The NTT IndyCar series will make their third stop of the season when they travel to Barber Motorsports Park this Sunday. Josef Newgarden enters the race on top of the championship standings after finishing second at Circuit of the Americas following his win at St. Petersburg.
The biggest surprise through the first two races is Circuit of the Americas winner Colton Herta and the Harding Steinbrenner team. Outlook for the young team looked bleak after news that they had to cut ties with Pato O’Ward prior to the season due to budget issues and would be fielding a one-car entry of Herta. Herta led three of the four preseason testing sessions at COTA in February, but it’s difficult to read too much into if what happens before the opener at St. Pete’s will affect the actual season.
Will Power and Alexander Rossi were clearly the fastest at COTA, but unfortunate timing for a crash between James Hinchcliffe and Felix Rosenqvist caused the pit lane to close on a caution and allow third-place Herta to acquire the lead for the closing stretch of the race. Power had a problem leaving the pits that caused him to retire from the race, while Rossi climbed back up to ninth in the closing laps.
Newgarden will be excited to arrive at Barber this weekend after winning the race three of the past four seasons. It’s the only track where has the most career wins at on the calendar and is the closest location to his hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee. He has finished on the podium the past four years and has finished within the top-10 in six of his seven entries at Barber.
Last year was the first season he had taken pole at the track, and he will be looking to use that advantage to get his second win of the year. He already has about a 40-point advantage to front runners like Scott Dixon, Rossi and Power after each have had a disappointing result in the first two races. A showcase of his usual dominance in Alabama will go a long way in seeing if Newgarden can chase his second championship with Penske.
The 90-lap race at Barber has been run since 2010 and has occurred in April for all nine events. Team Penske has won the race six times, with two wins coming from Ryan Hunter-Reay at Andretti and one from Newgarden when he raced for CFH Racing for a season before joining Penske. Power won at the track in 2011 and 2012 and should’ve taken the win in 2017 before a tire gauge malfunction caused the Penske team to bring Power in during the final laps as Newgarden inherited another win. Simon Pagenaud also won at Barber during his 2016 championship season.
Race Predictions
Pole: Josef Newgarden
Winner: Josef Newgarden
2nd place: Will Power
3rd place: Simon Pagenaud
Until someone breaks the streak of Penske dominance at Barber, it seems silly to predict this race to go any other way. Newgarden has his best start of his career through two races and should be poised to take pole after claiming it last season and barely missing it at St. Petersburg. Will Power is still hunting down Mario Andretti’s record of 67 career poles and is well on his way after claiming his 55th and 56th career pole at St. Pete’s and COTA to begin the season. Power could’ve had a chance at the win last season before a dangerously wet track claimed him on lap 17 of the race on a restart and forced a red flag period that wasn’t resumed until the next day. Pagenaud has only been on a podium twice in his last 19 races and should have the ability to stay competitive with his two Penske teammates at a track that has been very kind to them in recent years.
Dixon, Rossi, Hunter-Reay and the other Hondas will need to put in strong performances if they’re going to upset the Penske trio and keep them off the podium. Keep an eye on if Herta can build off his first win from two weeks ago or if Pato O’Ward can push higher than his top-10 finish at COTA. Marcus Ericsson also had tough luck with a pit penalty at COTA after running close to the top-five, and he will be on a mission to put in his first solid performance in his young IndyCar career.
Race: Sunday, Apr. 7 at 3 p.m. CST, NBC Sports Network
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