IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden was testing Monday at Barber Motorsports Park

Josef Newgarden

Joey Newgarden stood patiently Monday afternoon near the paddock at Barber Motorsports Park.

His son, third-year IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden, was going through debriefing with other members of the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team. Once done, dad would drive son home to Nashville.

"He's come here and raced here probably a dozen times in the last 10 years," the elder Newgarden said. "He loves it. This is kind of his home track."

With the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama coming up, the 23-year-old driver made his way to town for some testing.

And dad didn't want to miss it.

"My dad loves coming to IndyCar events," the driver of the No. 67 car said. "Testing, whatever we're doing, he wants to be around, he wants to see the action."

The Magic City is just a hop, skip and jump from the Music City for the father and son.

"My dad loves trekking down with me if he can," the IndyCar driver said. "It makes it a little easier on me. I get to race around the track and he'll drive me home. It's good all around."

Joey Newgarden has made the trek to Birmingham for more than a decade to see his son perform. There is no IndyCar racing in Nashville.

"Between here and Indianapolis, we're about half way," he said. "The funny thing is he loves this track, but it's not his strongest track. He's pretty good at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

Josef said Barber's been fairly friendly to him in terms on on-track success. He won a couple of events back in his early days of driving a junior car there.

"I haven't had great success in IndyCar," he said of his Barber efforts. "My first top 10 (ninth) was here last year in 2013. It was a pretty good race. We had a good run, had a pretty good race car. This year we're trying to make it better."

Joey Newgarden isn't better against him.

"You never know," he said. "He's a threat wherever he goes. He could wind up pulling one off." al.com