The IndyCar Afterburn: Alabama 2025

Today’s theme music: “Barn Fire” by Yelawolf

It was a double doubleheader weekend in the world of open-wheel racing, as Formula E hit the streets of Monaco twice while F1 and IndyCar both headed down south—the former to Miami, the latter to Barber Motorsports Park for the Alabama IndyCar Grand Prix.

After the sheer insanity we witnessed last year’s visit to Birmingham, this year’s running was always going to have a tough time following it up. Still, despite not being a particularly eventful race, we still got some surprise success stories to close out the opening phase of this trek down the National Championship trail. So without further ado, let’s get into the ups, downs, and all-arounds from this weekend’s ride on the Alabama rollercoaster.

Company man Palou strikes again

Álex Palou may have pulled up in different paint than usual, this time trading DHL for Honda Racing, but in that car, he spun a familiar tale. There would be no need to hunt through the pack this time around, as the Spaniard used his pole position to immediately launch off into the distance. In all, Palou led 81 of 90 laps, posted the fastest lap of the day, and took the checkered flag by a jaw-dropping 16 seconds. 

Lundgaard leads McLaren back to podium

McLaren fans who watched all three of their team’s formula races got a nice crescendo, going from anonymity at the back of the pack in Formula E to a 1-2 and 3rd straight Oscar Piastri win in Formula One. For the Indy race in between, Christian Lundgaard once again led the charge, fighting his way up from 7th to 2nd, claiming that spot with an absolutely beautiful outside-inside overtake on Scott McLaughlin. While Palou was never a realistic target to catch, second place was still good for Lundgaard’s third straight podium and best finish since his win at the 2023 Indy Toronto.

Combined with a respective P6 and P9 for Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel, it was quite the day at the office for all three Orange Arrows, and one they’ll all be eager to top as soon as they can.

Team Penske take the rebound

After combining for one podium and two DNFs in the first three races, Team Penske needed to find friendly territory fast. Fortunately, Barber has always been a welcome respite, and it would be their oasis once again. Josef Newgarden, the worst of the three, still fought respectably to land 10th. Will Power took his best qualifying all season and converted it to his second consecutive P5 finish. And while Scott McLaughlin couldn’t defend his local crown, he was one of only two people besides Palou to lead any laps and came home 3rd to finally take his first podium of the season. With success in the bag and their minds cleared, the whole Penske trio will surely head into Indianapolis ready to crush their opposition’s dreams once again.

VeeKay duels the top dogs

The biggest shock of qualifying, by far, was Rinus VeeKay piloting the Dale Coyne #18 into a P5 start. A year ago, the idea of any driver getting that team that high sounded almost laughable, but on race day, VeeKay proved it was no joke. That especially showed in his last two pit cycles, where, despite cold tires on both and a bobbled wheel nut slowing his stop on the latter, the Dutchman rejoined right in front of Will Power and successfully fought off the legendary Australian for position. While VeeKay ran out of push-to-pass before he could really make the final challenge on Scott McLaughlin for 3rd work, it was still enough for 4th place, making it both his and DCR’s best finish since the back half of 2023. 

Herta’s chances stall out

Normally, the defining rivalries of any given season pit driver against driver, but so far this year, the biggest beef in town is Colton Herta versus pit stops. This time around, it looked like relations had finally cooled, as Herta’s first couple of stops went so well that they helped him effectively steal the running for second place. However, the third time proved absolutely charmless when Herta momentarily stalled himself out, costing him precious seconds and several places. As a result, what could have been his first trophy of any kind this year became a bitter 7th place instead.

