This weekend the NTT IndyCar Series heads to Barber Motorsport Park for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix that gets underway at 2:30pm Sunday 30 April 2023 local time (7:30am Monday 1 May NZ time).
It can be argued that Scott Dixon is the most successful NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver in Barber Motorsports Park history yet he doesn’t have a win to show for it.
Who wouldn’t take Dixon’s stat line at the 17-turn, 2.38-mile permanent road course? Nine podium finishes in 12 races, six times a race runner-up. That’s impressive by any measure.
As for reaching the top step of the podium in Birmingham, Alabama, Josef Newgarden has been the track’s recent master, winning three of the past seven races. Team Penske teammate Will Power (No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet) has won two races.
Power is a four-time NTT P1 Award winner at Barber, part of the record 68 poles he has scored in his career.
Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden or Kyle Kirkwood can solidify their chance at the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge’s $1 million prize by winning at Barber Motorsports Park. Ericsson (Streets of St. Petersburg) and Kirkwood (Streets of Long Beach) have won on street circuits while Newgarden has a win on an oval (Texas Motor Speedway). A win on a road course would make one of them one step closer to earning a $500,000 bonus and a matching $500,000 donation for a chosen charity.
Four drivers have competed in every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Barber Motorsports Park – Scott Dixon, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All but Sato are entered this season.
Team Penske has six wins at Barber Motorsports Park (2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018). Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Arrow McLaren are the only other teams to win at the track. Andretti Autosport won in 2013 and 2014 with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Ed Carpenter Racing won with Josef Newgarden in 2015, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing won in 2019 with Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing won in 2021 with Alex Palou and Arrow McLaren won in 2022 with Pato O’Ward.
Twenty-three of the 27 drivers entered in the event have competed in NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at Barber Motorsports Park. Ten entered drivers have led laps: Will Power 212, Josef Newgarden 135, Helio Castroneves 93, Simon Pagenaud 87, Rinus VeeKay 58, Alex Palou 60, Scott Dixon 46, Pato O’Ward 52, Graham Rahal 25 and Alexander Rossi
Four NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year contenders – Marcus Armstrong, Augustin Canapino, Benjamin Pedersen and Sting Ray Robb – are entered and will race an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car at Barber Motorsports Park for the first time.
Milestones: Rinus VeeKay will attempt to make his 50th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start … Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 309th consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.
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