Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Preview and Predictions

And we are back at it with the second race of the season in as many weeks.  This week is Barber which is on iRacing so that makes it a little easier for me to break down as I have driven and raced on it.

There really is only one good passing opportunity per lap and that is going down breaking for turn 5.  I expect this week to be a better test of how the “new” (which is back to the old) blocking rule is going to work.  I don’t see Castroneves completing a pass on the outside here so defending the inside line will probably be enough to hold anyone off but will see.  I expect we will also see the driver’s test Barfield this week as not only is passing going to be hard but they have two weeks to get replacement parts and which will not affect the April 4^th test at Indy as that will be with the new oval aero parts.  So if the reason everyone was so well behaved at St. Pete was because lack of parts and not time between races that is not going to be an issue here.

For predictions I’m going to change it up some sure I think Power will get the pole but it will get pretty boring if I just pick Power every time so I’ll go with Briscoe this week.  Some things we learn from last week is on the twisties Chevy is the lump to have.  What makes this interesting is this might mean on ovals Honda is the better choice so that could make May fun to see how well the Penskie’s can get will people we don’t normally see up there (like A.J. Foyt Enterprises) up there!  Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though back to this week and Barber.  Major Hitchcliffe did set the fastest time in Q2 last week so AA has what it takes to get it done so don’t turn you back on them either which is why I am going to go with James Hinchcliffe for the win this week.  Going out on a little limb but not too big of one.  For P2 I would look towards Will Power to rebound from his “horrible” 7^th place finish last week.  (Just how great do you have to be when 7^th is a horrible finish?)  For the third step on the podium I am going to go with Ryan Briscoe to complete the Chevy sweep.  The story of the race I am afraid is going to be the blocking/defending rule as I really see some people getting held up behind slower cars.  (As long as it isn’t how bad the TV coverage is however, I’ll consider it a win!)  The Legend In His Own Mind Award I’m going to look at Rubens Barrichello.  I was not one of the people who thought Rubens would come in and just take over the IndyCar series.  While I said it wouldn’t shock me if he won A race it wouldn’t shock me if he didn’t either and I would be surprised if he was a serious contender for the championship.  However, after a 17^th place finish last week I think he really needs a top 10 this week to show that he is not too old to get it done and is more than just hype.