Scott McLaughlin won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst for the second consecutive year on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, Photo courtesy of the NTT IndyCar Series

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Quicker than you can say “He’s on it,” INDYCAR’s calendar is flipping to the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Team Penske squarely in the forefront of the conversation.

After sweeping the front row during qualifying for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power completed a very corporate 1-2 finish Sunday in Round No. 3 of the NTT IndyCar Series. McLaughlin celebrated in Victory Lane at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., for the second consecutive season after employing a mash-the-gas, three-stop pit strategy to earn his first victory of 2024 and fifth career win.

Overall, the result stood as the definitive response to a tumultuous week that saw Roger Penske’s open-wheel organization whacked on Wednesday with an embarrassing round of penalties emanating from the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla. Penske ace Josef Newgarden’s win on March 10 was wiped off the record book for illegal use of the series’ push-to-pass system. McLaughlin’s result also was disqualified and the native New Zealander was dropped to last in the point standings. Power, a two-time series champion and Penske’s senior driver, “escaped” with a 10-point penalty.

“Look, there was never a lack of belief there,” said McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet. “I’m more proud of just the people aspect of it, the way we just stuck together. We took the penalty, as we said at the start of the week. It was black-and-white. You move on.

“We move forward together as a team race by race. We’ll just keep working hard to make sure that we win as much as we can to put ourselves in the fight come September. That’s what I’m super-proud of, just the execution…the way that the team, particularly on the three cars, stuck together. We just kind of kept executing. That’s our word for the rest of the year. Keep knocking ’em out.”

Power finished 1.3194-seconds behind McLaughlin to earn his landmark 100th career series podium. Additionally, Power’s 30th career runner-up result tied the native Australian for seventh on the all-time list with series icons A.J. Foyt Jr., Al Unser Jr. and Bobby Unser.

“Yeah, it kind of feels like business as normal,” said Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. “But the one thing that I’m missing is a win. That’s really starting to add weight to me. I want to get a bloody win. On the other hand you look at the championship points, and it’s a smart day, another smart day.

“Yeah, we’re in a good spot going into the Month of May. It would be nice to sweep it. That would be big.”

The three most important weeks of the INDYCAR season will begin with the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 11, on the 2.439-mile/14-turn IMS Road-Course. Two-time/reigning series champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing returns as reigning event champion.

The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is booked for Sunday, May 26, on IMS’ 2.5-mile oval with Team Penske’s Newgarden returning as defending champion of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

In addition to fielding the cars driven by McLaughlin, Power and Newgarden, motorsports mogul Roger Penske owns the NTT IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Yeah, I would say after this week I think Roger would be pretty happy,” Power said.

Meanwhile, series rookie Linus Lundqvist of Sweden earned his first career INDYCAR podium by placing third after starting 19th in the No. 8 American Legion Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. Fellow-Swede Felix Rosenqvist finished fourth in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda to burnish his potential championship credentials after joining Meyer Shank Racing this season. Palou completed the top-five in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda as Chip Ganassi Racing matched Team Penske with two drivers in the top-five.

McLaughlin, who led 58 of the 90 lap/207-miler after earning the NTT P1 Award on Saturday, took the lead for the final time on Lap 76 after his final pit stop. McLaughlin, Power, Lundqvist and Christian Lundgaard of Denmark were the leading drivers on a three-pit stop strategy, while Palou and Rosenqvist were among those who opted to make only two stops and conserve fuel in hopes of snatching a strategic victory.

Palou led Laps 46-55 while on the alternate strategy before making the last of his two stops at the end of Lap 56. Meanwhile, McLaughlin _ who made his second stop at the end of Lap 46 _ knew he had to build a gap of around 27 seconds on Palou after the Spaniard’s final stop to keep the lead after his third and final stop.

