Barber IndyCar Preview: Will the first road course of the year shake up the order?

When the NTT IndyCar Series unloaded in St. Petersburg two months ago the presumed favorites were Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, and, if they were lucky, Arrow McLaren.

Now through two street circuits and a 1.5 mile oval, the series rolls into scenic Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama, the first permanent road course on the 2023 calendar. The Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix offers the first chance for teams to run their road course packages in 2023.

Championship leader Marcus Ericsson 15 points ahead of his closest rivals. Barber presents a chance for Ericsson to gap the field even further before he returns to the speedway that immortilized him last May. That being said, he's not a championship favorite at this stage, and every team's performance at Barber will be scrutinized.

Permanent road courses account for 50% of the remaining IndyCar schedule. The road courses offer a smoother surface, and feature generally higher speeds than the street courses. A setup miss this weekend needs to be addressed quickly before it compounds over the next road course events.

Who are the contenders? Sure, that list is probably filled with familiar faces like Ericsson, Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden, but Barber offers a chance to supercharge your season heading into the Month of May. Twenty-seven teams will look to get a much welcome boost before heading "back home again" to Indianapolis.

O'Ward can move on from Long Beach fiasco

Defending race winner O'Ward chased down Rinus VeeKay last year when VeeKay's tires wore out. O'Ward's win proved he could manage a car over a long stint, something that had been a weakness in prior events in his young career.

O'Ward's runner up finish at St. Petersburg this year might haunt him but it showed he has pace. Barber offers a chance to rebound from a rough-and-tumble Long Beach race two weeks ago. He ended up in quite a few incidents, but was running well before those incidents occurred. If his pace doesn't drop off, he seems poised for a top five at worst — if everything goes to plan.

Newgarden can carry good vibes to a solid finish

Josef Newgarden scored his first IndyCar victory at Barber in 2015 driving for Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher's CFH Racing. It started a string where he won three times in four years in Alabama. Since the race was canceled in 2020 though, his best finish is 14th.

Newgarden currently sits fourth in the championship, only 21 points back of Ericsson and with his win at Texas under his belt. A win at Barber would be a nice-but-not-necessary boost to a championship campaign still in its early phases, and give the No. 2 Penske team even more confidence after setting the fastest time during the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval test last week.

VeeKay and ECR need a good weekend

VeeKay likely had this event circled on his calendar before the season started. Now, the poor guy probably wakes up to a "Barber countdown" on whatever alarm clock he uses. Last year's pole sitter, VeeKay's 2023 start had been more than deflating. He's currently in a three-way tie for 22nd in the championship and didn't seem to have much speed at Long Beach or St. Pete. Luckily for him it might not be reflective of the No. 21 ECR Chevy's full potential.

His teammate Conor Daly spoke about ECR's 2023 struggles at last week's IMS test, noting key setup misses, bad luck with pit strategy and multiple incidents out of their control. All have combined to keep ECR well out of the competitive picture so far this year, with VeeKay's 11th place finish at Texas the team's best so far.

And they might have found something at Indianapolis, Daly and Carpenter's home track. Last week, Daly went P2 in the IMS open test, with Carpenter 16th and ahead of '22 500 winner Ericsson. VeeKay, though 24th on the day, ran a tied-for-most 156 laps last Thursday.

If ECR's drivers are merely running at the finish it will be a win for the team, but if VeeKay has the same speed as he did last year at Barber it will provide ECR a new lease on life heading into the rest of the season, and maybe even a podium.

Storylines to watch

• Callum Illot was fast last year before spinning out and relegating himself down the order. He'll look to score his third top ten in four races in 2023.
• Kyle Kirkwood won at Long Beach, his first IndyCar victory and the first Andretti win of 2023. Can Romain Grosjean follow that up at Barber? Can Colton Herta? Andretti's road course package, if as good as the street course, gives all three a chance to repeat or improve on a Long Beach 1-2-4.
• Scott Dixon, for all his successes, has no wins at Barber yet. Is this his year? His rookie teammate Marcus Armstrong could also score a surpising upset this weekend — the track where fellow Ganassi driver Alex Palou scored his first win during his championship campaign in 2021.
• Will Power and Scott McLaughlin are tied for ninth in the championship. Both can be in the top five by the 500 with good finishes here and at the Indy GP.
• Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing went from backmarkers to solidly midfield at Long Beach. If they found something, can they build on it and get into the top ten at Barber?
• Alexander Rossi and Felix Rosenqvist have not had results match their pace this year. Much like Andretti Autosport in the first two rounds, McLaren now needs to focus on finishing races to boost their championship hopes.
• Meyer Shank Racing has not had the same boost in pace as their Andretti allies. Can they break out of the back of the pack this weekend?
• A.J. Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci scored a solid P11 at Long Beach. Was it pace or luck (or a little of both)?

Schedule

Friday, April 28
1:40-2:25 p.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone practice, INDYCAR LIVE
2:40-3:55 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice (75 minutes), Peacock

Saturday, April 29
10-10:45 a.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone practice, INDYCAR LIVE
11 a.m.-noon – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice (45 minutes), Peacock
1:20-1:40 p.m. – INDY NXT by Firestone, INDYCAR LIVE
2-3:15 p.m. – Qualifying, Peacock

Sunday, April 30
11-11:30 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock
Noon – INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of Alabama (35 laps/55 minutes), Peacock.
2 p.m. — Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (90 laps / 207 miles), NBC/Peacock