2026 Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix

Palou Dominates Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for Third Barber Victory

Alex Palou made it back-to-back victories at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday afternoon, leading 79 of 90 laps to win the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst for the second consecutive year and the third time in his career. The No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crossed the finish line 13.2775 seconds ahead of Christian Lundgaard, with Graham Rahal holding on for third to give the second-generation driver his first podium since August 2023.

The victory is Palou's 21st career IndyCar win and his second of the 2026 season, following his dominant performance at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He now sits second in the NTT IndyCar Series championship, trailing Kyle Kirkwood by just two points. The race ran entirely under green-flag conditions — no cautions in 90 laps — and all 25 starters were running at the finish for the second straight year at the Birmingham circuit.

Dale Murphy, the Atlanta Braves legend, gave the command to start engines at 12:15 p.m. with conditions at 66 degrees ambient, east winds at 6 mph and cloudy skies. The track temperature was 87 degrees according to Firestone engineers.

Palou Builds an Early Cushion

Palou led from the green flag, controlling the opening stint with authority. By Lap 5 he had a 1.3871-second advantage over front-row starter David Malukas, and by Lap 10 that had stretched to 1.9923 seconds. As the field cycled through its first round of pit stops between Laps 13 and 26 — Palou himself stopping on Lap 26, the last of the lead cars to do so, and exiting without losing the lead — the No. 10 emerged with a commanding cushion. Green flag stops complete on Lap 30, Palou led Rahal by 3.4326 seconds, with Lundgaard lurking further back.

What made the opening stint notable in hindsight was a strategic miscalculation that would define Palou's afternoon. Like many teams, Chip Ganassi Racing had entered the weekend expecting a race dominated by the alternate (red) compound, as it had been in 2025. The team used its fresh alternate sets liberally in practice and qualifying — including a set in Practice 2 — and found themselves short of new rubber for the middle stint of the race when the primary tire proved to be the faster and more durable compound on race day.

"After warm-up we were in the stand and we're like, Well, it's a primary race," Palou said afterward. "At some point we need to either use a used red, which we don't like, we know they're not going to last, or a used primary from Practice 2."

They chose the latter. Palou ran a set of used primary tires — logged in Practice 2 — for 21 laps during his third stint, a gamble that left the defending race winner briefly vulnerable.

Lundgaard's Moment Slips Away

Through the middle of the race, it was Lundgaard who applied the most sustained pressure. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driver, who had qualified 10th, worked his way forward and led two stints during the second half — Laps 45-50 and Laps 65-68 — courtesy of an alternative strategy that left him with two sets of fresh alternate tires that Palou simply did not have.

"He had two sets because he didn't advance to the Fast Six," Palou noted. "When we were on used primaries, which were not very good, he was on brand-new alternates. That's why he was getting so close."

On Lap 60, Lundgaard had trimmed Palou's lead to 4.8651 seconds. When Palou pitted from the lead on Lap 65, Lundgaard assumed the top spot and, by Lap 68, held a gap of nearly 20 seconds over the field as the rest of the leaders cycled through their final stops. A clean stop for Lundgaard would likely have delivered an Arrow McLaren victory. Instead, a slow stop on the outside rear tire on Lap 69 cost him dearly. Palou, who had already made his final stop, emerged in front and from that point, the race was his.

"I was told on the way here we would have cleared him," Lundgaard said of where he would have exited relative to Palou on a normal stop. "From what I've been told, we would have cleared him."

Palou's first lap back in clear air after the crucial pit exchange was a 1:09.3437, and he quickly pulled away. By Lap 75, the gap to Rahal in second was 11.6635 seconds. Lundgaard, who eventually passed Rahal for second on Lap 88 in Turn 5, could only close to 12.9389 seconds at the white flag.

"I think we had a race-winning car today," Lundgaard said. "It's frustrating. To have a chance to beat him fair and square, that hurts. It's the position that we've tried to be in the past three years. I think we got there today."

Rahal's Resurgence

Graham Rahal delivered one of the drives of the afternoon in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Starting third after Saturday's qualifying breakthrough, Rahal ran at the front all afternoon, leading Lap 44 during the green flag pit stop cycle and holding second for large stretches of the race. His team's strategy of preserving a fresh set of primary tires paid early dividends, and Rahal was catching Palou at the end of the first stint before tire degradation began to cost him.

"End of stint one, I was catching him," Rahal said. "We got within three seconds, 3.4-ish. I felt pretty good to hang on with him that long because not many people do."

