After a new challenge and new winner at the INDYCAR Classic at Circuit of The Americas two weeks ago, the NTT IndyCar Series travels to a familiar venue to begin April.
Lush and picturesque Barber Motorsports Park is playing host for the 10th consecutive year. Eleven drivers entered for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama have at least five starts on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course, making past data plentiful to help choose the four-driver lineup for the #INDYCAR Fantasy Challenge driven by Firestone. (Fill out your lineup or sign up to play at fantasy.indycar.com.)
It is that past data and one team’s dominance at Barber that influenced my first two picks this week.
In the nine previous races at the track in Birmingham, Alabama, drivers from Team Penske have visited victory lane six times, started from the pole eight times and led 478 of a possible 781 laps (61.2 percent). That makes the Roger Penske-led squad the clearly dominant team and first place to look when putting together the roster that fits within the $100 salary cap permitted in the #INDYCAR Fantasy Challenge.
Josef Newgarden (three wins, two with Team Penske), Will Power (two wins) and Simon Pagenaud (one) have combined to win six of the last eight Barber races, making any of the Team Penske drivers an intriguing option this weekend.
At $34, Newgarden is the priciest of the trio, but his recent Barber results – back-to-back wins – and a hot start to the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season make the 28-year-old an easy choice to anchor my team.
Pagenaud’s disappointing start to the 2019 season has lowered his purchase price this week to an affordable $25. It’s the 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama race winner’s value price combined with eight straight top-10 finishes at Barber that led me to make him the second Team Penske member of my fantasy team this weekend.
After a three-year sojourn in sports cars, the Frenchman made his return to Indy car racing at Barber in 2011. Subbing for an injured Ana Beatriz at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Pagenaud started 23rd and finished eighth to begin an impressive run that has resulted in an average finish of 5.6 at Barber.
Pete Townsend was 19 when he penned the popular song, “The Kids Are Alright,” for The Who’s debut album “My Generation,” so it’s fitting that a couple 19-year-old next-generation drivers round out my four-driver squad.
With stellar starts to their NTT IndyCar Series careers, former Indy Lights teammates Colton Herta of Harding Steinbrenner Racing ($23) and Carlin's Patricio O’Ward ($18) have put the veteran drivers on notice that the future is now.
It was at Barber Motorsports Park that Herta, who had just turned 14, made his pro racing debut in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, the first rung of the Road to Indy development ladder. The Californian finished 19th and seventh in the races that weekend. Five years later, the Californian returns as the latest NTT IndyCar Series winner and sitting second in the title fight.
Herta won the 400th Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires race at Barber in 2017 and finished on the podium twice during last year’s Indy Lights doubleheader weekend in Alabama.
O’Ward and his Carlin squad tested at Barber earlier this year, which should allow the Mexican driver to push hard from the start of practice on Friday morning. O’Ward made eight Road to Indy starts at the park-like circuit, collecting two wins in Indy Lights and two in the Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires, so he certainly knows the way to victory circle.
Don’t fret if you’ve missed the first two rounds of the #INDYCAR Fantasy Challenge. There are still 10 prizes available for the best team managers available at each race. Get your picks in or sign up at fantasy.indycar.com.