IndyCar: 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama suspended until Monday
By Asher Fair
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, the fourth race of the 2018 IndyCar season, has been suspended until Monday morning.
The fourth race of the 2018 IndyCar season, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama was initially scheduled to begin at roughly 3:30 pm ET this afternoon.
However, the threat of rain and thunderstorms caused the start time of the race to be moved up by nearly a half hour to 3:08 pm ET, which is when the race did end up getting underway, albeit still in wet conditions.
After 23 laps, three caution flag periods and two lengthy red flag periods, series officials decided that the best decision would be to resume the race tomorrow, and that is ultimately what is now set to take place.
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The race, which is now a two-hour timed race as a opposed to a regularly scheduled 90-lap race, is set to resume tomorrow at 12:00 pm ET, and it is set to be broadcast live at 11:30 am ET on NBC Sports Network like it was throughout the duration of today’s portion of the event.
A total of 44 minutes and 16 seconds of the race were run under green flag and caution flag conditions this afternoon, meaning roughly 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) and 44 seconds remain on the race clock.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden led all 23 of the race’s first 23 laps from the pole position in his #1 Chevrolet. Both Carlin Motorsport’s Charlie Kimball and Team Penske’s Will Power crashed out, bringing out the second and third caution flags of the race, respectively. The first caution flag of the race came out on the race’s first lap, and it was intended to start the race clock.
The first red flag came out on lap 19, and the cars stayed on pit road for 37 minutes after that before running four more laps under caution until lap 23 and coming into the pits for good, although no one new for sure that it was for good at the time.
Here is the running order of the 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama through 23 laps.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Engine |
| 1 | Josef Newgarden | #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 2 | Sebastien Bourdais | #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 4 | Alexander Rossi | #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 5 | James Hinchcliffe | #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 6 | Zach Veach | #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda |
| 7 | Robert Wickens | #6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda |
| 8 | Takuma Sato | #30, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 10 | Ed Jones | #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda |
| 11 | Jordan King | #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 12 | Spencer Pigot | #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet |
| 13 | Graham Rahal | #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda |
| 14 | Marco Andretti | #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda |
| 15 | Simon Pagenaud | #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 16 | Max Chilton | #59, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
| 17 | Rene Binder | #32, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet |
| 18 | Matheus Leist | #4, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 19 | Gabby Chaves | #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet |
| 20 | Tony Kanaan | #14, A.J. Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet |
| 21 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda |
| 22 | Will Power | #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Charlie Kimball | #23, Carlin Motorsport, Chevrolet |
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Be sure to tune in to NBC Sports Network or to record the live broadcast of the 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama from Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on NBC Sports Network starting at 11:30 am ET tomorrow.