The Month of May is here. While the NTT IndyCar Series doesn’t kick-off this motorsports spiritual holiday at Indianapolis anymore, it’s slowly building the tradition by racing at one of the best road courses on the schedule.
This Sunday (May 4) is the 14th running of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. Sitting in the rolling hills of NASCAR country, the track has become a staple as a spring event, putting on great racing over the 17-turn, 2.3-mile circuit.
Scott McLaughlin is returning as the defending winner and will try to become the first driver to win three in a row at the beautiful facility.
Last Year
A falling mannequin, a battle of competing strategies, overtaking throughout the field and Team Penske cars fighting it out for the win?
The 2024 edition of the Barber race felt like a classic CART race from the 1990s, with how it played out. For the viewing public, it was a reminder of how race length is important, and the timing of infrequent yellows is critical for the finishing order.
McLaughlin made great use of a three-stop strategy for the second year in a row, repeating as winner and overcoming his teammate Will Power, as well as Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou who finished fourth and fifth as the highest two-stoppers. Due to four yellows, those on competing strategies against McLaughlin were unable to stretch out their advantages.
Three-Peat
Winning three times in a row is a tricky bit of business in motorsports. The series already had one attempt at this year, as Palou went for three wins to kickstart the season. It’s also May and all eyes will be on Josef Newgarden at Indianapolis later this month in his bid to do it, but first up is his teammate’s attempt at Barber.
McLaughlin has proven to be the man to beat at the Alabama track, joining a host of revolving dominance in this event’s history. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the first to claim his prominence at the motorcycle track, winning back-to-back in 2013 and 2014. Newgarden took his first IndyCar win a year later, preventing Captain America’s three-peat. The mantle passed to Newgarden who won twice in 2017-18, but couldn’t overcome a dominant drive by Takumo Sato in 2019.
Now it’s McLaughlin’s turn. His team has figured out how to maximize the three-stop strategy, as shown by his two previous wins. If no one else has found more speed, history might be made Sunday.
It’s Working
Meyer Shank Racing’s new technical alliance with Chip Ganassi Racing has proven to be a great investment in the early stages of 2025. Rosenqvist is in the best three-race stretch of his IndyCar career. For the first time since the end of his rookie season in 2019, he has racked up consecutive top fives. Add the seventh place he earned at St. Petersburg and the Swede is fourth in points.
Qualifying has also worked out for his No. 60 Honda, with two Firestone Fast Six appearances and a ninth at Long Beach.Â
A great start to the year might continue, as previously mentioned, Rosenqvist was the highest two-stop finisher in fourth in 2024 and in 2023, his last year with Arrow McLaren, earned a ninth as well.
Long Beach Winner
Can Kyle Kirkwood get his first win on a permanent road course?
The Long Beach winner has tasted the champagne on podiums overlooking beautiful high-speed city thoroughfares in his three wins, but has yet to put it in victory lane anywhere else. He heads into this weekend 34 points behind championship leader Palou. His team set the Barber world on fire when the track first hosted the IndyCar Series, but Andretti Global hasn’t won there in over a decade.
Barber hasn’t been very kind to the young American either, but he notched his first and only top 10 there last year.
He’s Knocking
Besides the technical alliances between Meyer Shank and Ganassi, the other great decision paying dividends is Christian Lundgaard‘s signing by Arrow McLaren. Hopping from the frequently inconsistent Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team to the tier two Arrow McLaren, the Dane notched two consecutive podiums – a first for him – and three straight top 10s to open 2025.Â
He sits third in the standings and it’s clear his first win with McLaren is right around the corner. Perhaps even around turn 17 on the final lap for Sunday’s race. For real. Even though his lone win came on a street course, Lundgaard is a savant on the permanent road course circuits. Since his rookie year, he has finished 10th or better in 14 of his 21 road course races.Â
In the last two Barber races, he’s finished sixth. McLaren won this race in 2022 with Pato O’Ward, so the team knows how to get it done.
Barber’s Product
IndyCar’s decision to race at the motorcycle complex near Birmingham, Alabama, in 2010 seemed like an off-base decision. First, the track was too narrow to be considered race-worthy. It was also in NASCAR country, sitting off the same interstate that thousands use to get to the Dale Earnhardt Mecca at Talladega.Â
But now, all of that has been quashed. Barber is one of the best road course shows IndyCar will put on every year. The racing at the track has been entertaining for both the paying customers and viewers at home. Spectator numbers continue to climb each year — local news estimates 90,000 people this weekend. And it’s because of the racing.Â
Take last year, when McLaughlin and teammate Power were stuck in traffic after a restart, trying to cut their way back to the front on fresher tires. It wasn’t just a battle between the team and the cars around them, it was a fight for the eventual lead later. All while racers on offsetting strategies swarmed them.Â
This is the norm now at Barber, this type of product and action. Add in the eclectic art and falling mannequins and the race has its own identity and is becoming one of the marquee events on the schedule.Â
Considering the May 4 date, it’s the perfect way to kickstart IndyCar’s month that ends with a face engraved in silver.
What Else?
For the first time in his career at Arrow McLaren, O’Ward does not appear to be the top dog. New teammate Lundgaard sits three spots ahead of him in the points. But historically, the start of the year can be a bit slow for the IndyCar hotshot. With the clock ticking over to May, O’Ward is magically injected with the Spirit of Indy and rises up. Expect a good result Sunday to launch his quest to bookmark this month with great finishes.
The other challenger, Newgarden, hasn’t had a fantastic start to 2025. His podium at St. Petersburg has been his only top 10. But he is the only three-time IndyCar winner at Barber as things stand. On the bright side, at least all his finishes have counted so far this year.Â
Idaho’s Sting Ray Robb had his best IndyCar race at the previous event in Long Beach. He ran up front and, as the strategy came together, finished ninth. Can he run well for two races in a row with his Juncos Hollinger Racing team?
No mention of Palou in the previous sections because frankly, he’s expected to be good at this point. He was one position away at Long Beach from starting the season perfect and he won his first race at Barber in 2021. So yeah, he’s going to be fast and in the fight. There, happy he was mentioned?
Frontstretch Predictions
I would like to thank my Content Director, Alex Gintz, for stepping in for the Long Beach preview. And I was satisfied to see that his picks were as spot-on as mine. Meaning they were awful. See? It isn’t easy, is it?Â
Barber is a confluence of strategies and picking the winner is tough because drivers don’t raise their hand and tell you what stops they will plan to do on race day. So we are left to throw spitballs at the wall to see what we hit.
McLaughlin is on a tear here and I want to pick him to be safe. But at the same time, how does anyone go against Palou right now? Two wins and one runner-up result to start the year? In an era when the series promotes, ostensibly with honesty, that this is the most competitive racing sport in the world? Sorry, I’m taking the cop out on this one. Palou for the W.Â
- Palou — I’m picking him until he finishes third or worse.
- Lundgaard — that win is so close. I’ve picked him for the podium in two races, and he got it at Thermal.Â
- McLaughlin — just doesn’t make it happen for the three-peat.
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix gets underway Sunday, May 4, at 1:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.