The streets of Nashville play host to the NTT IndyCar Series, marking the fifth and final street course race of the year.
If today's Big Machine Music City Grand Prix (noon ET, NBC) goes anything like the first two editions of the Nashville fixture, we can expect crashes galore.
However, notably, both Will Power and Josef Newgarden mentioned in their post-qualifying interviews that while this race has traditionally produced a ton of incidents, it seems that when you count on it happening, the opposite happens.
Keeping that in mind, this race could go one of several ways. That's why I'm looking at a bit of a strategy play with my best bet for the IndyCar race today.
IndyCar Odds, Picks for Nashville
Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean has not had the year he desired. In his second year with Andretti Autosport, Grosjean was expected to have a win in the bag by now, but the top step of the podium has continued to elude him.
That all could change today.
Grosjean qualified sixth, and he has been solid, if not spectacular, at the street course events this year.
He was on pace to win at St. Petersburg before today's polesitter, Scott McLaughlin, crashed into him while coming out of the pits on the final pit stop. At Long Beach, he was runner-up to teammate Kyle Kirkwood.
He had fast cars at both Detroit and Toronto, but crashes at each ended his day early.
REPOST if you’re READY for @IndyCar today!!@MusicCityGP in Nashville | Noon ET | @nbc and @peacockpic.twitter.com/MtFW87MoDn
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 6, 2023
However, if he can just keep it clean, he may be in the catbird seat on an alternate strategy.
That's because Grosjean is the first driver to have selected the primary tire as his starting tire choice. The primary tires are designed to degrade less than the alternate tire, so we can expect Grosjean to stay out a bit longer than the five drivers ahead of him. If he's able to lay down some solid laps, there's a strong chance he could make the overcut work and come out inside the top three after the first pit cycle.
With some timely cautions, it's possible Grosjean even becomes favored at that point if he's able to shorten the stint on the alternates while having the gap close to the leaders.
There's plenty of upside to his alternate strategy, so I've sprinkled on Grosjean at 20-1 to win, which you can get at FanDuel, SuperBook or bet365.
In addition, a top-five bet on him at +175 at Caesars Sportsbook is a nice option if you want to play it a bit safer.
Pick: Romain Grosjean to Win (+2000) |
