What to Watch for at the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix

Honda Hot Streak: Honda teams and drivers have started the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season off strong, scoring three wins in a row in the first three races of the year. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou saw victory lane at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and at The Thermal Club, while Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood took the top step at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Honda win streak stretches back to the finale of the 2024 season where Colton Herta took a Honda win in Nashville. Honda currently leads the manufacturers’ championship by 69 points after the impressive first three races.

Podium Perfect Palou: Reigning and three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou’s title defense is also off to a promising beginning. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has two wins and one second-place finish to start the year, giving the Spaniard a perfect podium streak and an average finishing position of 1.33. Palou currently sits 34 points ahead in the championship as he fights for his fourth title in five years.

Breaking the Streak at Barber: Honda is looking to continue their winning ways to kick off the 2025 season and also snap a streak of three non-Honda wins in a row at Barber Motorsports Park. The last Honda winner at the track was Alex Palou in 2021—his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES win. The Honda contingent of teams and drivers is eager to get back to victory lane, particularly at the home race of Honda’s Alabama Auto Plant—the manufacturing location for the Honda Odyssey, Pilot, Passport, and Ridgeline models.

Honda at Barber Motorsports Park

Honda-powered NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers and teams have won five times at Barber Motorsports Park, most recently with Alex Palou in 2021.
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves won the inaugural Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber in 2010.
Other Honda-powered winners of the event are Will Power (2011), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014) and Takuma Sato (2019).

2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Honda Lineup
Andretti Global                     #26 Colton Herta (W)                                                #27 Kyle Kirkwood (W)                                                #28 Marcus Ericsson (I) (W)
Chip Ganassi Racing            # 8 Kyffin Simpson                                                 # 9 Scott Dixon (C) (I) (W)                                                #10 Alex Palou (C) (W)
Dale Coyne Racing               #18 Rinus VeeKay (W)                                                #51 Jacob Abel (R)
Meyer Shank Racing            #60 Felix Rosenqvist (W)                                                #66 Marcus Armstrong  
Rahal Letterman Lanigan    #15 Graham Rahal (W)Racing                                     #30 Devlin DeFrancesco                                                 #45 Louis Foster (R)
C—Series Champion I—Indianapolis 500 winner W—Race Winner R—Series Rookie
Where to Watch

Television coverage of Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix starts at 12:30 PM CT / 1:30 PM ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
Practice 1 will air on FS2 for this weekend’s race, while the remaining practice and qualification sessions will air on FS1.

HRC US social media content and video links can be found on:

 
           

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