Morning Warm-Up at Barber

 It's race day in Alabama! The weather is beautiful here and we are set for a great day of racing.

A couple of housekeeping items:

First, congrats to IndyCar, ZOOM Motorsports and Barber Motorsports Park on announcing an extention through 2027. As Mark Miles said, if it's spring, we are going to be racing in Alabama.

I'm happy. I first came to this track with John Cummiskey Racing in the fall of 2016 and absolutely love the place. It's great to be here this weekend for the first time since 2019.

Also, I'm covering the race this weekend for Frontstretch. I've already written a couple of articles for them, check them out!

My first story was about Rinus Veekay posting his best qualifying effort of the season.

The other is about Agustin Canapino. He was so great to talk to and it was a fun story to write. He's definitely a guy who is easy to root for. 

Alright, alright, alright. On with the rest.

Here are three things I'm looking forward to seeing today.

Romain Grosjean is on pole, will he get his first win today? Last year was absolutely awful for the former F1 pilot, but he has rebounded in a big way in 2023. He captured his second pole of the season in Saturday's qualifying and is coming off a runner-up finish to teammate Kyle Kirkwood at Long Beach two weeks ago. He was only 23rd-fastest in this morning's warmup, but it's hard to gauge anything from that. After qualifying yesterday he and Alex Palou -- who will start next to Grosjean on the front row -- remarked how much they like this track as it reminds them of tracks they grew up racing on in Europe. If a driver likes a racetrack, chances are they will race well there.

Track position matters. In the 12 previous races here, the winner has come from one of the first three starting positions nine times. That means the teams a little further back in the field may try to go with a three-stop strategy in hopes of catching some breaks with yellow flags, not to mention to get off of the red alternate tires as quickly as possible. 

Moving up. As far as who can come from the back, I have two drivers in mind. Alexander Rossi had the fourth-quickest time in Round 1 of qualifying but then lost a second in the Round 2 and will start 10th on the grid. He posted the best lap in warmups this morning, so we'll see what he has in the race.

Another driver is former teammate at Andretti Autosport, Colton Herta. Surprisingly, Herta only has one top 10 finish here in IndyCar (10th in 2022) and starts 14th today. That said, he has been among the top 5 in the two practice sessions and warmup, so the car is good, but he will need a lot of help to move forward.

Predictions!

Winner -- Romain Grosjean

Runner-up -- Alexander Rossi

Third -- Alex Palou

Enjoy the race, and remember, when we wake up tomorrow, it's gonna be May!

Photo: Romain Grosjean

Photo Credit: Me!