The final stint became a battle of attrition, with Rahal's rears beginning to fade while Lundgaard — carrying newer rubber — closed rapidly. Lundgaard made the pass in Turn 5 on Lap 88, but Rahal held on to complete the podium, his first since the IMS road course race in August 2023.

"It's a great reward for the guys and gals," Rahal said. "Everybody has worked so hard to be back here."

The Rest of the Field

Malukas finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, giving Team Penske a solid points day. Kirkwood was fifth in the No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Andretti Global Honda, Armstrong sixth, Dixon seventh — still winless at Barber after 16 starts — and Santino Ferrucci eighth. Marcus Ericsson and Newgarden rounded out the top 10.

Will Power, starting 23rd after his qualifying crash on Saturday, charged to 12th in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda, improving 11 positions on the day — the most of any driver.

Fastest lap of the race went to Lundgaard with a 1:08.6127 on Lap 19. Palou's fastest leader lap was a 1:08.6922 on Lap 3.

Championship Implications

Sunday's result reshuffled the championship picture without changing who sits at the top. Kirkwood's fifth-place finish at Barber added 30 points to his total, but Palou's 54-point haul — the maximum available for a race winner — allowed the Spaniard to close dramatically on the standings leader. Kirkwood holds a razor-thin two-point advantage over Palou, 156 to 154, heading into the break before Long Beach.

Lundgaard's runner-up result moved him to third with 121 points, while Malukas is fourth at 116 after his solid fourth-place finish. Newgarden is fifth with 113, keeping him well within striking distance despite an uneven start to the season.

The top eight drivers are separated by 58 points — still a remarkably compressed field four races into the year. With Andretti Global historically strong at Long Beach and Palou having now won two 2026 races to pull within two points of Kirkwood, the championship battle appears set for a long, absorbing season.

Dixon Leads Final Warm-Up as Field Prepares for Afternoon Race

Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap of Sunday morning's warm-up at Barber Motorsports Park, clocking a 1:06.6933 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to lead the 30-minute session ahead of the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst. It was an encouraging sign for the six-time champion, who has nine podiums at the circuit without a victory and starts 13th on the afternoon's grid.

Graham Rahal was second at 1:06.7568, continuing a strong weekend for the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda driver who qualified third on Saturday. Felix Rosenqvist was third at 1:06.9815 for Meyer Shank Racing, with Nolan Siegel fourth and Marcus Armstrong fifth.

Polesitter Alex Palou was seventh at 1:07.2859, with front-row starter David Malukas a distant 22nd at 1:08.5177 — though both men will have taken what they needed from the session with an eye toward the race rather than chasing lap times. Points leader Kyle Kirkwood was 10th at 1:07.5129.

The session was briefly interrupted at 9:22 a.m. when Sting Ray Robb brought the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet to a stop in the gravel at Turn 9. The green flag flew again at 9:28 a.m. with six minutes remaining, and the session concluded without further incident at 9:35 a.m.

Over the combined practice sessions, Palou's 1:06.4680 from Practice 2 remains the fastest time of the weekend, with Kirkwood and Rinus VeeKay second and third. The green flag for the 90-lap, 207-mile race is scheduled for 12:17 p.m. Central on FOX.

Palou Claims 13th Career Pole, Second Straight at Barber, Despite Power's Early Exit

Alex Palou won the NTT P1 Award for the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst, claiming his 13th career pole position and second consecutive at Barber Motorsports Park with a Firestone Fast Six lap of 1:06.2341. The result overshadowed a dramatic and difficult afternoon for Will Power, whose qualifying session ended almost before it began after a crash in Group 1 of the opening round.

Conditions at the start of qualifying were 66 degrees ambient with sunny skies and a track temperature of 94.1 degrees.

Round 1: Power's Day Ends Early

Group 1 had barely gotten underway when Power brought out a red flag at 1:40 p.m., running off course in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda and making contact with the barrier in Turn 5. Per IndyCar regulations, Power lost his two fastest laps and the ability to advance to Round 2. The session was suspended with Race Control anticipating a restart at 1:57 p.m., and Power was seen and released from the IndyCar Medical Unit. Power's single scoreable lap of 1:09.9808 left him 23rd on the grid, a painful end to qualifying for the two-time Barber winner in his road course debut with Andretti.

