With equal parts skill and strategy, Scott McLaughlin drove to his first victory of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. “I call it a ‘happy driver strategy,’” McLaughlin said. The duel between McLaughlin and Grosjean was set up when they each made their final pit stops with less than 30 laps to go. Grosjean inherited the lead on Lap 66 when Power made his third and final pit stop. Grosjean had used all his push-to-pass by that point, while McLaughlin had some in reserve. “We’re racers; you just get on with it,” McLaughlin said. After losing the lead, Grosjean then had to worry about the hard-charging Power, who sliced a four-second deficit to less than a second over the closing laps. “It hurts,” said Grosjean, who led a race-high 57 laps.

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