Colton Herta and Ryan Hunter-Reay

Should Valencia-native Herta win, all fans can bring their Sunday race day ticket stub into any participating King Taco location in Southern California and present it at the time of ordering to receive a free “Victory Taco” until April 30, 2019.

Takuma Sato

Sebastien Bourdais was third for Dale Coyne Racing while Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi rounded out the top-5. Honda powered cars finished 1-2-3 and took 8 of the top-10 places.

Not only were the grandstands 75% empty, the TV rating was weak as well. With that said, FS1 is a cable TV channel

Last year's race was postponed till Monday and run on Fox TV and got a 1.5 overnight.

Houston, we have a problem

UPDATE For whatever reason, only an estimated 38,000 fans showed up. The sky was overcast and the weather forecast did include rain, but the temperature was in the seventies. The forecast of some rain may have kept the walkup crowd down by perhaps 10,000.

Due to a decision by track officials months ago, no spectators were allowed in the turns either Sunday or Saturday. That sight of those empty sections compounded the rather shocking optics and the grandstands on the straights were not that full either.

Rob Marshall

Q&A with…

ROB MARSHALL - Chief Engineering Officer, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

The new Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda era has got off to a positive start and with ExxonMobil providing technical support on both sides, the trio are already enjoying a close relationship that is beginning to yield results on track. What’s behind the smooth transition? Let’s meet Rob Marshall, who plays a key role in Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s technical department…

Photos Courtesy of McLaren

UPDATE Added McLaren video of Alonso's car below.

04/08/19 The familiar papaya orange Indy car will once again be racing around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, confirmed Monday by McLaren Racing’s unveiling of the official livery for the No. 66 McLaren Chevrolet that Fernando Alonso will run in the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Built at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, United Kingdom, the car sports the unique McLaren papaya orange for the chassis, echoing the color chosen by Bruce McLaren for the team’s first Formula One entry in 1966 and reflecting the livery of McLaren's current F1 car, the MCL34. This year’s scheme for both racing series features a complementary blue that nods to the team’s racing heritage. McLaren had previously announced the car’s number, with the No. 66 in honor of McLaren’s first victory at the Brickyard, achieved by Mark Donohue in a Team Penske M16 in 1972.

Olivier Jarvis will join Pipo Derani

Brazilian hot shoe Luis Felipe "Pipo" Derani, winner of the recent 12 Hours of Sebring race and has enjoyed three wins at Sebring in the last four events, was announced as the first Risi Competizione driver last week. Jarvis and Gounon complete the 2019 driver roster.

“Super happy to have king taco on board for Long Beach as a primary sponsor for the #88 Indy car,” said Colton Herta. “King Taco has always supported the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and INDYCAR as a whole. Their tacos are amazing, and being from Los Angeles…I know what a street taco should taste like!”

Lando Norris

Despite McLaren's earlier run of poor form, the 19-year-old rookie has had a great start to his F1 career by getting into Q3 in the opening two races and finishing sixth in Bahrain.

But Norris told Auto Motor und Sport that he didn't celebrate in the predictable way afterwards.

Despite huge crowds, all F1 races lose $millions without government backing

Earlier, the future of the Italian grand prix looked in doubt.

But Germany's SID news agency claims that the Italian right-wing political party Lega brought a bill to parliament in Rome last Friday.

Steiner and his driver Grosjean

Last week, Red Bull's Christian Horner warned that adding a 'Q4' to the current system might be problematic due to a shortage of Pirelli tires.

"At first glance, we don't have enough tires for a qualifying format like that," he said.

Kimi Raikkonen likes the changes

For 2019, Liberty Media and the FIA introduced tweaks to the aerodynamic regulations designed to make overtaking easier.

Kimi Raikkonen, the most experienced driver on the grid, gave the changes a tentative thumbs-up.

The RLL driver was seldom headed after leading the field away from pole position. His win only looked in doubt in the dying stages of the race, when he skidded off-track at turn seven and lost a piece of bodywork, but he was quickly able to restore his advantage.

Graham Rahal

However, looming in third was the king of Barber Motorsports Park Josef Newgarden. Nowhere all weekend, his Penske team finally found a good setup on the car.  Keep an eye on him in the race.

Sato starts on Pole

Last night was a rocky night in town.  A huge band of thunderstorms lit up the night sky for about 4 hours last night.  And dumped inches of rain at the track.  So there is mud in the parking areas this morning.  And the Auburn Tigers, a college located about 2 hours south of Birmingham, lost to Virginia in their first Final Four appearance.

Jay Frye and Mark Miles

In yesterday's press conference with IndyCar CEO Mark Miles and IndyCar President Jay Frye, AutoRacing1.com asked about the rumored new engine manufacturers coming into the series, and when.

IndyCar President Jay Frye says that the prospect of a third manufacturer joining Honda and Chevrolet as engine suppliers is moving from a “luxury” to a “necessity” with the ongoing growth in series entries.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm -- we talk to lots to them every day,” Frye told the media at Barber Motorsports Park of the series’ discussions with OEMs. “A lot of what’s going on with it is timing, because it’s a huge commitment. They have to build engines. The ones that we’re currently talking to want to build their own engines, so that’s a key indicator when you talk to somebody about their commitment. So we’re sorting through that.

Shane van Gisbergen gets under Penske driver Fabian Coulthard

The 2016 Supercars Champion scored his third win at the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint with a relatively comfortable victory over Shell V-Power Racing’s Coulthard, who scored his second straight second place, and Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds.

Joey Logano

The Team Penske driver turned a 128.830 mph lap (14.894 seconds) on the 0.533-mile oval.

