Photo: The field lines up in turn 15 for the start of Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

First, I want to thank Kyle McIness for the great photos he provided for The Pit Window this weekend.

A few final thoughts:

I watched the replay of the race last evening. I’m not sure what Grosjean was doing with Rahal, but the second seemed unnecessary. Grosjean’s move on Colton Herta was even more egregious, as he tried to pin him against the pit wall. The move was not something a driver should do to anyone, but especially not to a teammate.

While the race was processional at the front of the pack, there was a lot of good action at the back.

I like the happy Pato O’Ward better than the pouty Pato.

Alex Palou is the Iceman 2.0.

Inside the Stats

I broke down some performance indicators for the first four races. The results indicate a very competitive season so far. What many feared would a team Penske runaway may not be the case. Here are some random categories chosen by The Pit Window panel of experts. (Me):

Top 5s

Will Power 4

Alex Palou 3

Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon, and Pato O’Ward 2 each

Podiums

Palou 3

Newgarden, McLaughlin 2 each

Fast Six

Five drivers tied with 2:

Rinus VeeKay, Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist, Palou, McLaughlin

Laps Led

McLaughlin 235

Rinus VeeKay 75

Josef Newgarden 37

Colton Herta 28

Rookie Standings

Christian Lundgaard 57

Kyle Kirkwood 46

David Malukas 44

Callum Ilott 37

Devlin DeFrancesco 33

Tatiana Calderon 25

Tomorrow, May coverage at IMS begins. This week I will talk about three former winners who don’t get a lot of mentions when 500 winners are discussed. I have a personal connection to each of these drivers.