in the first 14 races this season. It won two of the final three races: Power at Portland and Newgarden at Nashville. McLaughlin closed with back-to-back third-place finishes.
  • Christian Lundgaard suffered a mechanical failure on Lap 123 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, dropping to fifth in the standings. That allowed Dixon to finish third overall, putting two Ganassi drivers in the top three. Lundgaard dropped to fifth in the final standings.
  • Kyle Kirkwood finished sixth in the race, his best result since the same result in Toronto. He secured a career-best fourth place in the final standings.
  • Barstool Sports founder and FOX Sports contributor Dave Portnoy visited the paddock before the race, connecting with Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Rasmussen and Rossi (photo, above) before leading the field to green as a passenger in the Fastest Seat in Sports two-seat race car.