By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
LEEDS – Scott McLaughlin backed up his 2023 win at Barber with a strong drive in his #3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet to claim the 2024 Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix Powered by AmFirst. The win was McLaughlin’s fifth career win.
The race featured 289 on-track passes, a Barber IndyCar record, and 281 on-track passes for position, which is another Barber IndyCar record.
86,000 fans attended Barber Motorsports Park across three days, the highest attendance since the first IndyCar race in 2010.
The New Zealander’s Team Penske squad came under immense criticism this past week. Team Penske was found to have illegally used Push To Pass in the season-opening race at St. Pete.
As a result, Team Penske was docked $25,000, and race winner Josef Newgarden and second-place finisher McLaughlin were stripped of their podium finishes and points. Team Penske’s Will Power was found to have not utilized Push to Pass but was docked ten points and finished third after Newgarden and McLaughlin were disqualified.
Power finished 1.3194 seconds behind McLaughlin in his #12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. Power’s second-place finish was his 100th podium, tying him with Michael Andretti for fourth all-time on the IndyCar list, and his 30th runner-up finish, which ties him for seventh all-time on the IndyCar list.
“It was aggressive. It was combative, actually,” said Power.
“The thing is, when you’ve been running at the front in very clean air, and hard, you get back there with all that dirty air and how much the car moves around, you’re kind of are not ready for it when it first restarts.
“You’ve got to get used to the car being very much on top of the road again.
“You’re also thinking in your head, ‘Scott and I kind of racing potentially for the win, but we’re in the pack.’
“The risk versus reward, you’re kind of trying to decide on.
“I think I wasn’t aggressive enough. I should have worked harder to keep Scott behind. I didn’t block him.
“But, with everything that’s happened this week, I just didn’t want to bloody have two Penske cars off in Turn 1, so I just kind of let it go.
“Yeah, I was happy for the team to get that, though. I was.
“I’ve been around long enough where you actually are happy for the team. You’re not so selfish.”
Rookie Linus Lundqvist, who started 19th in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing American Legion Honda, finished third. His third-place finish was the first NTT IndyCar podium for the 2022 Indy NXT champion.
Felix Rosenqvist finished fourth in the #60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Meyer Shank Racing Honda. Two-time and reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou rounded out the top five in the #10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda.
McLaughlin led the first 27 laps of the race and 58 of 90. After pitting on lap 28, McLaughlin and five different drivers, Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, Power, and Linus Lundquist, took turns leading the race due to teams opting for different fuel strategies and yellow flags.
McLaughlin, using a three-stop strategy, was able to regain the lead for good on lap 76. However, the finish was not without late drama, as Christian Rasmussen spun and stalled in Turn 13 on lap 86. The race resumed with two laps remaining, and McLaughlin was able to hold off Power.
“I love this place,” said McLaughlin. “It is probably my favorite road track in America.
“We know our job, we know what we need to do,” McLaughlin said. “I’m just super proud of the execution. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace. We just keep rolling, man.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps. Very happy we could advance to the checkered flag there and bring home a W for Team Penske and for Roger [Penske].”
McLaughlin took the maximum points from the race, 54, and catapulted from 29th in the points to 9th.
With an eighth-place finish in his #26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian car Colton Herta took the NTT IndyCar Series points lead. Power trails Herta by one point, while Palou is three points back in third.
The NTT IndyCar series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the month of May.