IndyCar: Looking back at the last five Barber races

Want to be an IndyCar champion? Win at Barber Motorsports Park. The venue has seen its winners crowned champions, as shown by the last five races there.

The Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park is a mixture of family fun and racing with a hint of champion foreshadowing. Since its addition to the IndyCar calendar in 2010, every winner of the race, with the exception of Helio Castroneves, was or went on to become an IndyCar champion.

The 2.38-mile road course has a reputation for awarding those in the front and those that avoid trouble. In the eight races at Barber, the average starting position of the winner is 3.75. With the track’s propensity for cautions and large winning margins, Barber is one of the few places that feels like a Formula 1 venue. If you wanted an F1 race in the south, Barber would be the host. Look back at the last five Barber races and relive the “F1 in IndyCar” show.

2013

The 2013 race was won from the pole position. Ryan Hunter-Reay took the pole and led the most laps in three different stints for the win. There wasn’t much to slow his progress, as there was only a single caution to clear debris after the start. While Hunter-Reay cruised to a relatively straightforward win, it was a day to forget for his Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe, who completed three laps before being classified “stranded” and out of the race.

2014

Ryan Hunter-Reay repeated his Barber success the previous year at the 2014 race. After starting in 3rd position, Hunter-Reay led the most laps of any single stint and most overall. However, while his repeat win was impressive, it didn’t come easy unlike in 2013, thanks to five cautions.

The bevy of cautions caused the race to end after 69 of the intended 90 laps. The race ran out of time due to the slow clean-up from cars going off-track and accident debris. It was timed as a result of ran. As a result, the race was declared and ended under caution.

2015

The 2015 edition of the race saw the emergence of future IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden. Newgarden captured his first win at Barber while with CFH Racing, and he did so very convincingly with a margin of victory of 2.206 seconds.

Despite the two cautions, one for track debris and another for a minor accident, all drivers were classified as “running” after 90 laps, a trend that continued in 2016 and 2017, leading some to call Barber the “Iron Man race”.

2016

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud took on Barber like he did a lot of things in 2016 — from up front. Pagenaud started from the pole position and led a race-high 84 laps, including an impressive 60-lap stint. The only other driver to lead the race was Graham Rahal, who led six laps.

The 13.748-second margin of victory, the existence of a majority lap leader and the waived start, which was the only caution of the race, made the 2016 race a procession race reminiscent of F1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.