IndyCar: Will Josef Newgarden win his third consecutive Barber race?

By Asher Fair | Apr 3, 2019

SONOMA, CA - SEPTEMBER 15: Josef Newgarden driver of the #1 Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

Josef Newgarden has won both of the last two IndyCar races at Barber Motorsports Park. Will he make it three in a row this weekend?

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden has won both of the last two IndyCar races at Barber Motorsports Park, meaning that he is set to go for his third consecutive victory at the track in this Sunday’s race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

The last race at Barber Motorsports Park that was won by a driver other than Newgarden was held in April of 2016. This race was won by Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud. Meanwhile, Newgarden, who was driving for Ed Carpenter Racing at the time, finished it in third place in his #21 Chevrolet.

Newgarden also won the race at the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) Barber Motorsports Park road course in Birmingham, Alabama in the 2015 season when he was driving for CFH Racing, meaning that he has earned victories in three of the last four races at the track and it set to go for his fourth victory in the last five races there in this Sunday’s race.

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In the 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Newgarden started in seventh place. He worked his way up to second place late in the 90-lap race before Team Penske’s Will Power, who started the race from the pole position and led 60 of its first 76 laps, had a flat tire with 14 laps remaining.

Newgarden capitalized on Power’s flat tire and won the race after leading only its final 14 laps. He won it by 1.050 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, the driver he passed for second in impressive fashion late in the race before Power’s flat tire, in second.

The race featured a total of eight lead changes. Aside of Newgarden and Power, three drivers led at least one lap of the race. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Charlie Kimball led 11 laps while Dixon led three laps and Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves led two laps.

In the 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Newgarden started from the pole position and dominated. This race was a two-day race as a result of the fact that it was suspended due to rain, and it ended up being slightly shortened to 82 laps. Newgarden led 73 of those 82 laps and won the race by 9.961 seconds over Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay in second place.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais tried to execute an alternate pit strategy to earn the victory when the rain started coming down on the second day of the race. He led the only nine laps of the race that Newgarden did not, but he had to settle for a fifth place finish. The race featured a total of four lead changes among only these two drivers.

Will Newgarden earn his third consecutive victory at Barber Motorsports Park in this Sunday’s race, or will a driver other than Newgarden find victory lane at the track for the first time since Pagenaud did so in April of 2016 in his #22 Chevrolet?

Newgarden has won three of the last four races at Barber Motorsports Park, and he has been victorious in both of the races at the track in which he has competed as a Team Penske driver. He is the only driver who has ever won three races at the track, and he finished in third place in the only one of the last four races there that he did not win.

He is the undisputed favorite to get back to victory lane there this Sunday considering not only his history at the track but his hot start to the 2019 season, which features a victory in the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida and a second place finish in the season’s second race at Circuit of the Americas.

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Will Josef Newgarden earn his third consecutive victory in an IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park by winning this weekend’s race? This race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 7, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET.