Scott McLaughlin
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IndyCar News: McLaughlin wins again at Barber

Posted by AR1 staff

Polesitter Scott McLaughlin and his Penske teammate Will Power used a 3-stop strategy to perfection to finish as they started, first and second, in the NTT Data IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

In front of a sparse crowd of under 10,000 fans, McLaughlin survived a late 2-lap sprint to the finish after a caution when Christian Rasmussen spun with 5 laps to go.

McLaughlin sprinted out to a 1.3 s lead over Power and held it to the finish.

Linus Lundqvist, also on a 3-stop strategy in his Chip Ganassi racing Honda, took the final podium position.

Felix Rosenqvist was 4th for Meyer Shank Racing and Alex Palou, the top driver on a 2-stop strategy, rounded out the top-5.

It was McLaughlin’s 5th career IndyCar win and the 2nd year in a row he has won at Barber.

Scott McLaughlin wins Children_s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix - By_ Chris Jones
Scott McLaughlin wins Children_s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – By_ Chris Jones

“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, who led 58 of the 90 laps after earning the NTT P1 Award in qualifying Saturday, took the lead for the final time on Lap 76 after his final pit stop. McLaughlin, Power, Lundqvist and Christian Lundgaard 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 an unlikely victory like Scott Dixon did April 21 in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

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 Palou’s final stop to be able to keep the lead after his third and final stop.

“It was a hard-fought 1-2 for Penske,” Power said. “We were certainly fast, but obviously a lot of strategy played into that. We were able to use our speed to come out in front again.”

The biggest excitement of the race was when the mannequin that hangs from the bridge fell ff.

Race Results

Pos No Name Laps Behind Gap Led ST Engine Points Team
1 3 Scott McLaughlin 90 0.000s 0.000s 58 1 Chevy 59 Team Penske
2 12 Will Power 90 1.3194 1.3194 1 2 Chevy 100 Team Penske
3 8 Linus Lundqvist 90 2.4421 1.1227 4 19 Honda 62 Chip Ganassi Racing
4 60 Felix Rosenqvist 90 4.5109 2.0688 1 5 Honda 87 Meyer Shank Racing
5 10 Alex Palou 90 5.3692 0.8583 12 10 Honda 98 Chip Ganassi Racing
6 45 Christian Lundgaard 90 6.0509 0.6817 3 Honda 48 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
7 14 Santino Ferrucci 90 6.6055 0.5546 14 17 Chevy 58 AJ Foyt Enterprises
8 26 Colton Herta 90 7.5124 0.9069 15 Honda 101 Andretti Autosport w/Curb‑Agajanian
9 11 Marcus Armstrong 90 8.0375 0.5251 6 Honda 45 Chip Ganassi Racing
10 27 Kyle Kirkwood 90 8.5573 0.5198 9 Honda 67 Andretti Autosport
11 15 Graham Rahal 90 9.0288 0.4715 7 Honda 48 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
12 77 Romain Grosjean 90 9.4495 0.4207 11 Chevy 50 Juncos Hollinger Racing
13 18 Jack Harvey 90 10.1269 0.6774 22 Honda 35 Dale Coyne Racing
14 4 Kyffin Simpson 90 10.4415 0.3146 23 Honda 45 Chip Ganassi Racing
15 9 Scott Dixon 90 11.3628 0.9213 13 Honda 94 Chip Ganassi Racing
16 2 Josef Newgarden 90 12.2355 0.8727 8 Chevy 48 Team Penske
17 21 Rinus VeeKay 90 13.5092 1.2737 27 Chevy 53 Ed Carpenter Racing
18 28 Marcus Ericsson 90 13.8437 0.3345 18 Honda 49 Andretti Autosport
19 66 Tom Blomqvist 90 14.5751 0.7314 12 Honda 34 Meyer Shank Racing
22 5 Pato O’Ward 90 16.4461 0.7652 4 Chevy 72 Arrow McLaren
21 51 Luca Ghiotto 90 15.6809 1.0002 21 Honda 9 Dale Coyne Racing
22 5 Pato O’Ward 90 16.4461 0.7652 4 Chevy 72 Arrow McLaren
23 6 Theo Pourchaire 89 10.0884 0.3054 24 Chevy 26 Arrow McLaren
24 20 Christian Rasmussen 89 1 LAPS 75.8060 14 Chevy 22 Ed Carpenter Racing
25 7 Alexander Rossi 60 Mechanical 17 LAPS 16 Chevy 53 Arrow McLaren
26 41 Sting Ray Robb 54 Contact 0.7054 25 Chevy 23 AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 30 Pietro Fittipaldi 42 Contact 12 LAPS 26 Honda 28 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

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

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Herta 101, Power 100, Palou 98, Dixon 94, Rosenqvist 87, O’Ward 71, Kirkwood 67, Lundqvist 62, McLaughlin 59, Ferrucci 58, Rossi 53, VeeKay 53, Grosjean 50, Ericsson 49, Rahal 48, Newgarden 48, Lundgaard 48, Armstrong 45, Simpson 45, Canapino 39, Harvey 35, Blomqvist 34, Fittipaldi 28, Pourchaire 27, Robb 23, Rasmussen 22, Callum Ilott 19, Colin Braun 10, Nolan Siegel 10, Ghiotto 9