Great Pace Not Rewarded for Grosjean in Nashville

JIM HAINES 2021
Nashville, TN (August 8, 2021) – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR driver Romain Grosjean had great pace during the inaugural Music City Grand Prix but unfortunately, he wasn’t rewarded with the finishing position he deserved for his effort, having to settle with 16th on the results sheet. His teammate Cody Ware in the sister #52 Nurtec ODT entry was also having a solid race with his 20th position also not reflective of his performance over the weekend.

Starting fifth, Grosjean immediately gained a position at the start as did Ware who moved into 26th. However, the race went yellow not long after the green flag and didn’t resume until Lap 10. While Grosjean maintained his position at the restart, Ware was sitting 23rd. 

Both drivers were then able to turn some green flag laps with Grosjean continuing in fourth, but another full course caution would come out on Lap 16. During that caution period Ware moved up to 16th but was then collected at the restart in a multiple car incident which damaged his front wing.

A red flag then came out as the AMR Safety Team cleared the incident. When the race resumed about 12 minutes later Ware was in 22nd place. 

Both Grosjean and Ware headed to pit lane under yellow on Lap 32 with Grosjean in 12th following his stop and Ware in 21st.

Grosjean then inherited the lead during another caution period on Lap 52 and led the field to green on Lap 54. With another yellow coming out on Lap 55, Grosjean elected to head to pit lane for what would be his final stop. In the meantime, Ware in the #52 Nurtec ODT car had made his way up to seventh before making his final stop on lap 56. 

Unfortunately for Grosjean, he then received an avoidable contact penalty as he was fighting his was back up the field. The drive-thru penalty caused him to fall to 17th.  He would end up gaining one position to take the checkered flag in 16th with Ware ending his race in 20th.

Romain Grosjean – #51 Nurtec ODT Honda
“The first Nashville race is in the books. It was a bit of an exciting and eventful one. We had the pace, and we were up there with the top guys, we led a few laps but with all the yellows you had to be lucky to win and that’s what happened today, we didn’t get lucky.  It’s a bit of a tough one to digest because we had the pace and were fighting at the front but the cautions didn’t go our way. We’ll try again next week in Indianapolis.”

Cody Ware – #52 Nurtec ODT Honda
“It was an honor to be in the inaugural event at Nashville. I had goosebumps at the start of the race. Early on we were just surviving and got caught up in someone else’s mess. Luckily, we didn’t have too much damage and only had to change the nose. We cycled up to 7th at one point which was awesome to race up front. Unfortunately, our race ended early but we will look forward to the Indy Road course next weekend.”

The team will be back in action next weekend for another round on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.