All the pressure is off Louis Foster, yet he continues to tighten the screws on the rest of the INDY NXT by Firestone field at Nashville Superspeedway.
2024 series champion Foster led a second consecutive practice session Saturday for the season-ending Music City Grand Prix, this time on top at 185.066 mph in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies car of Andretti Global. Foster, who clinched the series title on Aug. 31 at the Milwaukee Mile, led the first session today at 185.370.
SEE: Practice Results
English driver Foster, like the other 17 drivers in the field, spent the 30-minute session trying to find more speed while learning the fastest way to navigate a bump in Turn 4 of the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
“The Turn 4 bump is pretty scary,” Foster said. “Just kind of managing that. For us, this is flat out in qualifying for two laps. Happy with the performance so far, but there’s always more to work on.
“There’s a lot less pressure, but at the end of the day, I’m a racer. I want to come out, I want to race, I want to win. We’re working flat out on trying to give us the best car possible.”
Qualifying is next at 3:45 p.m. ET today. Live coverage of the 65-lap race starts at 11:50 a.m. ET Sunday on Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
Rookie Myles Rowe made a big improvement to second at 184.328 in the No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy car. Rowe was eighth in the first practice this morning at 182.933. Fellow rookie Michael d’Orlando also made a jump to third at 184.245 in the No. 3 Flat Rock Motorsports Park/Rising Stars car of Andretti Cape INDY NXT.
Jacob Abel was fourth at 183.927 in the No. 51 Abel Construction car fielded by Abel Motorsports, with rookie teammate Yuven Sundaramoorthy rounding out the top five at 183.836 in the No. 22 Optima Batteries/Clarios/Abel Motorsports entry.