The Wide World of Dirt

An extended hiatus met its end last week as the NTT IndyCar Series returned to bask in the warm sunlight on the sandy shores of Long Beach, California.

To the untrained eye, last week’s race would appear to be unexciting as there were no cautions to shake up the strategies and running order.

The Long Beach GP lived up to its hallowed reputation in spite of it going flag-to-flag, putting on a classic between two titans of the sport: Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden.

The two past champions pursued alternate strategies. Dixon ran the two-stopper, forcing him into fuel conservation mode for practically the entire event.

Newgarden opted for a three-stop race, and this allowed the reigning Indy 500 winner to push his #2 Hitachi Chevrolet for every inch on every lap.

With 15 laps remaining, Dixon’s slower pace to conserve fuel worked against him as Newgarden began to creep into frame. Closer and closer, the Penske driver stalked the Kiwi for several laps.

The leaders approached lapped traffic with less than 10 laps to go, thus bringing Marcus Ericcson, Alex Palou, and Colton Herta into the mix for the win.

The top-5 were practically nose-to-tail at turn 11 with Newgarden preparing his last gasp at Dixon down the next straight.

Then, his car just stopped working.

Contact from Herta’s nose sent Newgarden’s engine into anti-stall, causing all four drivers to lose significant time to Dixon.

Josef fell down to fourth where he would stay for the rest of the race ahead of Ericcson in fifth. Palou snuck by and held onto third while Herta tried to track down the six-time IndyCar champion.

The 24-year-old Californian was no match for the 43-year-old wizard as the crafty Dixon pulled off another classic fuel-saving win, the 57th of his illustrious career.

As if it wasn’t bad enough for Newgarden to lose out on the Long Beach Grand Prix, his win seven weeks before at St. Petersburg was revoked.

Team Penske’s #2 and #3 cars broke the Push 2 Pass rules as the software in their cars manipulated when their drivers could access the power boost, even on restarts where they are prohibited.

If you’d like a more-detailed technical breakdown of the suspected infraction, here’s Marshall Pruett’s piece at Racer.

The technology was found in all three Penske cars, resulting in Newgarden and McLaughlin to lose their podiums and be relegated to the bottom of the board.

IndyCar also docked Will Power 10 championship points though he managed to not expose this forbidden ability,

The win moved everyone up two spots except for Pato O’Ward as the Mexican driver was retroactively declared the winner of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, his first win since the second leg of the Iowa doubleheader in 2022.

Now that the street talk has concluded, let’s move onto Barber Motorsports Park, the third stop on the 2024 NTT IndyCar Series tour.

The 14th edition of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix stands to be another thrilling 90-lap affair at the 2.38-mile circuit.

A horde of fierce titans weave around Barber’s 15 unique twists and turns to complete a lap, so let’s get to know them.

Beginning on the front straight, drivers cross the start-finish line before diving down into the left-hand turn 1 until switching into the long right-handers of turns 2 & 3.

The stampede flies down a short chute before sliding through turn 4, an uphill kink that flings drivers up the hill until plunging down from the peak into the tight left-hander turn 5.

Followed by a short left kink, the field rockets down another straight, crossing under a bridge on the entry to the treacherous downhill chicane.

Turn 8’s exit opens up and loops into a straight that precedes another left-right chicane, climbing straight up the hill before entering the course’s final complex.

A tight left-hander requires drivers to keep a steady wheel as they navigate the right-hand triple-apex turns 12-14 until finally dipping down the hill once more to the left, just like you do to start the lap.

With our understanding of the track cemented, let’s talk about the weather as well as some facts about our next venue.

The Weather & Fast Facts

This weekend’s forecast projects for a nice spring day in the shadow of Birmingham, Alabama; the high is 83 degreesF when the race goes green at noon Central Time (1pm Eastern) on NBC and Peacock.

Though inclement weather will arrive in the evening, that shouldn’t affect the Grand Prix one bit even with a nearly 50% cloud cover over the circuit.

The inaugural race at Barber Motorsports Park took place in 2010 where Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves rocketed into victory lane.

Since then, Josef Newgarden snagged the wins record at Barber, having won there in 2015, 2017, and 2018, and his Penske teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin claimed victories of their own at this track.

Cautions serve as an aberration at Barber as the last nine events failed to reach the three-yellow threshold, slowing the field for 8 laps out of the scheduled 90 laps.

Those 90 laps tend to be filled to the brim with lead changes as the last decade saw an average of 7 lead changes, pushing the race time down to 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Fuel strategy plays a big factor in what names will float by on the ticker and scoring pylon after the race. The 2021 and 2022 races exposed how a team can win on a two-stop strategy, even if history shows the enduing success of the three-stopper.

Perhaps the three-stop strategy produces another winner like McLaughlin, clinching the win in last year’s race after a tough battle with Romain Grosjean.

Now that we’re all up to speed on the weather and the facts, let’s talk about drivers.

The Odds

As the start of the race nears, the oddsmakers at DraftKings prepared a list of their odds, and I’ll be giving you three drivers to focus on for today’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.

First up is the driver starting in P1: Scott McLaughlin (+200). The Kiwi currently sits last in points after having his podium finish from St. Pete taken away; a gearing issue further compounded this in Long Beach last week.

The Penske driver picks up where he left off at Barber last year where he prevailed over Romain Grosjean for his 4th career win.

Needing a shot in the arm, McLaughlin’s Good Ranchers Chevrolet team needs to keep the car straight and his competition in the rearview mirror if they want a case of deja vu with the Meat Wagon in victory lane today.

Next up is St. Petersburg winner Pato O’Ward (+600). The Arrow McLaren hotshoe took his first (belated) checkered flag in quite some time, and Pato will no doubt want to keep up the positive momentum for his #5 team.

The Mexican driver sits 4th in points after 2 events, 15 points behind points leader Scott Dixon as the Month of May approaches where O’Ward and company are still in search of their first Indy 500 victory.

McLaughlin took the lead and the win at Barber last year from the 4th starting spot, which is exactly where Pato O’Ward rolls off today. With any luck, he makes a stab at the points lead with a win today in Alabama.

Last on the short list is Alex Palou (+700). The reigning series champion has been unable to find the top of the podium this season outside of an exhibition race at Thermal Club, though you can never really count out the Spaniard.

Chip Ganassi’s top driver takes aim at the race win all the way back in row 5 where he starts beside Kyle Kirkwood, both men hungry as ever to get a win and establish themselves as contenders for the title.

A win here in 2021 solidified that Palou can wheel around Barber Motorsports Park with the best of them, and it would surprise no one to see that familiar #10 Honda back at the front as the laps wane down.

Writer’s Pick

Making this short and sweet, Scott McLaughlin and the Thirsty 3s will score their first victory of 2024 this afternoon, one year since their most recent triumph at the same circuit.

With Grosjean — his closest rival in last year’s event — starting way back in 11th spot, the New Zealander will bring his team back to its winning ways with a dominant, three-stop performance today.

There’s no doubt in my mind that McLaughlin and all of Team Penske want to put that ugly charade in Florida behind them, and nothing gets rid of the blues faster in motorsports than a trip to victory lane.

(Top Photo Credit: Michael L. Levitt/Motorsports Images)