Jimmie Johnson was second, followed by Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, celebrates in victory lane by placing the Winner's sticker on his car after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco 300

Christopher Bell overtook Brandon Jones with less than 20 laps remaining to capture Saturday’s Alsco 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race and pocketed a $100,000 bonus for his efforts.

Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was one of four drivers competing for the series’ Dash 4 Cash bonus. Other eligible drivers didn’t finish far behind – Tyler Reddick finished second, Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Michael Annett wound up eighth. 

“That’s pretty cool to get my first win here with the Dash 4 Cash bonus,” Bell said in Victory Lane. “Joe Gibbs Racing has a really, really good package at Bristol. For whatever reason, we struggled to find that. I didn’t feel good basically all practice and didn’t qualify good.

Takuma Sato

The team’s two drivers swept the front row for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst, with Takuma Sato taking the NTT P1 Award with a last-second lap of 1 minute, 8.5934 seconds (120.711 mph) around the 17-turn, 2.3-mile Barber Motorsports Park road circuit.

Patricio O’Ward

Patricio O’Ward will partner with GESS International as an associate sponsor for this weekend's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and will be joined again next week as both an associate and primary sponsor at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. O’Ward’s No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet will feature badging for GESS International and the American Biogas Council.

Jay Frye and Mark Miles. The chances of the NTT IndyCar Series returning to Japan for a championship race is not looking promising, according to Miles

IndyCar CEO Mark Miles and IndyCar President Jay Frye met the media at Barber Motorsports Park in an impromptu press conference  to answer questions about the latest stories in IndyCar.

We asked for an update on the rumored new engine manufacturers.

Editor's Note: We apologize about the audio quality of this video. 

James Hinchcliffe the man to beat for pole this afternoon

We have seen so many red flags in IndyCar practice at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend you would think the drivers are a bunch of rank amateurs. Final practice was no different and totally disjointed as a result.

James Hinchcliffe [Honda] was again the only driver to get down into the 1m08s bracket and his lap of 1m08.735s was a whopping 0.300s faster than 2nd quick Sebastien Bourdais [Honda] - a big gap given how tight the field is.

Can Hinch win the pole?

It was a sunny morning here in Birmingham at the sprawling 2.3 mile, 17 turn road course. The weather is predicted to take a turn this afternoon with thunderstorms starting around 2 pm and continuing through most of the evening.  IndyCar qualifying is scheduled for 3 pm this afternoon.

The story today is the alternative (red) Firestone tires.  Each road and street course we race at, the red tires are tested and produced specially for that course.  Typically the red tires are faster then the primary (black) tires but wear quicker because they are softer.  The teams are allotted a set of reds to run during the Friday practice only so they can get some setup data for the balance of the car.

Erik Jones

Erik Jones led the Saturday morning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol with a lap of 129.903 mph (14.771 seconds).

Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was second fastest at 129.850 mph.

You sell diesel cars you pay the price

It might have taken two years of investigative raids and Daimler acting as a whistleblower, but Germany’s Big Three automakers finally stand accused by the European Union of collusion. On Friday, the European Commission claimed that Volkswagen Group, BMW and Daimler broke antitrust rules by acting together to delay the introduction of two emission cleaning systems between 2006 and 2014.

The Commission’s preliminary view is that BMW, Daimler and VW participated in a collusive scheme, breaching the EU’s competition rules by limiting the development and proliferation of new emission cleaning technology for diesel and gasoline-fueled passenger cars sold in the “European Economic Area.” This collusion occurred in the framework of the car manufacturers’ so-called “circle of five” technical meetings — which includes VW Group’s Porsche and Audi.

Legend: L=Live, R=Repeat, D=Delayed, SDD=Same Day Delay

Sato Spins

The NTT IndyCar Series kicked off practice for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama by testing the limits of their cars -- and then some.

A number of drivers lost control of their cars Friday, including the two fastest drivers - Hinchcliffe, Herta and Ferrucci.

Zach Veach addressed the students in an open forum

Cars were racing fast and furious at the Barber Motorsports Park April 4 – even before the IndyCar drivers started practice.

It was the annual Education Event, where 150 students from five high schools partner with Alabama Power engineers to build and race miniature Pinewood Derby cars down a 20-foot slide.

Before the competition, they heard from Zach Veach, an IndyCar driver with Andretti Autosport, on the use of math and science in racing.

Denso realizes almost all cars will be electric in about 10 years

DENSO, the world’s second largest mobility supplier, today announced it will invest approximately 180 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) over the next three years – from FY2018 to late FY2020 – to support its aggressive development and production of electrified automotive products, systems and technologies. To achieve its long-term business goal to create and inspire new value for the future of mobility, DENSO is focused on increasing its performance in the area of electrification.

Ryan Newman shared the memo with reporters

In memos that were distributed to teams before practice Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR said it could penalize those who “fail to complete their media obligations or is verbally aggressive toward a NASCAR staff member or media member.” 

As part of a new system in place for the Cup series this season, all drivers are required to go through a designated bullpen area for interviews after qualifying. The second through 10th-place finishers in all three national series also must attend a postrace bullpen for interviews.

Sterling Marlin back in 2005 as a Cup driver

The procedures, which began March 11, was performed at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Deep Brain Stimulation delivers electrical pulses to brain cells to decrease symptoms. It is the most commonly performed surgical treatment for Parkinson’s.

The recovery process is expected to take three months.

Scott McLaughlin beats teammate Coulthard as Penske team runs roughshod over Australian series

An ill Scott McLaughlin has fought through pain to put the Ford Mustang back on top in Tasmania and further distancing himself from Jamie Whincup in the Championship fight.

McLaughlin, suffering from a heavy dose of the flu, had started from the front-row of the grid alongside Mark Winterbottom, who snared his first ARMOR ALL Pole since 2016, while Whincup had a horror day, finishing last after a flat tyre and broken front end.