McLaughlin led Palou by nearly 30 seconds before his last stop and exited the pits for the final time ahead of his CGR rival. It looked like McLaughlin had more than enough speed to hold off Power over the last 14 laps, as both were on identical fuel strategies and running Firestone Firehawk alternate tires to the finish. Meanwhile, 2022 INDY NXT by Firestone champion Lundqvist completed his march from the back of the field by passing teammate Palou for third place on Lap 84.

But the last of the race’s four caution periods served up a sweeping curveball. Rookie Christian Rasmussen of Denmark spun and stalled his No. 20 Guy Care Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing in Turn 13 of the 2.3-mile/17-turn natural terrain layout on Lap 86. That set up a two-lap scramble for the victory. On the Lap 89 restart, McLaughlin eased away from Power and remained inch-perfect for the win.

“It was a hard-fought 1-2 for Penske,” Power said. “It was aggressive. It was combative, actually. We were certainly fast, but obviously a lot of strategy played into that.

“You’re also thinking in your head, like, 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. I think I wasn’t aggressive enough. I should have worked harder to keep Scott behind. I didn’t block him. With everything that’s happened this week, I just didn’t want to bloody have two Penske cars off in Turn 1. 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. When you’re young like him, you just got to go. Understandably, because you want to have a long time in this series. But I am excited to see him on the podium because I know how that feels for the first time. It’s been a long time since my first, but I think that’s cool. That’s a big deal in this field.”

McLaughlin now has won at least one race in each of the last three seasons after joining the team fulltime in 2021. “Scotty Mac” was a legend in the V8 Supercars Championship based in Australia, winning three consecutive titles for Penske in that touring car series from 2018-20.

“Probably changed my approach a little bit this year, knowing INDYCAR is a wild card, the way the yellows fall sometimes, the way the strategies fall,” said McLaughlin, who moved from 27^th to ninth in the point standings via the victory. “You can’t get yourself in a box to think are we good here, good there? You have to make the most of every opportunity you have.

“I knew I had the pace. If I got out in front, nailed some laps, we might be able to come out in third and fourth. We come out in the lead. I was like, ‘This is good!’ You just know. By now I know the way the race falls. It’s just experience, man. I feel like in my fourth year I really understand it.”

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon, who led the point standings entering this event, lost the top spot with a 15th-place finish that capped a challenging weekend for the native New Zealander and driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank CGR Honda.

Colton Herta now sits atop the points table for the first time _ by one point over Power _ after finishing eighth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian. Palou is third, three points behind Herta. Dixon is fourth, just seven points behind Herta.

“Everyone fights hard for every position in this series because it’s just so tough,” Power said. “I don’t expect anything else. Like, yeah, I mean, that’s the beauty of INDYCAR racing. I think it’s why fans like it. Anyone can win any week. Obviously can get so mixed up with yellows, which is exciting for the fans as well, as much as if you’re leading you don’t like that.

“It’s great fun. Like no joke. I don’t think there’s a series in the world you get more satisfaction out of than this series.”

Jacob Abel led all 35 laps from pole position to claim his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory Sunday in the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.

The win in Abel’s 30th career start in the INDYCAR development series was the first for his family-owned Abel Motorsports team. Jacob’s previous best result was second, three times, including in the 2024 season-opener March 10 at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Abel led both practices and qualifying on BMP’s 2.3-mile/17-turn natural terrain layout before completing his dream weekend with a win.

“I’m speechless, man,” Abel said. “This team has been working for this for so long now, and to finally get it done and on such a picture-perfect weekend…it’s been lights-out all weekend long. It was just up to me to deliver it. A lot of nerves all weekend long, but I can finally say that yes, everything went right this weekend. Super-happy with it.”

Abel won under caution in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry when Jamie Chadwick spun into the gravel in Turn 1 on Lap 34 and got stuck, triggering a race-ending yellow flag. Abel led Siegel’s No. 39 HMD Motorsports car by about one second when the yellow flew.

