IndyCar at Barber preview: How to watch, start times, TV info, schedules and streaming

By Nate RyanApr 28, 2022, 6:00 AM EDT

Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

IndyCar Barber start times: A memorable start to the 2022 season could carry even more meaning (and a significant amount of cash) for Josef Newgarden this Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, NBC).

After consecutive victories at Texas Motor Speedway and Long Beach (his first win in the crown jewel street course), Newgarden can clinch the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge’s $1 million prize by winning Sunday in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

The Team Penske driver (who also became a new father last week) already is a three-time winner at Barber, and a fourth would earn him a $500,000 bonus and matching $500,000 donation to his charities (Wags and Walk Nashville and SeriousFun Children’s Network).

NEW FORMAT: Indy 500 pole qualifying overhauled

The award was posted for the first driver to win on the three types of IndyCar circuits (oval, street course, road course), and Newgarden can accomplish the feat in the fourth race of the season.

“That would be cool,” the two-time series champion said after his Long Beach win, adding that he values his versatility. “It makes me feel like a real IndyCar driver, to be honest with you. I think that’s what makes our sport great. We talk about it a lot, but it’s the truth. The thing that sets IndyCar apart is the diversity of the racing. We love having the best of the best from around the world and having to compete on all types of tracks and having to master all disciplines. If you can’t master all disciplines, then it’s so difficult to be successful in this sport.

2022 Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach — *Josef Newgarden has won the past two NTT IndyCar Series races (Greg Doherty/Getty Images).*

“I just love that IndyCar drivers have to be good at all those skillsets, so when we’re able to do that, it gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

So does the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course east of Birmingham. Barber is known as the most physically demanding track in IndyCar, which is a good fit for the No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet driver.

“I love the high-speed nature of Barber,” Newgarden said. “It’s a lot of high-speed commitment from a lot of the corners, which makes it a lot of fun to drive. It suits my style, for sure. It’s all about flow and carrying big speed and putting the car on the edge. That’s what I like most about it.

“It’ll be fascinating to see how we go on a permanent road course. I think we’ve proven we can have a good street-course car and a good oval car, but we need to have a good road-course car to complete the set. So I’m really looking forward to it.”

Newgarden will hope to avoid his start to last year’s race when he crashed on the opening lap (and also took out Colton Herta and Ryan Hunter-Reay).

Alex Palou scored his first career IndyCar victory on his way to the 2021 championship as the season opened at Barber because of the pandemic.

Rinus VeeKay qualified first for Sunday’s race, his second career pole position in IndyCar.

Here are the details and IndyCar start times for the 2022 Honda Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber race weekend (all times are ET):

GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA AT BARBER INDYCAR START TIMES

TV: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com. Leigh Diffey is the announcer with analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Marty Snider, Kevin Lee and Dillon Welch are the pit reporters. Click here for the full NBC Sports schedule for IndyCar in 2022.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for both practices and qualifying.

COMMAND TO START ENGINES: 1:08 p.m. ET

GREEN FLAG: 1:15 p.m. ET

POSTRACE SHOW ON PEACOCK: After the race’s conclusion, an exclusive postrace show will air on Peacock with driver interviews, postrace analysis and the podium presentation. To watch the extended postrace show, click over to the special stream on Peacock after Sunday’s race ends.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for both practices and qualifying Saturday. The race also will be streamed on Peacock (in addition to the NBC Sports App/NBCSports.com streams and the NBC broadcast).

PRACTICE: Friday, 4 p.m. (Peacock Premium); Saturday, 10 a.m. (Peacock Premium), 5:20 p.m. (Peacock Premium)

QUALIFYING: Saturday, 1 p.m. (Peacock Premium)

RACE DISTANCE: The race is 90 laps (207 miles) on a 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course in Leeds, Alabama.

TIRE ALLOTMENT: Six sets primary, four sets alternate, one additional set available for rookies to use in first practice.

PUSH TO PASS: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation. The push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a timed race. The feature increases the power of the engine by approximately 60 horsepower.

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 75 degrees with a 35% chance of rain at the green flag.