Rossi bets poorly on black

Almost from the jump, the whole paddock seemed to have it dialed in that this was a red tire race, and if you need it proved by someone doing the opposite, just look at Alexander Rossi. Ed Carpenter Racing’s flagship driver got off to a red-hot start, skyrocketing from a P15 start to 9th on the grid in the first few laps, and even leading a fraction of a lap during the final pit cycle. However, all throughout that run, the question of when Rossi would run his mandatory fresh set of primaries, and when he did so on the final stop, it dragged him down immediately. Rossi spent the rest of the race fending off Nolan Siegel for 8th place, and while that is Rossi’s best finish of the season, the NorCal native and his #20 crew found themselves once again outdone on strategy and saddled with a result that, while respectable, leaves a gnawing feeling that they could’ve gotten even more for their money.

Dixon climbs out of the mud

After a disastrous qualifying, Scott Dixon found himself in the rare position of having to start from 26th, with only Devlin DeFrancesco posting a worse time. However, the Iceman’s skill was too great for him to stay down there, and though Fox’s cameras rarely looked Dixon’s way, the crafty veteran scratched, clawed, and climbed all the way up to 12th, far and away the most dramatic rise of the day. With the six-time National Champion now 7th in the standings and so much racing left to do, recovery drives like this will be crucial in positioning him to storm up the leaderboard on a more fortunate day.

Foster blueballs yellow-seeking audience

IndyCar has a rep as open-wheel racing’s chaotic bar brawl series, but the biggest theme so far this year has been the absence of that. By the time things wrapped up, we’d officially seen three full races and over 300 consecutive laps of nothing but green flag racing—which, while not the worst thing in the world, is certainly starting to take its toll. Rookie Louis Foster almost sacrificed his ride to break that up, veering off course and making a dangerous re-entry that, had things gone slightly differently, might have taken Robert Shwartzman and/or Álex Palou out of action. Instead, though, all it did was throw away Foster’s bid for a low top-10 finish, as he finished off the lead lap in a dismal 26th.

Championship Collage: runaway Spaniard and a Dutch dethroning

After sweeping the bonuses to score maximum points, Álex Palou is now in absurd territory, leading the National Championship by 60 points just four races into the year. Christian Lundgaard’s streak of podiums make him the nearest challenger, with the year’s only other race winner Kyle Kirkwood in third. Below them, we’ve got a mosh pit forming, as Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon, and Colton Herta all sit extremely close together.

The Rookie of the Year race continues to resemble more of a light jog, as all drivers involved scored the minimum five points. Fortunately, with the Brickyard in our sights and all the chaos that entails, someone should hopefully break through soon.

In the Manufacturers’ Cup chase, an expected pole and win from Álex Palou and an unexpected assist from Rinus VeeKay ensured that Honda swept the weekend and extended their lead once again. With Chevrolet winless after this Sun Belt swing and 82 points in the hole, if they haven’t hit the panic button yet in Detroit, then the time to do so might be approaching fast.

Finally, in our official unofficial Nations’ Cup standings, the Netherlands force the only change in the order, as their massive haul of 32 points lets them leapfrog the Cayman Islands for 8th. However, our defending champions, the United States, are under fire from multiple directions—above them, first-place Spain enjoys a lead over twice as big as it was coming into Alabama, while Denmark and New Zealand are both charging hard to try and take away second.

Future Flames: it’s gonna be May!

Of course, we’re already five days into the literal month, but in this sport, May doesn’t truly begin until the drivers’ trailers start pulling into Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That said, we’ve still got some right turns to take, as this coming Saturday, we run the Brickyard’s road course for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The obvious favorite once again has to be Álex Palou, who’s won this circuit twice in the last two spring runnings and will be eager to defend his local crown. However, Will Power has taken five career victories on this course, winning races in spring, summer, and fall, and he’ll be eager to try and break up the Spaniard’s local dynasty bid.

Anyone hoping for someone outside the top four teams to shake things up should keep their eye on Rahal Letterman Lanigan—who, no matter what else goes wrong, always seem to get this track right. That held true in multiple disciplines last year, as Christian Lundgaard brought home one last podium before his move to McLaren, while their BMW IMSA team scored a 1-2 finish at the six-hour Battle on the Bricks. Given how their season’s gone so far, a spark like that would do wonders for RLL’s morale.