When the session resumed with 5:57 remaining, Palou quickly established himself at the top of the timesheet. The No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda led Group 1 with a 1:06.1032, advancing alongside Christian Lundgaard (1:06.2435), Graham Rahal (1:06.2630), Marcus Armstrong (1:06.4474), Alexander Rossi (1:06.4514) and Santino Ferrucci (1:06.4639). Scott Dixon, 0.0628 of a second outside the cut in seventh, was among the Group 1 casualties alongside Nolan Siegel, Christian Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson and Caio Collet.

Group 2 ran cleanly, with Kyle Kirkwood topping the segment at 1:06.2130 in the No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Andretti Global Honda. David Malukas (1:06.2816), Romain Grosjean (1:06.4749), Josef Newgarden (1:06.4998), Marcus Ericsson (1:06.5802) and Pato O'Ward (1:06.7171) rounded out the six advancers. Scott McLaughlin, still recovering from the morning's crash damage in a backup car, qualified seventh in the group at 1:06.7313 and will start 14th. Rinus VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Mick Schumacher, Louis Foster, Dennis Hauger and Sting Ray Robb did not advance.

Round 2: Kirkwood Leads, Six Move On

The 12-car Round 2 session produced the fastest laps of the day to that point, with Kirkwood clocking a 1:06.0389 to lead the way. Palou was second at 1:06.0778, followed by Malukas (1:06.0838), Armstrong (1:06.2248), Rahal (1:06.3538) and Grosjean (1:06.3652) — the Dale Coyne Racing driver making a statement with back-to-back round advancements. Ferrucci (seventh, 1:06.3769), Ericsson (eighth, 1:06.3900), Newgarden (ninth, 1:06.4256), Lundgaard (10th, 1:06.5102), Rossi (11th, 1:06.6873) and O'Ward (12th, 1:06.8186) were eliminated, filling out positions seven through 12 on the starting grid.

Firestone Fast Six: Palou Seizes the Pole

The six-minute Firestone Fast Six brought together Palou, Malukas, Rahal, Armstrong, Kirkwood and Grosjean for the pole shootout. It was Palou who delivered when it mattered most, posting a 1:06.2341 to claim the top spot — slower than his Round 2 pace but quick enough to hold off Malukas, who was second at 1:06.3478. Rahal qualified third at 1:06.5181 and Armstrong fourth at 1:06.5312, giving Meyer Shank Racing a strong grid position. Kirkwood, who had led Round 2, slipped to fifth at 1:06.8326, with Grosjean a mere 0.0037 of a second behind in sixth at 1:06.8363 — an outstanding result for Dale Coyne Racing.

The pole is Palou's second straight at Barber, having also started from the front row in 2025 en route to victory. He will look to convert that advantage again when the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst takes the green flag Sunday at 12:17 p.m. Central on FOX.

McLaughlin Escapes Injury After Heavy Practice 2 Crash; Palou Tops Truncated Session

A frightening crash for Scott McLaughlin brought Practice 2 to a premature end Saturday morning at Barber Motorsports Park, casting a shadow over what had otherwise been a productive final tuning session ahead of afternoon qualifying. Palou set the fastest time of the session, a 1:06.4680, before the red and checkered flags flew simultaneously at 10:42 a.m. following McLaughlin's hard contact with the catch fence above the tire wall on the right side of Turn 1.

McLaughlin spun the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet and struck the barrier heavily, bringing out an immediate stoppage. The Australian climbed from the car with assistance from the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team and was subsequently seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit. Race Control determined that fence repairs would prevent the session from resuming, ending Practice 2 after the all-cars segment and eliminating the planned group runs entirely.

The stoppage came after an already interrupted morning. Nolan Siegel had brought out a red flag at 10:23 a.m. when the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet spun and came to rest on course. Siegel was assessed a five-minute time penalty for causing the red flag, and the session resumed at 10:26 p.m. before McLaughlin's incident ended it for good 16 minutes later.

Despite the abbreviated nature of the session, Palou's 1:06.4680 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was more than a full second faster than McLaughlin's Practice 1-topping effort and stood as the fastest time through two practices combined. Kirkwood was second in Practice 2 at 1:06.5217, keeping the points leader firmly in the mix ahead of qualifying.

Rinus VeeKay delivered a strong showing in third at 1:06.5950 for Juncos Hollinger Racing, with Romain Grosjean fourth at 1:06.6092 — a notable result for Dale Coyne Racing. Marcus Armstrong was fifth at 1:06.6163 for Meyer Shank Racing, and Graham Rahal slotted sixth at 1:06.6888 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Marcus Ericsson was seventh at 1:06.7047 in the No. 28 Allegra Andretti Global Honda.

