LEEDS, Ala. — Not even the Chamber of Commerce Weather that drew fans into Birmingham to watch Sunday’s (May 4) Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park could alter the recent trend in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Aside from the opening laps of the season at the street course in St. Petersburg, all four races so far this year have now been caution-free. It’s a contrast to last year’s event, where the caution flag flew four times.
All of that was certainly an aid to Alex Palou, who dominated the field and took his third win in four races to begin 2025. He led 81 of 90 circuits around the windy and hilly road course, winning by an excess of 16 seconds. That margin of victory was helped by the lack of caution flags, making the only way for the field to gain ground on pit road. The only time Palou didn’t lead was during pit cycles.
“It was a perfect day, a perfect weekend,” Palou said. “The car was amazing, super fast. I had a ton of fun.
“I was a bit lonely there, but I loved it. It was an amazing day.”
With Palou’s pit crew on point and the caution flag dormant, Sunday ended up being a Sunday afternoon stroll throughout the field. Arrow McLaren placed three cars in the top 10 but could not chase down Palou.
“We had three cars in the top 10. That was obviously the goal,” said Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan. “[We were] trying to chase Palou down.”
The lack of action was not only evident from the grid during the race. It was likewise from the cockpit of the day’s fifth-place finisher Will Power. He came home in the top five after rolling off fourth.
“It was a pretty straightforward day,” Power told Fronstretch. “The tires lasted well, there just was not much action. It was one of those days.”
Indeed, compared to previous races at Barber, Sunday was lacking in caution flags.
That’s not to say there were no dramatic moments.
With around 20 laps to go, Santino Ferrucci made a dramatic save avoiding a spin while earlier in the race, Louis Foster narrowly avoided being struck by two other cars after veering into the grass.
In the end, however, Sunday resulted in a first for the series at Barber Motorsports Park – a race with zero cautions.
“I think we’re trying to make racing more exciting for the fans. Another green flag race. Let’s face it. It was bad, It was boring. Hopefully, we’ll make a change with an extra set of tires and we’ll see more of an exciting race,” Kanaan said. “Look at the fans here. They showed up, it was crazy. They deserve a more exciting race, and we’ll try to do that.”
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.
IndyCar can go three races without a caution, and NASCAR’s Xfinity Series couldn’t car three laps at Texas without a caution!
NA$CAR has too many drivers who are only in the event to bring out cautions. I am surprised Corvette Robb hasn’t brought out more cautions.
I disagree with Kanaan, it was a good race. I have to give props to the Fox Sports team, they covered some actual racing in the back of the field and kept the broadcast interesting while Palou was up front doing his thing. Personally, I look at this caution-free thing differently; The one thing I always disliked about open wheel racing (Indycar or F1, mostly) was it seemed they could never start a race without a huge wreck and long caution on the very first lap. I don’t watch for wrecks, there are better venues if that is is my entertainment choice – like an actual demolition derby. I prefer what we are seeing this year; professional drivers running hard, leaning on each other, some calculated risks and great moves being made, but not wrecking each other like a bunch of unhinged goons. I can go down to I10 any weekday and watch unskilled idiots wrecking each other. I watch professional racing to see experts displaying their craft and doing things I could never do.
So I think we should give HUGE props to these drivers and teams. They’re building great cars (very few equipment failures to bring out caution), they’re taking care of their tires (no blow outs bringing out caution), and they’re putting on a great show. The pressure on the pit teams is evident, making any error on pit lane very costly in terms of time and running position. Same with the strategists. I’m loving it while it lasts, and can only shake my head in disbelief at people who think a race is boring because they aren’t crashing and bunching up the field every 5 laps.
Is it really race fans saying this? Are REAL RACE FANS upset about no crashes and cautions, or is it the media once again trying to push a narrative because they think they need dramatic crash footage for promotional material? Or are they losing ad revenue from not getting those extra commercial breaks?