IndyCar’s Nashville Start Time Hinges on World Cup Final, Creating Strategy Puzzle for Armstrong

The Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway faces an unusual scheduling variable this Sunday, as its start time remains tethered to the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup Final on FOX.

The soccer final kicks off at 3 p.m. ET, with the IndyCar broadcast tentatively slated to follow at 5:35 p.m. ET. However, should the match require extra time or a penalty shootout, the race’s green flag could be delayed by 40 to 60 minutes.

For drivers, this floating start window raises critical questions regarding shifting track conditions, particularly with humid conditions and ambient temperatures expected to reach the mid-90s.

During an IndyCar media call on Tuesday, Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong detailed the significant impact the variable start could have on track evolution. Despite being a New Zealander, Armstrong admitted he is rooting for England—who face defending champions Argentina in the semifinals—to win the tournament.

“It makes a big difference,” Armstrong said. “We were talking about that about an hour ago because I hope it doesn’t go to overtime. I hope England wins and we can all have a beer and chill.

“At Gateway it was hot, obviously, in FP1, qualifying, and the high-line session, and then the sun went down about a quarter of the way into Free Practice 2. I think it negatively impacted our car. But it changed the standings quite a lot with just that difference in ambient and track temperature. You’d be amazed by how much these cars change with a slight shift in ambient temps.

“We’ll see what we find. I don’t know what time the sun goes down there, but I think it’s going to be very hot. So hopefully it’s just stable and doesn’t have too much of an impact.”

Sunset in the Nashville area occurs around 8:00 p.m. local time, which could factor into whether the event finishes under the lights. Regardless, the 25-year-old Armstrong emphasized the team plans to avoid overcomplicating their approach in the final minutes before the green flag.

“I don’t think we’re going to be changing things really late in the day,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to hopefully have a strong car throughout—well, actually, we have warmup that is quite late. We have Free Practice 2 very late. So we will have a good idea what the ambient temps are going to do, but we’re just going to make our best call. We’re not going to try and be too tricky with it because that’s when things start to go wrong.

“We’ll just nail the basics and do those right.”

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