Scott McLaughlin won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for the second consecutive year at Barber Motorsports Park. McLaughlin again utilized a three-stop pit strategy in his No. 3 Penske Chevrolet to earn his first victory of the season. McLaughlin stated after the race, “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. [referring to the win at Barber] “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).”
Will Power finished in second ahead of Linus Lundqvist. Power who had faced adversity after receiving a push to play violation at St. Pete found the magic to find himself on the podium. Congratulating his teammate Power said, “(McLaughlin) did an amazing job with his speed when he needed it. We got that first yellow, we were okay, and then the way it started to kind of transpire with the yellow, the (Alexander) Rossi yellow, that really put us behind.
We were in a situation where he was going to pass a lot of cars. The Sting Ray Robb caution kind of brought us back into play. It was going to be “how fast can he go?” He got clear for six or seven laps there and put laps that were faster than anyone. About a second a lap for anybody. He pulled out and we were able to pit and get ahead of the No. 10 car before he came around. This is raw pace in the Verizon Chevy when we needed it.”
Race Highlights
Courtesy of NTT IndyCar Series/Penske EntertainmentFull Race Results