IndyCar Still Flaunts Parity, But Alex Palou Re-Emerges As One to Beat
· Yahoo Sports
In this fourth of 18 races of the year, the NTT IndyCar Series still features parity—with three different winners in as many completed events and seven different teams represented among the top seven qualifiers for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
But it appears Alex Palou, shut out of Victory Lane since the season-opener early this month, has regained his dominating form at Barber Motorsports Park. The Chip Ganassi Racing star, the winner at Northern Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park last season by a season-best 16-plus seconds, will lead the field again.
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Palou covered the 2.3 permanent road course near Birmingham in 1 minute, 6.2341 seconds at 125.011 mph. And he led the morning practice session that was cut four minutes short because of Scott McLachlan’s wicked-looking accident that sent the Team Penske drive backwards through the Turn 1 fencing.
But everything went smoothly for Palou, whose only blemish so far this campaign has been an early-contact elimination at Phoenix. He had a podium finish at the Grand Prix of Arlington, but his No. 10 DHL Honda found its sweet spot again this weekend.
Brett Farmer - Getty Images“Honestly, one of the best cars I’ve driven,” Palou said after recording his 13th overall No. 1 start and just the first pole position of the season. “This morning (in practice) I already felt the car was really, really good, really well-balanced. We just wanted to start up front, capitalize on a really good car we had today, and see for tomorrow. Really happy to get our first pole this year.”
David Malukas (Team Penske) will start on the front row with Palou. Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan), Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank), Arlington winner Kyle Kirkwood (Andetti Global), and Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing) completed the Firestone Fast Six. A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci grabbed the No. 7 slot.
FOX, FOX One, the FOX Sports app, and IndyCar Radio will air Sunday’s 90-lap race live, starting at 1 p.m. ET. A 30-minute warmup program will precedes the race at 10 a.m. ET on FS2, FOX One, the FOX Sports app, and IndyCar Radio.
Scott McLaughlin’s self-described “little misjudgment” led to the biggest scare of Saturday morning.
He said he was “trying to open the apex of [Turn] 1” when he got the right rear tire off the track, corrected, went into a high-speed skid, and slammed through the bottom of the catch fence—directly beneath a hanging banner that read, “It’s Nice To Have You In Birmingham.”
Here's another look at Scott McLaughlin's big crash at Barber Motorsports Park as he goes through the fence in practice. pic.twitter.com/SKhymSDjsw
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The Team Penske driver of the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet exited the car on his own and was unhurt. “It looked worse than it felt,” McLaughlin said after the wreck, which sent him backwards halfway through the fencing and displaced retention cables. “I knew I was done. I dropped the right rear and spun, so I just tried to brace myself a bit. I’m gutted for my Odyssey Battery guys.”
The two-time winner at this venue (2023, 2024) said that as he was sliding backward, the rear of his car speeding dead-on for the wall at approximately 150 miles an hour, that’s when “I knew I was screwed.” However, he said, “The car felt good. A little bit loose this morning. Cold temps were making it a bit different. But I feel good and love this place.”
McLaughlin will start his bid for a third triumph at this race from the 14th spot on the grid.
But he wasn’t the only one to wreck Saturday. So did the seemingly snake-bitten Will Power. The Andretti Global driver brought the opening group in the first qualifying session to a halt when his rear brakes failed entering the downhill approach to the tight Turn 5 hairpin. He went head-first into the energy-absorbing foam barrier behind the gravel trap. Power was uninjured, but he will start 23rd in the 25-driver field in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda.