Scott McLaughlin celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
With equal parts skill and strategy, Scott McLaughlin drove to his first victory of the NTT IndyCar Series season on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park.
McLaughlin drove to his fourth career victory in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet by 1.7854 seconds over Romain Grosjean. McLaughlin, from New Zealand, is the fourth different winner this season in as many races.
McLaughlin prevailed on a three-pit stop strategy after starting fourth, while Grosjean and Andretti Autosport used a two-stop tactic. The three-stop strategy allowed McLaughlin to go full tilt during stints and avoid worrying about having enough fuel remaining to finish the race, unlike the drivers who made two stops.
“I call it a ‘happy driver strategy,’” McLaughlin said. “I was a lot happier doing that. We went past Grosjean there on a little bit of strategy, and I feel really good about it.”
Reigning series champion Will Power finished third for his first podium position of the season.
Pato O’Ward finished fourth, with Alex Palou rounding out the top five.
The duel between McLaughlin and Grosjean was set up when they each made their final pit stops with less than 30 laps to go. Grosjean got service for the second and final time on lap 61. McLaughlin made his third and final stop three laps later, exiting the pits just in front of McLaughlin but on cold tires.
One lap later, Grosjean made a textbook inside-out move to pass McLaughlin for position in the final turn of the 17-turn, 2.3-mile roller coaster of a circuit. Grosjean inherited the lead on lap 66 when Power made his third and final pit stop.
McLaughlin hounded Grosjean’s gearbox for the next six laps, staying within three- to four-tenths of a second of the Frenchman. Grosjean had used all his push-to-pass by that point, while McLaughlin had some in reserve.
So, when Grosjean went wide in turn 5 on lap 72, McLaughlin drove under him and pounded the push-to-pass button to complete the pass and build a gap, never trailing thereafter. The compelling duel for the lead between the two was fierce but stayed clean throughout, unlike the season opener last month in St. Petersburg when they both hit the tire barrier after contact with each other while racing for the lead.
“We’re racers. You just get on with it,” McLaughlin said. “We talked it out man to man (after St. Petersburg), and as far as I’m concerned and he’s concerned, we race hard and fair and press on. No hard feelings between the two of us.”
After losing the lead, Grosjean then had to worry about the hard-charging Power, who sliced a four-second deficit to less than a second over the closing laps. But Power’s softer-but-faster alternate tires began to wear on the closing laps, and he had to settle for third, 1.4845 seconds behind Grosjean.
Grosjean second finished for the fifth time in his series career as he seeks his first victory.
“It hurts,” said Grosjean, who led a race-high 57 laps. “The three-stop never wins at Barber, but today the pits stayed open. That gave McLaughlin and Power the edge on the three-stop. Look at the two-stop (cars) behind us – 20 seconds behind us. We had an incredible car, drove really well, gave it 100 percent, but we just got unlucky with that yellow.
“Congrats to Scott. He deserved that win.”
The three-stop strategy used by Team Penske for McLaughlin, Power and Josef Newgarden got a boost on lap 38 when Sting Ray Robb stopped at the exit of turn 9 with an apparent mechanical problem. The pits stayed open until a full-course caution was called for Robb’s crippled car on lap 39, as leader McLaughlin dipped into the pits for his second stop just before the full-course caution.
Marcus Ericsson kept the series championship lead by three points over O’Ward, 130-127, after finishing 10th.
The Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is next for the NTT IndyCar Series, with the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday, May 13 on the road course and the 107th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 28.
NTT IndyCar Series
Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, AL
Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – April 30, 2023
1. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 90, Running
2. (1) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 90, Running
3. (11) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (3) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
5. (2) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
6. (6) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 90, Running
7. (5) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
8. (10) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 90, Running
9. (8) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 90, Running
10. (13) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
11. (26) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
12. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
13. (15) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 90, Running
14. (14) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
15. (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (9) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17. (19) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
18. (16) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 90, Running
19. (17) David Malukas, Honda, 90, Running
20. (27) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 90, Running
21. (21) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 90, Running
22. (25) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 90, Running
23. (18) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 90, Running
24. (24) Jack Harvey, Honda, 90, Running
25. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
26. (22) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 90, Running
27. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 36, Mechanical
Winner’s average speed: 115.019 mph
Time of Race: 1:47:58.9401 Margin of victory: 1.7854 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 3 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders: Grosjean, Romain 1-30; Newgarden, Josef 31-36; McLaughlin, Scott 37-38; Grosjean, Romain 39-59; McLaughlin, Scott 60-62; Power, Will 63-65; Grosjean, Romain 66-71; McLaughlin, Scott 72-90
Point Standings: Ericsson 130, O’Ward 127, Palou 121, McLaughlin 119, Grosjean 115, Newgarden 105, Power 104, Dixon 98, Kirkwood 92, Herta 85, Ilott 80, Lundgaard 77, Malukas 74, Rossi 72, Rosenqvist 66, Rahal 65, Armstrong 62, Canapino 47, VeeKay 47, Pagenaud 45, Castroneves 45, Ferrucci 44, Harvey 43, Daly 38, Robb 37, Pedersen 34, DeFrancesco 33, Ed Carpenter 17, Takuma Sato 5
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