Scott Dixon has made a strong start to the Indycar weekend finishing the practice session in second behind Colton Herta.
Colton Herta topped the timesheets for much of the session finishing almost 0.4 seconds over Dixon.
Scott McLaughlin has also made a strong start finishing the session in ninth place just 0.8 seconds away from the Herta.
McLaughlin made a particularly strong showing amongst his Penske teammates, with Will Power the only one to go faster finishing just one spot ahead in eighth.
This weekend the field is making its debut at the new Nashville street track.
As this is the first time the field has run there it has the potential to shake up the results with no one having any experience on the circuit
This could be particularly important for McLaughlin and the other series rookies as it puts them on a more level playing field.
The weekend will likely be about who can adapt the best to the new track.
While the session may have gone well for the Kiwi contingent, the same can’t be said for the rest of the field.
Pato O’Ward clipped the turn 3 wall sending him into the outside wall, damaging his suspension bringing out a red flag with about 45 minutes remaining in the session.
With about 5 minutes left, Conor Daily slid his Ed Carpenter Racing car into the turn 9 tyre wall, burying the car deep enough that the red flag was brought out ending the session early.
The top 11 cars all finished the session within one second of each other with many in that group only separated by hundredths of a second.
Main Image: Scott McLaughlin Instagram