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After a torrid week, it was a weekend of redemption for Team Penske. I don’t know how the whole P2P debacle is going to turn out, but after being surrounded by it it all week and then this weekend – I can tell you I’m about sick of hearing and talking about it. Everyone has their thoughts and theories about what happened, and I have mine, too. But at this point I’m ready to put it behind us. I was convinced that a Team Penske car would win this weekend, simply because they were going to use this as extra motivation. That’s exactly what happened.

Scott McLaughlin won Sunday’s race from the pole, and Will Power came in second. Josef Newgarden, who held an emotional press conference on Friday morning led Friday’s practice session, failed to make the Firestone Fast Six. He finished a forgettable sixteenth in the race.

McLaughlin led the first twenty-eight laps and the final fourteen laps, but there was a lot of action in between. Pietro Fittipaldi had help from Pato O’Ward on Lap Six in Turn Thirteen, bringing out the first caution. Forty-one laps later, Alexander Rossi went off in Turn Three – bringing out the caution for another three laps.

Less than ten laps after going back to green, Sting Ray Robb apparently missed Turn One and went head-on into the tire barrier. It was a frightening-looking crash, but fortunately Robb walked away. During that four lap caution period, most of the leaders pitted. But Santino Ferrucci, who had been running fourth at the time, elected to stay out. Ferrucci led fourteen laps, but there was no way he was going to make it to the end without stopping. He pitted from the lead on Lap Sixty-six and came back out in twentieth place. Ferrucci had been fast all day and he wound up finishing the race in seventh place.

In the end, it ended as it began, with Scott McLaughlin first and Will Power second. The biggest surprise was rookie Linus Lundqvist finishing third after starting nineteenth. Lundqvist earned his first podium finish in only his third IndyCar start. On one side of the podium you had Lundqvist with his very first podium; one on the other side was Power who had just earned his one-hundredth podium finish.

From our standpoint, watching the race in-person it was a very entertaining race. There were multiple lead changes among six drivers, and there were four cautions spaced out enough to make things interesting. It was an enjoyable race to attend. If you have never been to Barber Motorsports Park it needs to be on your To Do list.

TV Coverage: Normally when we attend a race in person, I can’t comment on the TV coverage, simply because I didn’t see any of it. This weekend however, I found myself in the media center for the first part of Fridays practice and for much of qualifying- because I was writing up our Lindsay Brewer article (which you should read, if you get a chance). The one thing that struck me about the TV coverage was that they were very candid and openly critical of Team Penske regarding the P2P debacle. I was expecting them to mention it, but gloss over it. Kudos to NBC for treating this like a news story, instead of a PR feature.

Georgina’s Demise: One of the unique things about Barber Motorsports Park are the different sculptures and random attempts at humor around the park. It’s not unusual to see sculptures of ants eating a motorcyclist, giant spiders near Turn Five, or objects hanging from trees. One of their amusements was a female mannequin hanging from the bridge that crosses the track in front of the museum. Yesterday during the race the mannequin fell and landed on the side of the track. It caused no harm even after Luca Ghiotto ran over her arm.

As an added bonus a Barber employee brought what was left of Georgina into the media center. Race-winner Scott McLaughlin got down on the floor and sat beside her for about two seconds, allowing a couple of lucky people the chance to photograph him alongside her. He then hopped up and said “That’s enough! I don’t want to make you guys think I’m into dolls.”

If you have never been around Scott McLaughlin when the cameras are turned off – he’s hilarious!

A Good Sign: Saturday morning we ran into a friend of ours, who works on the Foyt team. He told us that when Ferrucci got out of the car after Friday’s practice, Ferrucci exclaimed “It’s ready to go!” Our friend said the last time Ferrucci said that after getting out of the car it was after his first practice last May. Ferrucci finished third at Indianapolis and was a contender to win the race. Ferrucci finished seventh yesterday, and quite possibly could have won at Barber also.

Barber Fan Zone: On Sunday morning just before the race, Susan and I went over to the Fan Zone. It was the usual midway type fare, along with a lot of merchandise for sale. Susan even won a Good Ranchers hat, just by spinning the wheel.

There was not a whole lot of change, but there was one thing that caught my eye. There used to be a large set of General Admission grandstands where you could sit and watch cars race along the backstretch. Now, the vast majority of that area has been taken over by suites – all along the open part that overlooks the track. The large grandstand has been replaced by a very small stand less than a quarter of the size they on had.

Suites generate revenue, and I appreciate that. But the average fan no longer has a place to sit and watch cars race by, unless they have a chair and want to sit in the woods.

Bad Day for Arrow McLaren: This was a weekend to forget if you are a fan of Arrow McLaren. Except for Pato O’Ward, who qualified fourth, the weekend started off poorly and turned into a disaster by the end of Sunday.

O’Ward got caught up in some contact on the opening lap and it went downhill from there. He ended up making four pit stops on his way to finishing twenty-third. Alexander Rossi qualified poorly and started sixteenth. After his shunt on lap forty-four he ended up losing thirty laps and finished twenty-fifth. Rookie Theo Pourchaire had the best day of all McLaren drivers by finishing twenty-second in only his second start.

New Points Leader: Colton Herta has not won a race since 2022. He has a quiet eighth place finish at Barber, so you might be surprised to learn that after three races, Herta is the new points leader with Scott Dixon finishing fifteenth and O’Ward finishing twenty-third, that was enough to shoot Herta to the top, with Will Power one point behind Herta.

We have seen a lot of scrambling in the points since Dixon won at Long Beach a week ago.

Drive of the Day: While I was watching Santino Ferrucci leading the field, I took note of his seventeenth place starting position. I had told myself that he was a likely recipient of my coveted Drive of the Day award even if he did not win. When the race was over however, there was another candidate so obvious, that he dethroned Ferrucci – Linus Lundqvist.

I’m not quite sure how he did it, so I’ll have to go back and watch the replay. But based on what he said in the post race press conference – he was passing cars all day. A rookie starting from nineteenth in only his third IndyCar race and winding up on the podium alongside two Penske drivers is something he will never forget. It would not surprise me if we see Lundqvist standing on the top step of the podium sometime this season.

All in All: The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix was another success at Barber Motorsports Park, Susan and I have been to every IndyCar race held at Barber, in addition to Spring Training in 2009 when IndyCar turned it’s first wheel at Barber. We have seen a lot of changes over those years – some for the better, some not. I will say that the event has grown and matured, but it now has more of a corporate feel and less charm than it did have.

I suppose you get that with any event if it runs long enough. I can say the same thing about Road America and even the Indianapolis 500. Change is Bad!

Regardless of change over the past fifteen years, this is still one of our favorite tracks we go to. It is scenic, fans have good access to everything. There is non-stop racing over the three-day weekend and did I say scenic? As I said earlier, if you have not been to an IndyCar weekend at Barber – do it soon!

I’ll close with some of the pictures Susan took at Sunday’s morning warm-up and on the grid just before the race. Thanks for following along tis weekend. May is just around the corner, when I will be posting every day in May!

George Phillips

This entry was posted on April 29, 2024 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.