Series veteran James Roe placed third in the No. 29 TopCon car of Andretti Global to earn his second career podium finish. Caio Collet was the highest-placing rookie, finishing fourth in the No. 18 HMD Motorsports car. Louis Foster capped a stout drive from 21st and last on the starting grid to complete the top-five in the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies entry fielded by Andretti Global.

Siegel, who started second, ran in that position for the entire race. But he did pull side-by-side with Abel in Turn 5 on Lap 10 after gaining ground during a Lap 6 restart. Abel parried that move by Siegel, who fell back to 0.5510-seconds behind at the end of that lap.

Abel controlled the race from that point, but it wasn’t without some anxiety. Siegel conserved his Firestone Firehawk tires and push-to-pass and started to close-in on Abel with 10 laps remaining. Siegel pulled his machine within 0.479-seconds on Lap 27, but Abel was able to expand that gap to 0.840- seconds by Lap 30 and held on for the win.

“Congrats to Jacob,” Siegel said. “He did a great job all weekend. Honestly, I think we were faster today. The car was fantastic. We saved everything for the last lap; we saved all our P2P, saved our tires the entire race sitting there, and right as I started to go for it, that yellow came out. Super-disappointed but I think it’s a good day when you’re disappointed with second.”

The duel between Abel and Siegel set the stage for a potential championship battle. Abel and Siegel are tied atop the standings with 95 points after two races. “Props to Nolan,” Abel said. “He kept me honest. The whole entire race, he was right there. He’s a great competitor, and I look forward to many battles like that throughout the season.”

Foster may have salvaged his championship hopes with a terrific drive from the back of the field. He barely completed any practice laps this weekend and didn’t participate in qualifying due to nagging electrical problems. But the Andretti Global crew diagnosed and fixed the gremlins and Foster diced through the field for a strong recovery. He is third in the standings, 30 points behind Abel and Siegel.

Next events for INDY NXT by Firestone are the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader May 10-11 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course.

Results of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst NTT IndyCar Series event on the 2.3-mile/17-turn Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   2. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   3. (19) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 90, Running
   4. (5) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 90, Running
   5. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
   6. (3) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 90, Running
   7. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   8. (15) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
   9. (6) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
   10. (9) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
   11. (7) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
   12. (11) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   13. (22) Jack Harvey, Honda, 90, Running
   14. (23) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
   15. (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
   16. (8) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   17. (27) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   18. (18) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
   19. (12) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 90, Running
   20. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   21. (21) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 90, Running
   22. (24) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 89, Running
   23. (4) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
   24. (14) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 89, Running
   25. (16) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 59, Mechanical
   26. (25) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 54, Contact
   27. (26) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 41, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 106.369 mph
Time of Race: 1:56:45.7773
Margin of victory: 1.3194-seconds
Cautions: 4 for 15 laps
Lead changes: 10 among six drivers

Lap Leaders
McLaughlin, Scott 1 – 27
Palou, Alex 28 – 29
Rosenqvist, Felix 30
Ferrucci, Santino 31 – 34
McLaughlin, Scott 35 – 45
Palou, Alex 46 – 55
Ferrucci, Santino 56 – 65
Lundqvist, Linus 66 – 69
McLaughlin, Scott 70 – 74
Power, Will 75
McLaughlin, Scott 76 – 90

Point Standings _ 1, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 101; 2, Will Power, Team Penske, 100; 3, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 98; 4, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 94; 5, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 87; 6, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 71; 7, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 67; 8, Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, 62; 9, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 59; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 58;

11, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, 53; 12, Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, 53; 13, Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 50; 14, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 49; 15, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 48; 16, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 48; 17, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 48; 18, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing, 45; 19, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 45; 20, Augustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 39;

21, Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing, 35; 22, Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 34; 23, Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 28; 24, Theo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren, 27; 25, Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Racing, 23; 26, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 22; 27, Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren, 19; 28, Colin Braun, Dale Coyne Racing, 10; 29, Nolan Siegel, Dale Coyne Racing, 10; 30, Luca Ghiotto, Dale Coyne Racing, 9.