Barber Motorsports Park Tag

By INDYCAR BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Monday, April 23, 2018) – Josef Newgarden raced on cruise control in today’s completion of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by America’s First. Even a return of rain late in the race didn’t prevent the Team Penske driver from collecting his third Verizon IndyCar Series win at Barber Motorsports Park in the past four years. Newgarden drove the No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet to a 9.9607-second victory at the hilly 2.3-mile, 17-turn permanent road course, despite increasingly treacherous track conditions as rainRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The rain-postponed Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was chaotic for all involved, but few endured as many ups and downs at Marco Andretti. Andretti’s topsy-turvy Alabama affair started with a strong seventh-place qualifying effort, but the challenge of the rain and Barber Motorsports Park course threw Andretti off-course shortly into Sunday’s initial 23-lap effort. With track position lost and heavy rains descending upon the circuit, Andretti’s Andretti Herta Autosport team hinged their bets on strategy. They brought Andretti’s No. 98 HondaRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Simon Pagenaud isn’t one to confront drivers on pit road. Before Monday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race he hadn’t ever done it. He made an exception for Gabby Chaves after the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. “I think that’s the first time I’ve gone to a driver to complain and to tell him how I feel,” Pagenaud said. He called me a word that I didn’t really enjoy including being French, I don’t know. I think he needs to think about thisRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — He was so painfully close. With 10 laps remaining in Sunday’s Pro Mazda Championship race at Barber Motorsports Park, it appeared Andres Gutierrez would finally be able to embrace his team as a first-time winner on the Mazda Road to Indy. Instead he found himself fighting off tears and shaking his head in frustration as they embraced him in the paddock after a seventh-place disappointment. “I’m just devastated,” Gutierrez told Motorsports Tribune. “I think I drove the best race of my life toRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A little moisture couldn’t keep Patricio ‘Pato’ O’Ward from surging to an Indy Lights weekend sweep at Barber Motorsports Park. If anything, it might have made it easier. O’Ward soared from the drop of the green flag to claim a dominant victory in the 30-lap Race 2 of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, securing his third victory in four Indy Lights races to open the 2018 season. The Alabama road course promised to be a challenge, particularly with the wet weatherRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — With rain anticipated on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, few drivers in the Mazda Road to Indy were as confident as Harrison Scott. “I’m British, and we’re used to the rain for sure,” he told Motorsports Tribune after Saturday’s first Pro Mazda Championship race. “So if it’s wet, it’s not going to phase me. I know what to do.” Scott proved that to be true on Sunday. The Briton surged past the off-course Andres Gutierrez shortly before a caution for weather conditionsRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — After qualifying second, Patricio “Pato” O’Ward knew he would need to find a way around teammate Colton Herta if he was going to claim a redemptive second victory of the young Indy Lights Championship season. What he didn’t know was how quickly he would manage it, or how crucial it would be. O’Ward maneuvered his way around Herta on the opening lap of the 30-circuit event, snagging the top spot shortly before the race’s lone safety car for a crash between DaltonRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor, IndyCar Contributor BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Josef Newgarden will have the best view in the house when Sunday’s running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama gets the green flag after laying down the fastest lap in qualifying to take the pole. Rocketing around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile road course, Newgarden’s lap of 1 minute, 07:441 seconds (122.773 mph), was quick enough to put him at the top of the board in the Fast Six. His Team Penske teammate, Will Power, will start alongside on theRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Rinus Veekay wasn’t surprised when he struggled in the first of two Pro Mazda Championship race at Barber Motorsports Park. Based on his history at the track, he expected it. “This was my worst weekend last year,” Veekay told Motorsports Tribune. “So let’s just move on and dominate the rest of the season.” Veekay rose from seventh to claim a relatively quiet fifth-place run in the Race 1 of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, keeping his car clean and salvaging a decent points day afterRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer Will Power led the way in an eventful opening Saturday practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park. Power’s top time of 1:07.3430 stood as the quickest circuit in the third practice session for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, giving Chevrolet the top time in the run. The 2014 IndyCar champion is searching for this third triumph on the Alabama road course, having won back-to-back races at the circuit in 2011 and ’12. Honda’s Robert Wickens, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi roundedRead More