Many fans packed Barber Motorsports Park Sunday afternoon for the start of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season. The fans were eager to see how the newcomers would do in this race. Among them were three-time Repco Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin, former Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean, and seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. Qualifying took place on Saturday, with Pato O’Ward winning the pole, followed by Alexander Rossi.
On the opening lap at turn five, Josef Newgarden touched the grass with his left tires and lost control. He spun out onto the track, collecting several other cars and leaving debris that covered the track. This brought out the first caution of the afternoon. Involved were Felix Rosenqvist, Max Chilton, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Colton Herta. Jimmie Johnson made it through without damage. Unfortunately, Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay were the first casualties of the race. The others were able to continue.
Once the cleanup was complete, the race resumed on lap seven. Three laps later, Jimmie Johnson spun at turn fifteen to bring out the race’s second caution. He didn’t suffer any damage to the car. The race quickly resumed on lap twelve. O’Ward led the first seventeen laps before making his first scheduled stop handing the lead to Alex Palou.
Palou led 31 laps before making his first scheduled pit stop. Sebastien Bourdais took over the lead. Lead changes only happened during pit stops. There was not a lot of passing for positions. Bourdais led three laps before making his first pit stop, and Pato O’Ward resumed the lead.
O’Ward led an additional five laps before heading to pit road for his second stop of the day, and Alex Palou was the new leader on lap 42. Palou led an additional nineteen laps before making his second pit stop, handing the lead to Will Power. Power led a lap, followed by Bourdais and Rinus VeeKay before O’Ward took over the lead on lap 64.
O’Ward would make his final stop on lap 67, with Palou back in the lead. Palou had a comfortable lead over Will Power. Power was gaining on Palou as the laps were winding down. Will Power tried to use every inch of the track to gain on Palou, but he ran out of time as Alex Palou won his first career IndyCar race by .4016 seconds over Power.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Scott Dixon third, Pato O’Ward fourth, Sebastien Bourdais fifth, Rinus VeeKay sixth, Graham Rahal seventh, Marcus Ericsson eighth, Alexander Rossi ninth, and Romain Grosjean tenth. Alex Palou led 56 laps, the most in the race. There were ten lead changes and two cautions for eight laps.
The NTT IndyCar Series will now head to St. Petersburg, Florida, for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg next Sunday, April 25th, at noon on NBC.
