Event records fell over the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, and an NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship hopeful won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst for the second consecutive year. And there was a falling mannequin.
Those were among the top storylines from the series’ third points-paying race of the season.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin dominated Sunday’s otherwise competitive 90-lap race featuring 289 on-track passes, 281 of which were for position. McLaughlin keyed an important 1-2 finish for Roger Penske’s organization in the spotlight after being found afoul of series rules in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
The win was McLaughlin’s first of the season and allowed him to jump from last in the standings following the St. Petersburg disqualification to ninth. McLaughlin still has work to do to fully climb back into title contention, but it was a solid step forward in the wake of the Push to Pass penalties.
Team Penske also saw Will Power finish second and Josef Newgarden 16th. Like McLaughlin, Newgarden was stripped of his St. Petersburg points, dropping him from the series lead to 11th. Newgarden fell five more positions in the standings, to 16th, with Sunday’s result.
Power was docked 10 points, but he gained back 41 and is second in the standings, one point behind Colton Herta of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian.
Next up is the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But first, last weekend’s highlights.
Busy Early Part of the Race
Unlike the first two races of the season, this one had action virtually from the drop of the green flag.
The back of the 27-car field found itself in a scramble approaching the race’s first corner. The trouble incurred by Jack Harvey (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda), Sting Ray Robb (No. 41 AJ FOYT RACING/Pray.com Chevrolet) and rookie Kyffin Simpson (No. 4 Journie Rewards Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) were deemed to have been caused by Rinus VeeKay, who had a fast car but started last due to an electrical issue in qualifying. The driver of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet had to serve a drive-through penalty.
The first of the side-to-side bumping that was plentiful throughout the race was seen in Turn 5 as Santino Ferrucci leaned his No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet into Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. The two cars made contact several times before Ferrucci surged ahead.
Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) had to take evasive action in the same corner to avoid running into the back of Christian Lundgaard’s No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Later, O’Ward was penalized for sending Pietro Fittipaldi’s No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda into the tire barrier on Lap 6. O’Ward finished 23rd.
All sorts of contact occurred as drivers muscled their way past opponents. Among the most surprising was Marcus Armstrong leaning his No. 11 Root Insurance Honda into Newgarden’s No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet in a way Newgarden has done in the past.
Two Stops vs. Three Stops
Again, McLaughlin and his No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet went to victory lane after using a three-stop strategy. He did that last year, as well.
The field was again largely split on which path was preferrable, but the caution at Lap 55 certainly helped the cause of the three-stoppers. Those on the two-stop strategy needed to get to about Lap 60 to have their best chance to win the race, but the timing of that caution and the pit stops that followed meant they had to go into major fuel savings. Making their final stop on Lap 56 proved to be too much of a detriment to winning.
Free to march as fast as he could, McLaughlin gained two to three seconds per lap late in the race on Alex Palou, the leader on the two-stop strategy driving the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda. McLaughlin was able build such a big advantage that he and Power (No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet) pitted on Lap 75 and still easily came out in front of Palou and the rest.
It was no contest.
Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist (No. 8 American Legion Honda) also was on the winning strategy, and he earned his first podium finish in third place. His last pit stop was on Lap 70.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda) became the highest-finishing two-stopper, in fourth. Palou settled for fifth place to extend his string of top-eight finishes to 21 races dating to a 12th-place finish at Portland International Raceway in 2022. Palou stands third in the standings, Rosenqvist fifth.
McLaughlin Goes Back to Back
Fifteen NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars tested at Barber Motorsports Park in March. None of them were fielded by Team Penske.
But what Roger Penske’s organization delivered over the weekend amid excruciating pressure following the St. Petersburg rules violations was impressive. McLaughlin and Power qualified on the front row and then executed perfectly in the race.
McLaughlin scored the fifth series win of his career while Power finished in the top two of a race for the 71st time in 288 starts (24.6 percent).
McLaughlin certainly didn’t erase the big hole he fell into following the disqualification, but this result helps. He is 42 points out of the lead with 14 races to go. A lot still can happen, especially with half of the remaining events on oval tracks, where Team Penske has traditionally excelled.
Herta leads the championship for the first time in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. He holds a single-point advantage over Power.
Further proof of the series’ balance: Four different drivers have won the first four races. O’Ward won St. Petersburg, Palou captured the non-points The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge, Scott Dixon won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, and McLaughlin won at Barber.
The Strangest of Sights
Finally, the mannequin.
She has been known as “Georgina,” and for years she has been attached to the bridge over the straightaway between Turns 4 and 5. Mid-race, she fell.
One of the many whimsical features of George Barber’s facility, Georgina nearly stuck the landing before dropping to the edge of the track. One of her arms was struck by a car, but she was retrieved during the next caution. It certainly was the rarest of rare events for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
McLaughlin capped his victory celebration by getting a photograph taken with the mannequin.
RIP, Georgina.