ENTRY LIST: Click here to view the 26 drivers racing Sunday at Barber

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the results after qualifying Saturday

INDY LIGHTS RACE: Sunday, 11 a.m., 35 laps/55 minutes (Peacock Premium)

INDY LIGHTS ENTRY LIST: Click here for the 14 drivers entered

GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA AT BARBER WEEKEND START TIMES

(All times are Eastern)

Friday, April 29

9-9:30 a.m.: Radical Cup practice

9:45-10:15 a.m.: Indy Pro 2000 practice

10:30-11:15 a.m.: USF Juniors race

11:30 a.m.-noon: Radical Cup qualifying

12:15-12:45 p.m.: Indy Pro 2000 qualifying

1-1:30 p.m.: USF2000 practice

1:45-2:30 p.m.: Radical Cup Race

2:45-3:30 p.m.: Indy Lights practice

4-5 p.m.: NTT IndyCar Series practice (Peacock Premium)

5:15-5:45 p.m.: USF2000 qualifying

Saturday, April 30

9-9:45 a.m.: Radical Cup race

10-11 a.m.: NTT IndyCar Series practice (Peacock Premium)

11:15-11:45 a.m.: USF2000 qualifying

Noon-12:30 p.m.: Indy Lights practice

1-2:15 p.m.: NTT IndyCar Series qualifying (Peacock Premium)

2:30-3:20 p.m.: Indy Pro 2000 Race 1

3:35-4:05 p.m.: Indy Lights qualifying

4:20-5:05 p.m.: USF2000 Race 1

5:20-5:50 p.m.: IndyCar final practice (Peacock Premium)

6:05-6:50 p.m.: Radical Cup race

Sunday, May 1

10-10:40 a.m.: USF2000 Race 2

11-11:55 a.m.: Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Alabama (Peacock Premium)

1:08 p.m. – Command to start engines for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

1:15 p.m. – Green flag for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park (90 laps/207 miles), NBC and Peacock Premium (live)

3:30-4:20 p.m.: Indy Pro 2000 Race 2

COVERAGE ON NBCSPORTS.COM

ROUND 1: Scott McLaughlin opens season with breakthrough victory at St. Petersburg

ROUND 2: Josef Newgarden nips McLaughlin in last corner for 1-2 Penske finish at Texas

ROUND 3: Josef Newgarden keeps Penske unbeaten in 2022 with first Long Beach win

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Meet the diverse 2022 rookie class

Ovals should come naturally for Jimmie Johnson

“Big Three” will face stiffer competition for championship

Alexander Rossi says fast start is key for contract year

HOW TO WATCH INDYCAR IN 2022: Full NBC Sports schedule

For purchasing tickets to the Indy 500, click here to reserve a seat.

IndyCar Detroit GP starting lineup: Alex Palou wins first pole position on a street course

By Nate RyanJun 3, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT

DETROIT — Alex Palou won the pole position for the second consecutive NTT IndyCar Series race and will lead the Detroit Grand Prix starting lineup to green on a new downtown layout.

The 2021 series champion, who finished fourth in the 107th Indy 500 after qualifying first, earned his third career pole position as the first of three Chip Ganassi Racing drivers in the top four (Scott Dixon qualified fourth, and Marcus Ericsson sixth).

Scott McLaughlin will start second, followed by Romain Grosjean. Coming off his first Indianapolis 500 victory, Josef Newgarden qualified fifth.

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

It’s the third career pole position for Palou and his first on a street course — a big advantage on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile track that is expected to be calamitous over 100 laps Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC).

“It’s going to be a tough day for sure,” Palou told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “It feels good we’ve had a great car since the beginning, and it was just about maximizing. They did a great strategy on tires and everything. We need to finish it (Sunday).

“I got off a lot in practice. We wanted to see where the limit was, and we found it. It’s a crazy track. I think it’s too tight for Indy cars and too short as well, but we’ll make it happen.”

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for Detroit GP qualifying speeds | Round 1, Group 1 | Round 1, Group 2 | Round 2 l Round 3

The narrow quarters (originally listed as a 1.7-mile track, its distance shrunk by a couple hundred feet when measured Friday) already were causing problems in qualifying.

Colton Herta, who has four career poles on street courses, qualified 24th after failing to advance from the first round because of damage to his No. 26 Dallara-Honda. It’s the worst starting spot in an IndyCar street course race for Herta (and the second-worst of his career on the heels of qualifying 25th for the GMR Grand Prix three weeks ago).

Andretti Autosport teammate Kyle Kirkwood also found misfortune in the second round, damaging the left front of his No. 27 Dallara-Honda despite light wall contact.

