Rinus Veekay continues oval hot streak with ninth-place qualifying effort in Nashville
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
Jeffrey Hrunka - INDYCAR Contributor
Consistently in the conversation. Like clockwork, Rinus Veekay finds himself up front when INDYCAR takes to the oval. He continued his recent hot streak with a ninth-place qualifying effort ahead of the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix.
"Felt good. I think we got the car balanced very well from this morning, where it was a reasonable temperature to an absolute desert,” Veekay said. “I think we balanced it out pretty good.”
In his first year with Juncos Hollinger Racing, Veekay sits 11th in points, a current-career best, with four top-10s and two top-5s in the last three races. Two of these four top-10 finishes come from Rinus’s last two oval outings. The recent run has put his confidence at an all-time high.
“It's always nice to have confidence to have speed,” Veekay said. “Now we've been really good in ovals this year, so it's always nice to have those good oval finishes.”
Veekay’s success at Nashville Superspeedway hasn’t been smooth. In two starts at the 1.33-mile concrete oval, he holds an average finish of 12.5 at the racetrack with two laps led. “Nashville's a little bit of a different beast on its own,” Veekay said. “A lot can happen, but I think we have a good car to start off with.”
The opposite can be said for Juncos Hollinger Racing. With former driver Conor Daly, they earned one top-5 and two top-10s.
Although Veekay can celebrate, the same cannot be said on the other side of the garage. Teammate Sting Ray Robb crossed the timing line, 21st, cementing what has already been a difficult season for him and his No.77 team.
He is on pace to earn zero top-10s for only the second time in his career.
“I think we were just a little bit too draggy. This downforce package it does add a little bit more drag, I feel like than what we were looking for. Conditions in the day were hotter, so we expected to be a little bit freer,” Robb said. “I had a little understeer, but other than that, I mean, there's not much else I could do.
Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Qualifying Results (Top-10):
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21. Sting Ray Robb - 48.602s
NTT INDYCAR Series action continues on Sunday with the third running of the Borchetta Borbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on FOX at 5:00 pm EST.
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