Rinus Veekay's dad gives 'best drive of your life' verdict after strong IndyCar result at Barber

Rinus VeeKay received what can be dubbed one of the highest praises from his dad following his performance at the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix. The 24-year-old delivered a strong performance with a brilliant drive to finish fourth at the Barber race.

The Dale Coyne driver had qualified in fifth for the race and masterfully fended off challenges from two-time IndyCar Series champion Will Power to seal a fourth-place finish — his best of the 2025 season so far. His performance didn’t go unnoticed, with his father Marijn van Kalmthout dubbing it the best drive of his life.

However, VeeKay appeared to offer a slightly different take on the race. Sharing his thoughts in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) by IndyCar on FOX, he opted for his sole race win as his best drive so far.

“It was definitely my second best at least. I had a win, so I like to count the win as my best one so far, but it was a great race. I had a lot of fun out there and showed a lot of strength in a car that was really allowing me to be strong.”

The FOX reporter had earlier said:

"Your dad just told me, 'This was the best drive of your life'."

Indeed, Rinus VeeKay is one of the few drivers to boast at least one race victory in IndyCar, having clinched the win at the 2021 GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Shifting focus to the current campaign, the stellar drive at the Birmingham circuit served as a huge improvement on the 19th-place finish he recorded at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The 24-year-old will hope he can build on his momentum as he heads to the upcoming Sonsio race.

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Rinus Veekay speaks on fending off Will Power

Rinus VeeKay also detailed how he fended off Will Power for a large part of the Grand Prix. The Dale Coyne Racing driver held off the veteran Australian to bring home fourth place for his team.

Veekay, in his #18 car, made the bold overcut move on the Team Penske driver work as he jumped from fifth, where he had started the race, to fourth place. Although Power came charging back, Veekay just had enough tire wear and traction to fend off his attack.

Sharing his thoughts on holding off the two-time series champion following the race, Rinus Veekay, in a video shared on X by IndyCar on FOX, stated:

“Yeah, I think exactly that the key is per sequence and being in clean air from there on. We lost a few positions on the first pit sequence. I think we stayed out a few laps too long on the blacks, then going to the reds on the second stint.

I thought I had so much pace because we saved the set of sticker reds for the race in qualifying yesterday, so I had some pace and I told the team, 'Let's go long because I think we can beat those guys on the pit stop.' Oh, we narrowly did that, and I could keep him behind me from there on.” (0:35 onwards).

Rinus Veekay’s masterful drive saw him move up to 11th place in the drivers’ standings. He will hope for an even better outing at the next race in Indianapolis— a race where he boasts a race victory and a podium finish.