FRIDAY, APRIL 28 – SUNDAY, APRIL 30

RACE: Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
TRACK: Barber Motorsports Park
LOCATION: Leeds, Alabama, USA
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.3-mile, 17-turn permanent road course
RACE LENGTH: 90 Laps

PRACTICE: Friday – 2:40-3:55 p.m. CT (Peacock Premium)
Saturday – 11 a.m.-12 p.m. CT (Peacock Premium)
Sunday – 11-11:30 a.m. CT (Peacock Premium)
QUALIFYING: Saturday – 2-3:15 p.m. CT (Peacock Premium)
RACE: Sunday – 2:30 p.m. CT (NBC, 2 p.m. CT)

ED CARPENTER RACING

The fourth round of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season will see Ed Carpenter Racing teammates Conor Daly and Rinus VeeKay compete at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday. In the most recent event, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Daly reached a career milestone as he made his 100th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start. This week, it is VeeKay’s turn to have a landmark event of his own as he will compete in his 50th race. VeeKay is also the most recent pole position winner at Barber Motorsports Park and finished on the podium last year. In 2015, one of ECR’s road course wins was recorded at the circuit when Josef Newgarden earned the victory.

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

CONOR DALY, No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet: “Our team has been successful at Barber Motorsports Park in the past and I’m excited to see what we’ve got this year. Obviously, Rinus (VeeKay) has been really fast there and I hope to be able to learn from him and improve myself. The No. 20 BITNILE.COM car has been a bit unlucky there in the past couple years, so hopefully we can get things to go our way! The goal is now to kind of restart our season at Barber and get things going in the right direction.”

OF NOTE: 

• Conor Daly is now in his fourth season with ECR and his second as full-time driver of the No. 20 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet. In the most recent event, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Daly reached a career milestone as he competed in his 100th NTT INDYCAR SERIES race. He will also make his 10th Indianapolis 500 start this year.

• Second-generation racer Daly climbed into a kart for the first time at the age of 10; within five years, he was competing in both United States and international open-wheel ladder systems. He found success in each before concentrating solely on American motorsports in 2015. Born and raised in nearby Noblesville, Ind., Daly has grown to be a hometown favorite in the Indianapolis 500. The 2021 edition saw him lead the most laps of all drivers; in 2022, he finished a career-best 6th.

• This year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Barber Motorsports Park will be Daly’s 5th. When the event served as the season opener in 2021, Daly advanced to the second round of qualifying and earned himself a Top 10 starting position. In the 2022 edition, minimal opportunities to work his way forward left Daly with a 19th place result. 

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet: “First road course race of the season and our best race last year! Barber is a very good track for us. I got the pole there last year but unfortunately only finished third when we were able to win. Hopefully we can pick right back up where we left off last year! ECR has won here in the past so I am excited to go back to such a cool track. It’s a lovely place to race at the end of April. Bring some momentum into May, that’s what we need! We haven’t had a great start to the season, we need to turn it around and Barber is a great track to do that at.”

OF NOTE: 

• The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will be a milestone event for Rinus VeeKay as he makes his 50th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start on Sunday. The 22-year-old has spent his entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with Ed Carpenter Racing and is the team’s longest-tenured full-time driver, now in his fourth season behind the wheel the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet. 

• Raised in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, VeeKay began karting in 2009 at the age of 8. Just four years into his career in the United States, he not only reached the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, but earned 2020 Rookie of the Year honors. He became an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race winner in May of 2021 with a victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

• VeeKay earned his second career NTT P1 Award at Barber Motorsports Park in 2022 and started from the pole position. He led 57 of the 90 laps last year before settling for a third place finish. In his two starts at Barber, VeeKay has not finished lower than 6th.