"It just ripped the front off the car."

Big damage for Kyle Kirkwood. #INDYCAR

📺 : @peacock pic.twitter.com/ChMZZX1xqp

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 3, 2023

“I’m disappointed for the crew because that was a pole-winning car,” Kirkwood told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “Man, I barely touched the wall. I touched it way harder in all the practices, and it’s just like the angle at which the wall was right there, it caught the point and just ripped the front off the car.

“If the wall was rounded, that wouldn’t have happened. That’s just unfortunate for the guys, but it’s my mistake. It’s hard enough to get around this place let alone race around it. We’ll see how it goes.”

Many IndyCar drivers are expecting it to go badly, which isn’t uncommon for a new street layout. The inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee, was the biggest crashfest of the 2021 season with 33 of 80 laps run under caution plus two red flags.

It could be worse at Detroit, which is the shortest track on the IndyCar circuit. It also features the series’ only split pit lane (with cars pitting on opposite sides and blending into a single-lane exit), a 0.9-mile straightaway and a hairpin third turn that is considered the best passing zone.

“If there’s one day you need to be lucky in the year, it’s tomorrow,” Grosjean told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns. “A lot is going to happen, and it’s being in the right time at the right place.”

Said Dixon: “Expect probably a lot of unexpected things to happen. We’ll try and get through it. I think it’ll be similar to Nashville and maybe the last man standing is the one who gets the victory.”

With the field at 27 cars, Palou estimated the length of the course leaves a gap of about 2.4 seconds between each car, which he preferred would be double. During practice Friday, there were six red flags and 19 local yellows as teams tried to sort out the tricky and tight layout.

“I don’t know what the perfect distance is, but I would say adding 30 seconds to a track or 20 seconds would help a lot,” said Palou, one of many drivers who also said the streets were too bumpy despite work to grind down some surfaces. “We have a lot of cars. It’s crazy. It’s really good for the series, for the racing. But when it comes to practice, and we have 10 red flags, 25 yellows, it’s traffic all the time.”

It seems certain to be a memorable reimagining of the Detroit GP, which was moved downtown by IndyCar owner Roger Penske after a 30-year run at the Belle Isle course a few miles north.

McLaughlin, who drives for Team Penske, believes the race will be very similar to Nashville, but “it’s just going to be up to us with the etiquette of the drivers to figure it out along the way. I think there’s going to be a lot of passes, opportunities.

“With the track, there’s been a lot of noise I’ve seen on Twitter, from other drivers and stuff,” McLaughlin said. “At the end of the day, this is a new track, new complex. I think what everyone has done to get this going, the vibe is awesome. Belle Isle was getting old. We had to do it.

“First-year problems, it’s always going to happen. It’s just going to get better from here. The racetrack for the drivers is a blast. We don’t even know how it races yet. Everyone is making conclusions already. They probably just need to relax and wait for (Sunday).”

Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine and speed):

ROW 1

1. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1 minute, 1.8592 seconds (95.734 mph)
2. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:02.1592 (95.271)

ROW 2

3. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 1:02.2896 (95.072)
4. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:02.4272 (94.862)

ROW 3

5. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:02.5223 (94.718)
6. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:02.6184 (94.573)

ROW 4

7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:02.1817 (95.237)
8. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 1:02.1860 (95.230)

ROW 5

9. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 1:02.1937 (95.219)
10. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:02.2564 (95.123)

ROW 6

11. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:02.2958 (95.063)
12. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:04.6075 (91.661)

ROW 7

13. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:02.5714 (94.644)
14. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:02.1911 (95.223)

ROW 8

15. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 1:02.9522 (94.071)
16. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1:02.2644 (95.111)

ROW 9

17. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 1:03.0017 (93.997)
18. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:02.6495 (94.526)

ROW 10

19. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 1:03.1599 (93.762)
20. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:02.9071 (94.139)

ROW 11

21. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 1:03.2126 (93.684)
22. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:02.9589 (94.061)

ROW 12

23. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 1:03.3879 (93.425)
24. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:03.4165 (93.383)

ROW 13

25. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:03.7728 (92.861)
26. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 1:03.7496 (92.895)

ROW 14

27. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:03.8663 (92.725)

GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA AT BARBER INDYCAR START TIMES

GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA AT BARBER WEEKEND START TIMES

COVERAGE ON NBCSPORTS.COM

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