By David Morgan, Associate Editor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The calendar has turned to May and with it comes a trip down south to Alabama as the NTT IndyCar Series takes on Barber Motorsports Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
The 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course rolling through the hills just outside of Birmingham provides a picturesque environment to host America’s premier open wheel series as they partake in the final race before setting their sights on Indianapolis for the remainder of the month.
Team Penske and Scott McLaughlin have had a stranglehold on this track for the past two years, winning both races, with Arrow Mclaren’s Pato O’Ward victorious back in 2022 to give Chevrolet three straight wins here.
All three Penske entries (McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, and Will Power) have combined for a total of seven wins on the track aptly nicknamed the Alabama Rollercoaster. Newgarden banked three of those victories, with McLaughlin and Power both securing a pair of wins each.
Both Penske and Arrow McLaren will be looking to channel that past performance this weekend as they try and break the stranglehold that Honda has had on the first three races of the year.
But first, they’ll have to get past three-time and defending series champion Alex Palou, who has seemed nearly unstoppable thus far in 2025, winning the first two races of the season and finishing as the runner-up last time out at Long Beach behind fellow Honda pilot Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global.
Palou has also been victorious at Barber in the past, capturing his first career IndyCar win back in 2021.
Then there’s six-time champion Scott Dixon, whose illustrious IndyCar has one glaring gap – a win at Barber. He has finished as the runner-up at this track on six different occasions, along with nine total podium finishes in 14 starts.
Who will come out on top to carry the momentum to Indianapolis? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.
By the Numbers
What: Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, NTT IndyCar Series Race No. 4 of 17
Where: Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, AL (Opened: 2003, first INDYCAR event was 2010)
When: Sunday, May 4
TV/Radio: FOX 1:30 p.m. ET / INDYCAR Radio Network (SiriusXM Channel 218)
Track Size: 17 turn, 2.3-mile road course
Race Length: 90 laps, 207 miles
2024 Race Winner: Scott McLaughlin – No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet (Started on pole, 56 laps led)
Track Qualifying Record: Pato O’Ward – No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (65.5019 seconds, 126.409 mph – April 17, 2021)
From the Driver’s Seat
“Barber is one of those tracks I really enjoy – it’s fast, flowing and super physical, which makes it a real fun place to race,” said Pato O’Ward.
“You’ve got to be on it every lap. It’s a place we’ve been really strong at before, so this is a great opportunity to kick off May on the right foot. We’re ready to fight and set the tone for what’s to come.”
Last Time at Barber
After arriving at Barber Motorsports Park for last year’s Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix, Scott McLaughlin had been steadfast in his beliefs that the heavy penalties handed down by INDYCAR to Team Penske in the days ahead of that race wouldn’t keep his No. 3 team down and they answered their detractors emphatically with a dominating win to kick off the comeback in earnest.
Starting the weekend with only five points to his name, McLaughlin went out and put the “Meat Wagon” on the pole and rolled right into race day with the determination to see it through to the finish with the No. 3 car at the top of the pylon.
From the drop of the green flag, the “Thirsty 3’s” were on it as McLaughlin set the pace up front, electing to go for the same three-stop strategy that won him the race a year ago.
As the race played out, it was coming down to a battle of those that were in full send mode, like McLaughlin, and those taking the more fuel conscious route, like defending series champion Alex Palou.
Even though McLaughlin had been the man to beat, it looked for a while that the fuel save strategy just might win out, but in the end, McLaughlin was able to secure enough of a gap to Palou to give himself enough leeway to be able to make his last pit stop and come back out on track still in control of the race.
However, it wasn’t quite a Sunday drive to the finish, as the fourth and final caution of the day flew with less than five laps to go, setting up a restart among McLaughlin, his teammate Will Power, and Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist.
Neither Power nor Lundqvist were able to eclipse McLaughlin over the course of the final three circuits around the winding road course, as Mclaughlin streaked across the line to bank the victory, 1.319 seconds ahead of Power.
“Thirsty 3’s to the moon!” McLaughlin exclaimed over the team radio on his cool-down lap, taking in the win that has him back in the game heading into the Month of May.
After climbing from his car in Victory Lane, McLaughlin noted that even with all of the noise surrounding his team and Team Penske as a whole this weekend, they knew they had to keep their head down and grinding and did just that.
“We just had to keep rolling,” McLaughlin said. “We know our job. We know what we needed to do. I’m just super proud of the execution. The Good Ranchers Chevy was so good. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace. Super proud of everyone.
“We’ll just keep rolling, man. Just execution, execution. That’s our word. We’ll just get going.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps. Really happy we could advance to the checkered flag there and bring home a W for Team Penske and for Roger.”
McLaughlin added that he wasn’t deterred by the late caution that erased his multi-second lead over Power, setting up the final restart, explaining that the speed he had shown all day gave him confidence that it was still his race to lose.
“I knew our pace. I knew we could control it,” McLaughlin said. “Obviously, you’ve got to make sure you don’t make a mistake with a guy like Will behind you. He’s always going to push hard. I knew we had some pace and we could cover him when we needed to.”
With the win, McLaughlin jumps from 29th in the standings up to ninth place, 42 points back from the lead with three of 17 scheduled races in 2024 now complete.
“Let’s go. Let’s keep going,” McLaughlin remarked about the leap into the top-10 in points.
Power finished the day in second-place for his second podium finish of the season after the re-shuffle following St. Petersburg. Rookie Linus Lundqvist rounded out the podium finishers for the first podium of his young career.
Felix Rosenqvist crossed the line in fourth-place for his best finish of the year, followed by Palou rounding out the top-five after leading 12 laps on his fuel saving strategy. The remainder of the top-10 went to Christian Lundgaard, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta, Marcus Armstrong, and Kyle Kirkwood.
Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)
- Friday, May 2
- NTT IndyCar Series Practice 1 (3:30 pm – FOX Sports 2)
- Saturday, May 3
- NTT IndyCar Series Practice 2 (11:30 am – FOX Sports 1)
- NTT IndyCar Series Qualifying (2:30 pm – FOX Sports 1)
- Sunday, May 4
- NTT IndyCar Series Final Warmup (10:00 am – FOX Sports 1)
- Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (1:30 pm – 90 laps, 207 miles – FOX)
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