One of the more striking performances of the session came from Caio Collet, who climbed to eighth at 1:06.7262 in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazona AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet — a significant improvement from his 21st-place finish in Practice 1 and a tantalizing sign for the rookie contender ahead of his first IndyCar qualifying attempt at Barber. Christian Lundgaard was ninth at 1:06.7543 and Pato O'Ward 10th at 1:06.8013, rounding out the top 10 for Arrow McLaren.

McLaughlin's crash left him 12th in the session at 1:06.8700, though his team faces significant work to repair the No. 3 before qualifying. Scott Dixon was 11th at 1:06.8573, continuing to show the kind of pace that has historically made him a factor at Barber without yet translating into a victory. Alexander Rossi was 13th.

Will Power improved from 10th in Practice 1 to 17th in Practice 2 at 1:07.0818, still gathering information on the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda in its first road course outing. Josef Newgarden, whose best combined time of 1:07.5600 dates to the Group B segment of Practice 1, was unable to improve in Practice 2 and sits 22nd in combined standings — an unusual position for the three-time Barber winner heading into the knockout qualifying rounds.

Louis Foster similarly failed to improve on his Practice 1 benchmark, leaving his combined best at the 1:08.0887 set Friday and placing him 25th in the overall standings.

Among the rookies, Schumacher made the most of the session's laps, logging 18 in Practice 2 and posting a combined best of 1:07.3416 to sit 19th. Hauger was 23rd at 1:07.7962 in the combined standings.

Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award gets underway at 1:35 p.m. Central on FS1, with three rounds of knockout qualifying determining the starting grid for Sunday's 90-lap, 207-mile Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst.

McLaughlin Sets the Pace in Practice 1 at Barber Motorsports Park

Scott McLaughlin turned the fastest lap of Practice 1 at Barber Motorsports Park on Friday afternoon, clocking a 1:07.3840 to top the 25-car combined session. The No. 3 Odyssey Battery Team Penske Chevrolet driver edged points leader Kyle Kirkwood by just 0.0288 of a second, with the top 10 separated by less than half a second in a session that underscored just how evenly matched this year's NTT IndyCar Series field has become.

The 80-minute session — conducted in three segments under warm, sunny Alabama skies — was briefly interrupted by a red flag at 2:58 p.m. when Alexander Rossi brought the No. 20 Java House Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet to a stop in Turn 5 after running out of fuel. Race Control assessed Rossi a five-minute time penalty for causing the red flag. The session resumed at 3:03 p.m. and ran without further incident.

Following the opening 40-minute all-cars segment — in which McLaughlin's best of 1:08.0903 led the way — the session split into group runs. Group A took to the circuit first at 3:30 p.m., with Christian Lundgaard posting the fastest time of that segment, a 1:07.4379 in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Group B closed the session beginning at 3:50 p.m., and it was McLaughlin who improved to 1:07.3840 to claim the overall best of the day when the checkered flag fell at 4:01 p.m.

Kirkwood's 1:07.4128 placed him second overall, a promising sign for the championship leader's prospects around the 17-turn circuit. Pato O'Ward was a mere three-thousandths of a second behind Kirkwood in third, his 1:07.4158 keeping Arrow McLaren very much in the conversation. Lundgaard's group segment best held up for fourth overall, with David Malukas fifth at 1:07.5456 and Josef Newgarden sixth at 1:07.5600, giving Team Penske three cars in the top six.

Alex Palou, seeking a third Barber victory, was seventh at 1:07.6733 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda — 0.2893 of a second off McLaughlin's pace. Rinus VeeKay was eighth for Juncos Hollinger Racing, Marcus Armstrong ninth for Meyer Shank Racing and Will Power 10th in the No. 26 TWG AI Andretti Global Honda. For Power, making his first road course start with Andretti Global, the 1:07.8818 represented a solid opening benchmark on a circuit where he has won twice.

Among the three Rookie of the Year contenders, Dennis Hauger showed the most promise, improving to 1:08.3522 in the No. 19 Ault Block Chain Dale Coyne Racing Honda during the Group B segment — good for 22nd overall. Mick Schumacher was 23rd at 1:08.3972 in the No. 47 ENVE Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, while Caio Collet logged the most laps of any driver in the session with 36 in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazona AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, finishing 21st. Hauger won the INDY NXT by Firestone race at Barber in 2025 and used that familiarity to show well in both group segments.

Practice 2 is scheduled for Saturday morning at 10:05 a.m. Central on FS1, ahead of three rounds of knockout qualifying for the NTT P1 Award beginning at 1:35 p.m.