By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
The Month of May is here but the NTT IndyCar Series has one more stop before heading to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Alabama for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. The 2.3 mile road course is one of the most physically demanding on the schedule, with its fast, sweeping turns, elevation changes and a 45-foot wide racing surface.
Barber also brings plenty of questions, being the last race before Indianapolis. Who can beat Alex Palou again? Will Scott Dixon get the long-awaited win at Barber? To get you ready for tomorrow’s race, here are five storylines to look for:
- Alex Palou can be beaten, but for how long?
Kyle Kirkwood proved that Alex Palou can be beaten last time out in Long Beach on April 13. Kirkwood led 46 laps en route to his second win on the California streets, but the series returns to a track Palou excels at. Already a winner at Barber in 2021, Palou excels on the natural terrain road courses, with 11 wins. Palou will start from pole tomorrow as the field looks to try to catch up to him once again.
“Yeah, it was great. It was really close,” Palou said. “We didn’t know if it was going to be wet or dry, so we were all I think panicking a little bit. You didn’t want to get caught at the worst moment. Car has been really good all weekend honestly. Especially at the Fast Six, I got the balance I wanted, the balance we’re looking for. Really happy with the lap, as well. Got a pole and we don’t really get many, many poles. Feels good to start up front.”
- Will Scott Dixon break the Barber curse?
The six-time IndyCar champion has never won at Barber in 14 starts. Dixon has six runner-up finishes here as well, to go with the nine podium finishes. The first four races at Barber saw Dixon finish runner-up, as well. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s last podium at Barber was in 2021, when teammate Alex Palou took his maiden IndyCar victory on debut with the team.
CGR as a team has improved at the Alabama track, having three drivers place on the podium in the last four races. Dixon is certainly capable of winning at Barber but will need luck to go his way, starting from 26th tomorrow.
- Can Team Penske bounce back?
Team Penske has had a horrid start to the 2025 campaign as the team does not have a win yet but only one podium and pole through the first three races. If there was a track, to get their season back on the right foot, especially heading into Indianapolis, it would be Barber.
Team Penske has dominated this track in its 14 years hosting IndyCar, including winning the last two races at the track. Scott McLaughlin will look to pilot the No.3 Good Ranchers Chevrolet to a third straight Barber win, something that has never been done. Josef Newgarden has three wins at the track in 2015, 2017 and 2018, while Will Power has won in 2011 and 2012, with four poles to boot.
All three Penske cars advanced to the Fast 12 session in qualifying for the first time this season. Power advanced to his first Fast 6 session, along with McLaughlin, who went to his third Fast 6 on the season. McLaughlin will start second, Power in fourth and Newgarden in ninth as Team Penske looks to have their best weekend of the season.
- Weather makes an impact on the weekend
Drivers fought tricky conditions during practice and qualifying on Saturday. Heavy thunderstorms rolled through the Birmingham, AL area on Friday night leaving the track in full wet conditions. When the drivers took to the track for qualifying, the threat of rain never came but rain will come through the area on Saturday night, giving the drivers a green racetrack for tomorrow. The weather on Sunday will 69 degrees and sunny, creating ideal conditions for the race.
- Will we ever see a caution?
The IndyCar Series has not had a caution in the past two races, a very rare occurrence. Over the last five races at Barber, there are, on average, almost 2 cautions per race. With the track being physically demanding and hard to drive, Barber also poses the threat of dangerous wrecks.
Two drivers have experienced major wrecks so far during the race weekend. Pato O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson both wrecked in Saturday’s morning practice session. O’Ward spun out of Turn 17 during mixed conditions.
“Lost the rear and once I got into the grass, you’re pretty much a passenger,” O’Ward told FOX Sports. “I don’t know if I touched some paint opening the turning radius into the corner. The damage isn’t as bad as I thought.”
Ericsson wrecked in the Turn 13 downhill complex. The car went into the corner with a full head of steam, Ericsson lost control, went through the grass over the curbing when the car almost flipped but came back down on all four tires, eventually, resting in the tire barriers. The car suffered some suspension damage, but Ericsson was able to make it out for qualifying. Ericsson will start 28th tomorrow.