Event statistics following the fourth race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Josef Newgarden dominated the rain-filled, two-day race, leading 73 laps for his second straight victory at Barber and third career at the track. Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second, followed by James Hinchcliffe in third.
Race Statistics
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park – Birmingham, Alabama
- Winner (starting position): Josef Newgarden (1st)
- Podium: Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe
- Full Results: Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, Marco Andretti, Alexander Rossi, Matheus Leist, Zach Veach, Jordan King, Spencer Pigot, Rene Binder, Gabby Chaves, Tony Kanaan, Zachary Claman De Melo, Ed Jones, Will Power, Max Chilton, Charlie Kimball
- Laps Completed: 82
- Race Leaders: 2
- Lead Changes: 4
- Laps Led: Josef Newgarden (73), Sebastien Bourdais (9)
- Pole Position: Josef Newgarden (122.773 mph; 1 minute, 7.4413 seconds)
- Fastest Race Lap: Zachary Claman De Melo (118.594 mph; 1 minute, 9.8183 seconds – Lap 54)
- Hard Charger: Takuma Sato (+10; 18th to 8th)
- Margin of Victory: 9.9607 seconds
- Car Count: 23
- Cars Entered: 23
- Cars Running at Finish: 19 (of 23; or 83 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 14
- Cautions: 2 for 14 laps
- Red Flags: 2
- Average Speed: 93.335 mph
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Honda (12), Chevrolet (11)
- Time of Race: 2:01:14.4486
- Green Flag/Yellow Flag Laps: 68/14
- Total Passes: 202 (146 for position)
Notes of Interest – Race Recap (Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama)
- This is Josef Newgarden’s second victory of the 2018 season in the IndyCar Series and ninth of his career. Three of his nine victories have come at Barber, all in the last four seasons.
- Newgarden is the first driver with multiple victories this season. Each race winner this season – Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais and Alexander Rossi – has earned the points lead after their respective victories.
- Newgarden has now won multiple races in three of the last four seasons (lone exception 2016), and two races in his seven career IndyCar Series seasons.
- This is Newgarden’s sixth victory with Team Penske, one win less than current teammate Simon Pagenaud as well as Ryan Briscoe.
- All nine of Newgarden’s victories have come in a Chevrolet.
- Newgarden led 73 laps, the most a driver has led this season and gone on to win the race. The previous mark was set by Alexander Rossi, who led 71 laps en route to winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
- Newgarden has now led three races for 106 laps, the second most of a driver this season (Robert Wickens leads all drivers with 113 laps led). Newgarden has led 12 of the last 13 races, a 10-race streak broken at ISM Raceway earlier this month.
- Newgarden has led 133 of the last 352 laps at Barber. He only led 14 laps in his 2017 victory.
- The driver that has led the most laps in a race has gone on to win three of four races this season (Will Power led 80 laps at ISM Raceway but did not win).
- Newgarden’s 73 laps led is the most of a race at Barber since Simon Pagenaud led 84 laps in 2016, en route to winning the race. Pagenaud was the last driver to lead the most laps of a race at Barber and win (Will Power led 60 laps at Barber in 2017 but finished 14th).
- This is Newgarden’s 21st career podium in IndyCar racing, and 11th with Team Penske.
- This is Newgarden’s first victory from the pole position and fourth from the front row. He is the second driver to win a race from the pole, joining Alexander Rossi, who won at Long Beach from the top starting position.
- Newgarden now has three career IndyCar pole positions, and has never finished worse than fifth after starting from the pole. It marked Newgarden’s second pole with Team Penske, both of which have come on permanent road courses.
- Newgarden is the fourth driver to win at Barber from the pole. He joins Will Power (2011), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2013) and Simon Pagenaud (2016). His previous best starting position in a Barber win was fifth in 2015.
- Newgarden hasn’t finished worse than seventh this season. He has two wins and two seventh-place finishes, and an series-best average finish of 4.0.
- This is Team Penske’s 199th victory in IndyCar racing, dating back to 1969.
- Team Penske has won six of the nine races at Barber (Will Power and Josef Newgarden with two each, and Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud with one each).
