.https://www.indycar.com/news/2024/04/04 ... er-previewIt’s time for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to really get busy.
This weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park represents the first of the back-to-back event weekends for the traveling motorsports show this season. There also are two doubleheader weekends later in the year.
Beginning with last weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the series will be in action on seven of eight weekends over the next two months, including three weeks of activity in the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
While the teams have made the trek from Southern California to the venue in Alabama, they largely have done so without a lot of rebuilds. Only two cars suffered damage in Long Beach, both in the same incident. Jack Harvey’s No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda was collected by the spin of rookie Christian Rasmussen (No. 20 Guy Care Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing). For a street race lined with concrete walls, that’s a collective win for the equipment and the mechanics.
Barber Motorsports Park, a permanent road course, represents a different challenge than Long Beach, but the competitiveness of the series is no different. Most of the 27-car field had the opportunity to test at The Thermal Club in last month’s non-points event. The circuits are different, sure, but much of the information gleaned from three days of track time will largely transfer. Or, one would expect it to.
Reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was the class of the field in The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge, but he will just be one of many to watch this weekend. Isn’t the first rival of any driver his own teammate? In this case, Palou must figure out how to beat Scott Dixon, who won last weekend’s Long Beach race by driving fast when he needed to and saving fuel when he had to.
And then there’s Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who was disqualified from his victory in last month’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding despite leading 92 of the 100 laps. Team Penske was found to have violated Push to Pass parameters set by the INDYCAR rulebook in the season-opening race. They had finished first, third and fourth, respectively.
McLaughlin also had his result disqualified while Power was docked 10 points as he was deemed to have not used Push to Pass when it wasn’t allowed on the start and restarts. After the penalties, Power finished second.
All three Team Penske drivers entered the season with title hopes. How things shake out for them the rest of the way will be a major storyline. Each has won a race at Barber, a 17-turn, 2.3-mile permanent road course in Birmingham, Alabama. They have combined to win six times.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward also figures to feel differently about his results this season. Being named the St. Petersburg race winner gave him five victories for his career. Barber was the site of one of them, in 2022. O’Ward stands fourth in the point standings after two races this season.
Title Chase Already Heating Up
The season is only two points-paying races in, but it seems the cream has already risen to the top.
Newgarden expected to have the series lead now, but he dropped from first to 11th with the St. Petersburg disqualification. McLaughlin, who finished 26th at Long Beach, tumbled from 10th to 29th without points from the season opener. With just five points overall, McLaughlin trails four drivers who have competed in just one official race this season.
Dixon is seeking his record-tying seventh series championship and has historically been stronger in the second half of the season. Newgarden doesn’t figure to stay down long, especially with seven oval tracks left. He has won eight of the past 11 oval races dating to 2021.
The other driver with two recent titles is Palou. He, too, has escaped the earliest part of the season without trouble – finishing fourth and third in the points-paying race -- and he won at The Thermal Club, so put him squarely in the mix.
Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian) is second – two points behind Dixon after finishing third and second in the opening events -- after moving up a position with Newgarden’s disqualification. Herta has proven capable of dominant performances, and he has finished in the top five of the standings three times.
O’Ward is another championship hopeful. Team Penske’s penalties moved him to fourth in the standings, and St. Petersburg gave him five career race wins.
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