Sixth was where James Hinchcliffe started the Honda Indy GP of Alabama and was also right where he finished.
The 30-year-old from Oakville, Ont., remained figuratively in neutral Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala., during Round 3 of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Considering sixth was also where Hinchcliffe was running through Friday’s practice sessions — and where he finished at the track a year ago — it shouldn’t be all that surprising.
If anything, Hinchcliffe should be lucky since his No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports vehicle emerged unscathed from an opening lap incident with Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport. The former teammates banged wheels side-by-side with Hunter-Reay losing a piece of his front wing during the contact.
That forced Hunter-Reay to make an unscheduled pit stop and fall to the back while Hinchcliffe maintained front-runner status. An inch here or there and that could have easily been Hinchcliffe losing a piece of his pod and requiring an extra stroll through the pits as Hunter-Reay had his work cut out for him fighting his way back up the field to finish 11th.
With 21 laps to go, Hinchcliffe was running fifth and looking to get by reigning series champ Simon Pagenaud, but he rolled a little wide off the course and ended up losing two positions as Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi slipped underneath to bump him down to seventh. That hiccup possibly cost Hinchcliffe a chance at fighting for a podium finish as Pagenaud wound up in third.
The sixth place puts Hinchcliffe into fifth in the standings with 102 points through three races following a win two weeks ago at Long Beach and a ninth place at the season-opener in St. Petersburg. That’s a solid start of consistency to begin the year and coupled with three consecutive Firestone Fast Six qualifying appearances as well, there’s a lot to look forward to following the early stages of the season.
Race day notes
• While Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing were shutout from victory lane for the first pair of races, the first time that’s happened since 1999, a victory for the top dogs was bound to happen eventually, especially with Penske starting 1-2-3 on the grid at Barber. It’s a race that’s practically been their playground and Penske made it five wins in eight races at the track although it wasn’t pole-sitter Will Power who took the checkered flag nor Castroneves or Pagenaud. Rather it was Josef Newgarden, the newest member of the Penske squad, who finished first after starting seventh in the race.
Newgarden is no stranger to victory lane at Barber as the Hendersonville, Tenn., native earned his first career win in the series at that very track two years ago. That was when he was with the smaller CFH Racing outfit and now in his first season with the powerhouse Penske crew, Newgarden is proving to be a smart addition alongside his three veteran teammates.
• It was looking like pole-sitter Power’s race to lose and that’s exactly what happened with only 14 laps remaining. Power was in cruise control leading for two-thirds of the race, until a punctured tire took him out of the running and knocked him down the order. Power climbed back up to 14th in the end, but it’s definitely a missed opportunity in a race that he had all but locked up.
• Scott Dixon was a bridesmaid at Barber once again, finishing in second place at the track for the fifth time in his career. Add a pair of third-place finishes and that’s seven times in eight races he’s been on the podium at Barber, just not on the top platform. Dixon, fourth on the all-time wins list, just can’t seem to buy a win at Barber as a victory has somehow eluded him through his career.
• Up next: The Verizon IndyCar Series heads west next weekend for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. It’s the first oval of the season following street and road courses to start. Dixon dominated the race a year ago leading 155 out of 250 laps to victory.