- Newgarden was the only Chevrolet driver to finish in the top eight. Chevrolet has won four consecutive races at Barber (dating back to the 2015 race) and six overall, in a race which has Honda as its title sponsor.
- Newgarden averaged 93.335 mph, the second slowest race at Barber (92.194 mph in 2011, won by Will Power).
- Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second, his best finish at the track since winning the 2014 race. Hunter-Reay has three podiums and four top 10s at Barber in nine races, and has completed all 781 laps in the nine-year history of the event.
- It also marked Hunter-Reay’s season-best finish, though it was his third top-five finish of 2018, tying him with Alexander Rossi for most this season. Hunter-Reay was the highest-finishing Honda driver and the first of seven Honda drivers to finish in the top eight.
- James Hinchcliffe claimed a season-best finish of third, his second top-five finish of the season. Hinchcliffe is one of three drivers, including Newgarden and Graham Rahal, with top-10 finishes in all four races this season. Hinchcliffe has an average finish of 5.5 this season.
- Robert Wickens was the highest-finishing rookie, with a fourth-place effort. Wickens has two top-five finishes in four races in 2018.
- Sebastien Bourdais finished fifth, his first top-five finish since the season-opening victory at St. Petersburg, Florida, and ending a two-race streak of finishing 13th. Bourdais was only other driver than Newgarden to lead a lap at Barber. Bourdais remains third in the points standings.
- Bourdais is the only driver to lead laps in all four races this season.
- Bourdais is the only driver to lead laps in all four races this season.
- Scott Dixon finished sixth, his second worst finish at Barber (has five second-place finishes and two third-place efforts, in addition to 10th in 2016 race). As such, he’s finished in the top 10 in all nine races at Barber. Dixon’s worst finish this season was 11th at Long Beach.
- Graham Rahal managed seventh, despite a spin during Sunday’s competition. Rahal owns an average finish of 5.75 this season, the fourth best among drivers.
- Takuma Sato earned eighth, a season-best finish and first top 10 of the season. It marked Sato’s first top-10 with Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing since finishing seventh in the 2012 finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and sixth career top-10 with the team.
- Simon Pagenaud was ninth, the second-highest finishing Chevrolet driver and second-highest Team Penske driver. It was also a season-best finish for the 2016 Barber winner and his second top-10 of 2018.
- Marco Andretti finished 10th, his third top-10 result of 2018. Andretti only had eight top 10s in the previous 33 races over the last two seasons (five top 10s in 17 races in 2017 and three top 10s in 16 races in 2016).
- Incoming race points leader Alexander Rossi suffered his worst finish of the season, 11th, the only race in which he failed to finish on the podium so far in 2018. Rossi went off late in the race at Barber. Still, he’s finished in the top 10 in eight of the last 10 IndyCar races.
- Matheus Leist finished a career-best 12th at Barber, in his fourth IndyCar race.
- Zach Veach finished 13th, the final Andretti Autosport driver in the field.
- Jordan King also finished a career-best 14th, and was the final driver on the lead lap.
- Spencer Pigot finished 15th for the third time in four races in 2018. He has finished one lap down in all four races this season.
- Rene Binder finished a career-best 16th in his second career IndyCar race.
- Tony Kanaan finished 18th, two laps down. Kanaan was one of six drivers to enter the race having completed every lap in the first three races.
- Tony Kanaan finished 18th, two laps down. Kanaan was one of six drivers to enter the race having completed every lap in the first three races.
- Zachary Claman De Melo, who set the race’s fastest lap, was 19th, the final driver to complete the race.
- A total of nine drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- A total of 14 drivers finished on the lead lap. All three races on temporary street circuits or permanent road courses this season have seen 14 drivers finish on the lead lap (11 finished on the lead lap at the only oval, ISM Raceway).
- The race was the first at Barber that was run over two days, and the second in which the series did not complete the full scheduled distance of 90 laps. The 2018 race saw 82 laps completed, with the 2014 race the shortest (all abbreviated by rain) at 69 laps.
- With only two drivers to lead at Barber, that marked the fewest leaders of a race at the Alabama track since 2016, when Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal combined to lead all of the 90-lap race.
- The next race will be Saturday, May 12, with the Grand Prix at Indianapolis at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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