Four-Time IndyCar Champion Alex Palou wins a Repeat Victory at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham – Albert Hicks Photo for Motorsport America
Four-time and defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou earned his second victory in four races this season in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Palou started from the pole and winning the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst by 13.2775 seconds over the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard. Palou led 79 of the 90 laps on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course.
“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.”
Graham Rahal placed third in the No. 15 First Third Bank Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, his first podium finish since August 2023 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
“I felt like this was coming,” Rahal said. “We’re pretty pleased with this. Feels good.”
David Malukas continued his consistent start to his Team Penske tenure by finishing fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Malukas has placed sixth or better in three of his four starts with the fabled team this season.
Series leader Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five finishers – all from different teams – in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global.
There’s something about this rolling, picturesque circuit and recent dominance by Palou, who earned his third career Barber win. He won last year in 16.005 seconds. The first of his 21 career victories also came here in 2021, but by a scant .4016 of a second.
One more ominous fact about Palou’s victory for the other 24 drivers in the field: He has gone on to win the Astor Challenge Cup as series champion in the same season as both of his prior Barber victories. Palou stayed in second in the 2026 series standings with this victory but trimmed the gap to leader Kirkwood from 26 to two points as he tries to win a fourth consecutive title.
While the margin of victory was the biggest in an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race since Palou’s crushing victory last April at Barber, the final gap might be a bit misleading.
Palou led by 7.2 seconds on Lap 52 while running on a used pair of Firestone Firehawk primary tires, but Lundgaard started to chip away at that gap, gaining nearly a half-second on some laps on the quicker but less durable alternate tire.
The gap was trimmed to three seconds when Palou made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 65, taking another set of used primary tires for the run to the finish. Lundgaard inherited the lead during Palou’s last stop and stayed on track for another four laps, trying to gain more time on Palou and perhaps land within striking distance of Palou after Lundgaard’s last stop.
Lundgaard entered the pits at the end of Lap 69 for his final service. But calamity struck, as the right-rear wheel change was slow. That produced a 17.8-second stop, about nine seconds slower than normal. Lundgaard returned to the track in third, behind Rahal.
Game over. Palou was home free.
“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.”
Palou led Rahal by 10.8 seconds after that pit drama and cruised to the finish in the caution-free race. But Lundgaard and Rahal engaged in a spirited joust for second over the closing laps, with Lundgaard finally diving under Rahal in Turn 5 for second with three laps to go.
That was the last of 11 on-track passes during the race for Lundgaard, including seven 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 then held off a charging Malukas to keep the precious podium spot for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Please enjoy the following photos of the 2026 running of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix by Motorsport America photographers Fred Hanyon, Albert Hicks, Skip Williams, Greg McWilliams and Derek Jackson
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19.
Motorsport America would like to thank Paul Kelley, Fred Hanyon, Albert Hicks, Skip Williams, Greg McWilliams and Derek Jackson for their contributions to this article.