Caio Collet’s unlucky oval streak continues at Music City Grand Prix

Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor

Riley Ogle (Motorsports Today, 2026)

After a promising weekend with top-ten pace, a hard hit in the opening laps of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix sends rookie Caio Collet out of the race. The incident marked his third DNF in four oval races.

Collet saw his day end in the Turn 4 wall after losing the front end of his car and hitting the wall at a 45-degree angle into the barrier. Even after the hard hit, he exited the car and was seen and cleared at the NTT INDYCAR SERIES medical center.

Collet, driver of the No.4 A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet, started the weekend hot, as he timed eighth in first practice. While only practice, this pace hasn’t been uncommon for the Brazilian, as he had good runs and qualifying pace at every oval race this season.

Those results, combined with a fast race car, put his confidence at an all-time high heading into the weekend.

"Yeah, confidence is always, I think, a little bit higher every single time we go on track. But just heads off to the team. They put me in a really good car every time I go out there, and I'm able to extract the best of it and have a lot of confidence from the beginning,” Collet said after qualifying on Saturday. “We don't have to chase a lot.” 

Although he isn't known for his oval prowess, it's certainly the track type that he makes the most noise on. One month ago at WWT Raceway, Collet led 7 laps and ran consistently inside the Top-10 until a mechanical issue eventually sent him out of the race.

During the Month of May, Collet initially qualified inside the Fast 12 for the Indianapolis 500 before a post-qualifying penalty took away his timed attempt. Even with the issues, he led nine laps on an alternate strategy. Unfortunately, a fiery crash into the Turn 2 barrier sent Collet exiting the track seven laps short of the finish.

The only race Collet finished was the Good Ranches 250 at Phoenix Raceway, where he crossed the line for a 19th-place finish.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action at Portland International Raceway for the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland on August 9th. Fans can tune into the action at 12:30 pm EST on FOX or the FOX One app.