LEEDS, Ala. — After a stellar qualifying result preceding Sunday’s (May 4) race, Rinus VeeKay completed a fantastic weekend at Barber Motorsports Park by finishing fourth in the NTT IndyCar Series’ Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
P4 in Barber!!! So close to the podium. Ready to keep this up through the rest of May! pic.twitter.com/NwaUIBGC7z
— Rinus VeeKay (@rinusveekay) May 4, 2025
VeeKay battled back from slower speed in practice early in the week to put his No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda into the Firestone Fast Six in Saturday’s qualifying, rolling off fifth on Sunday.
At the start of the race, VeeKay only fell down a few positions during the first pit cycle after a slow stop. However, VeeKay stayed close to the top five with great pace, which allowed the team to make up on the second round of pit stops to get by Team Penske’s Will Power.
After Colton Herta stalled in his pit box and fell out of the top five, VeeKay was now holding on with everything he had to keep the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet behind his gearbox on his out lap with the slower but durable Firestone Primary tires, almost losing control of the car at one point.
“We lost a few positions on the first stop going a little bit long on the black tires,” VeeKay told Frontstretch. “I told the team, ‘I have pace. I could go long in the second stint. We need to go out long and get good lap times, beat them on the pit sequence.’ That’s what we did. There was a pretty big battle with Will Power keeping him behind.”
VeeKay took lessons learned from his 2022 race at Barber where he finished third to race winner Pato O’Ward after and Sunday’s winner Alex Palou, after bottling the final pit stop despite leading 57 laps in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 21 Chevrolet.
O’Ward Brilliantly Takes The Lead | Indycar Grand Prix Of Alabama 2022 pic.twitter.com/HV2O7ie3WD
— Motor Racing Clips (@MotorRacingClip) May 1, 2022
“I bottled it three years ago in a pit sequence going for the win,” VeeKay said. “Right now, I learned from it and kept the position.”
VeeKay pulled away once Power’s team told him to save fuel for the end of the third caution-free race in a row for IndyCar this season. At one point, VeeKay was tracking to possibly battle Scott McLaughlin for the final step on the podium until another mishap on pit road.
VeeKay’s right-front tire changer lost the wheel nut and had to reach for his backup nut, which pulled Power back to VeeKay. Once again, VeeKay was able to fend off Power with the faster Firestone Alternate tires.
VeeKay 🆚 Power
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 4, 2025
A slow stop for the No. 18 leads to a heated battle for fourth 🔥
📺: #INDYBHM on FOX pic.twitter.com/4ibhXri607
“[There’s] nothing I could do at that point,” VeeKay said. “I didn’t see Will [Power] anymore in my mirror. So, at least I had a little bit of a buffer. I had the peace of mind from that. I had him behind me, but the tires came in really quick in the final stint. I was happy with that and drove away from there on.’
VeeKay would hold on for the rest of the race to take DCR’s first top-five finish since David Malukas finished on the podium at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 2023. VeeKay reflected on the struggles in the last few races before getting the result.
“It’s awesome,” VeeKay said. “Should’ve had a top 10 in Thermal. We made a mistake in tire strategy. Long Beach was a real, real struggle.”
Looking forward to Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the site of VeeKay’s lone IndyCar win in 2021, the Dutchman feels like he could win the race next weekend.
“I think we [have a chance],” VeeKay said. “Jacob [Abel] actually tested there. So, we got some good info, and usually, a Barber setup works well in Indy. We should be on for a really good stretch here.”
VeeKay exits Barber tied for 11th with Josef Newgarden in IndyCar championship points going into next week’s Sonsio Grand Prix at the IMS road course.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing