Nobody Can Stop Alex Palou at Barber Motorsports Park

• Alex Palou won the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for the third time in his career, leading 79 of 90 laps to beat Christian Lundgaard by 13.2775 seconds and close to within two points of series leader Kyle Kirkwood.
• Lundgaard had been cutting into Palou’s lead on the quicker alternate tire before a slow right-rear wheel change during his final pit stop cost him roughly nine seconds and ended any realistic challenge.
• Graham Rahal finished third for his first podium since August 2023 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with David Malukas fourth and Kyle Kirkwood fifth.

Palou Makes It Three Career Wins at Barber

Alex Palou added a third career victory at Barber Motorsports Park to his record on Sunday, leading 79 of the 90 laps in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst to beat Christian Lundgaard by 13.2775 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It was his second win in four races this season.

Palou had taken this race in 2021 by a margin of 0.4016 seconds, and again in 2025 by more than 16 seconds. Sunday’s winning margin of 13.2775 seconds was the largest in an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race going back to that Barber win last April.

“Incredible day,” Palou said. “I told you qualifying was one of the best car balances I’ve ever driven. Today in the race, it was pretty good in the beginning, really good at the end, but we suffered a little bit on the used blacks (Firestone Firehawk primary tires) that we had to use. Another win here. Love this place, love the fans. What a great day.”

Pit Drama Costs Lundgaard Any Chance of a Challenge

Palou led by 7.2 seconds on Lap 52 while running used Firestone Firehawk primary tires, but Lundgaard began cutting into that gap on the quicker alternate compound, gaining close to half a second on some laps. The gap was down to three seconds when Palou made his final stop at the end of Lap 65, taking another set of used primary tires for the run to the finish.

Lundgaard inherited the lead and stayed out four more laps, trying to build enough time to remain in front after his own service. He pitted at the end of Lap 69, but a slow right-rear wheel change stretched his stop to 17.8 seconds, roughly nine seconds longer than normal. He rejoined in third behind Rahal, and the race was over.

“I think so,” Lundgaard said when asked if he could have caught Palou. “We know the pace that we had and just how we were catching him. It’s unfortunate. The guys have done an amazing job, and I don’t think that’s (mistake) ever really happened. One in almost 100 starts, I think it’s OK.”

Lundgaard recovered to finish second, passing Rahal in Turn 5 with three laps remaining after making 11 on-track passes across the race, seven of them for position in the top 10, both race highs.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to go out there and repass Graham,” Lundgaard said. “Just to make up for that (pit mistake) and put a statement to, ‘We got it.'”

Rahal Takes Podium, Kirkwood Lead Shrinks to Two Points

Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for his first podium going back to August 2023 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

“I felt like this was coming,” Rahal said. “We’re pretty pleased with this. Feels good.”

Rahal held off a late charge from David Malukas, who placed fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet for his third top-six result in four starts with the team this season. Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global. The top five represented five different organizations.

Palou entered the weekend 26 points behind Kirkwood in the standings and left with that gap trimmed to two. He has won the Astor Challenge Cup as series champion in the same season as each of his two prior Barber victories.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19.