Another year, another Palou clinic at Barber

The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix might as well be renamed Alex Palou’s Annual Butt-Kicking Affair at Barber Motorsports Park after the Spaniard completed his second straight knockout at the gorgeous Southern road course with a 13.2-second margin of victory. Last year's margin was 16.0s.

Palou took his first career win at Barber in 2021 – he’s now up to 21 victories – and set back-to-back pole positions along with winning the last two races here in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. And led the most laps by a wide margin. And made it look easy, just as the four-time champion did at Barber in 2025, with the exception of the charge to the final pit stop.

On Firestone’s slower but sturdier primary tires, Palou was losing serious time to Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard on the faster but less durable alternate compound. But Lundgaard was able to produce great speed without tipping his alternates into advanced tire wear, which allowed him to draw down Palou’s once-formidable lead. Palou made his final stop and came out nearly 28 second behind Lundgaard who was right on the edge of having enough of a gap to come out in front of Palou, but a painfully long pit stop for the Dane relegated his No. 7 Chevy to third.

“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 (primary tires) that we had to use.

“Another win here. Love this place, love the fans. What a great day.”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal started third, ran second for most of the race, and matched lap times with Lundgaard over the final 10 laps but ultimately surrendered the position as Lundgaard crossed the finish line in second with Rahal’s No. 15 Honda in tow.

”It was a good day," Lundgaard said. "Glad to get by my good old man, Graham there at the end again – I had to do it twice. We had a bobble that I think that cost us a chance of winning the race today, but I think if we look at the circumstances of where we started, where we ended, I think we can be happy."

Team Penske’s David Malukas, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood and and Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong completed the top six. Palou’s teammate Scott Dixon motored from 13th to seventh, and behind him Andretti’s Will Power was patient in his gradual climb from 23rd to 12th.

Elsewhere, Caio Collet was best of the rookies in 21st, but on a caution-free day owned by Palou, there just wasn’t much to talk about of interest outside of Lundgaard’s efforts to win and the misfortune that removed it as a possibility.

The 90-lap Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix got under way with a clean first lap that saw Kirkwood improve from fifth to fourth.

Lap 2 and Palou on primaries has a 0.5s lead over Malukas on alternates.

Lap 4 and Palou holds 1.0s on Malukas and 1.9 on Rahal who’s also on primes. Kirkwood on alternates is 3.0s down and Armstrong on alternates is 4.5s back. Palou was 0.1s faster than Malukas on that lap on primes.

Lap 10 and Palou leads Malukas by 1.9s and Newgarden takes P8 from Ericsson. O’Ward is mired in P15 and Power hasn’t been able to move higher than P23. Hauger is up to P20.

Lap 12 and Grosjean takes P9 from Ericsson. Palou leads Malukas by 2.1s, Rahal by 3.8s, and Kirkwood by 5.3s. On primes.

Lap 13 and Hauger is the first to pit.

Lap 14 and Ericsson pits.

Lap 15 and Palou turns a 69.1s lap to the 69.5s by Malukas. A lot of the tail-end drivers are pitting.

Lap 16 and Rahal is starting to close down on Malukas whose alternates appear to be tapering off. Rahal gets by and takes P2.

Lap 17 and Palou’s lead is 4.4s on Rahal, 6.5s on Malukas, and Kirkwood pits to trade alternates for primes. Dixon and McLaughlin also pit.

Lap 19 and Malukas is in to take primes.

Lap 20 and Palou’s lead is 5.2s on Rahal.

Lap 22 and the lead is 5.1s. Palou and Rahal are matched for lap times on primes. Lundgaard holds third on primes, 9.1s back.

Lap 23 and Ferrucci pits.

Lap 24 and Grosjean pits.

Lap 25 and Rahal pits to take new alternates. Palou holds 9.3s over Lundgaard and is now exposed to a caution as the last leader to stay out.

Lap 26 and Lundgaard pits. Palou stops at the end of the lap to take new alternates.

Lap 28 and Palou leads Rahal by 4.0s, Lundgaard by 7.6s, and Malukas by 9.6s.

Lap 29 and Palou turns a 69.8s lap to Rahal’s 69.2s which cuts his lead to 3.4s. Interesting.

Lap 30 and Palou matches Rahal with a 69.2s lap.

Lap 32 and the running order is Palou, Rahal, Lundgaard, Malukas, Krikwood, and Armstrong. Dixon is up to P10, McLaughlin is P11, O’Ward is P13, and Power is P18.

Lap 35 and Palou and Rahal continue to lap within a tenth or so of each other in the 69.2s-69.4s range on alternates. Malukas and Kirkwood, the first drivers on primes, are in the 69.8-69.9s range.

Lap 38 and the lead is holding at 3.7s. Likely 2-3 laps away before the alternates on Palou-Rahal-Lundgaard up front start to surrender. It’s a 69.4s for Palou, 69.5s for Rahal, and 69.3s for Lundgaard. Malukas in P4 did a 69.5s on primes.

Lap 40 and Palou has 4.2s on Rahal, did another metronomic 69.4s to Rahal’s 69.7s.

Lap 41 and Palou does a 69.2s lap. He’s making these alternates survives.

Lap 42 and Malukas pits to take primes.

Lap 43 and Palou’s lead is 6.4s. He’s getting life out of alternates that nobody else is matching. Did a 69.2s lap to Rahal’s 70.2s.

Lap 44 and Palou turns a 69.6s lap and has 6.9s on Rahal.

Lap 45 halfway and Palou pits for primes. If he ends up winning, it’s because of the extended speed he was able to coax out of his alternates during that stint where there was effectively no drop-off in performance.

Lap 46 and Rahal pits for alternates.

Lap 47 and Lundgaard takes the lead on a possible overcut maneuver. He’s got 21.7s over Palou who was 1.0s slower on new primes.

Lap 48 and Lundgaard has 22.1s on Palou.

Lap 49 and Palou matches Lundgaard with a 69.7s lap and holds the lead at 22.1s. Rahal is 29.5s down to the leader. Amazing job by Lundgaard to get this much life out of his alternates, which are more than 20 laps old.

Lap 50 and Lundgaard is in.

Lap 51 and Palou regains the lead while Lundgaard comes out in second ahead of Rahal. Both are on alternates. Brilliant driving and race strategy by the Arrow McLaren No. 7 entry.

Lap 53 and Palou leads Lundgaard by 7.3s. Will that lead shrink due to Palou’s primes?

Lap 54 and the lead stays at 7.3s. It’s Palou, Lundgaard, Rahal, Malukas, Kirkwood, and Armstrong as the top six.

Lap 59 and the performance disparity is showing each lap as Palou’s 69.7s was topped by Lundgaard’s 69.3 to carve the lead down to 5.0s.

Lap 61 and the lead is down to 4.8s.

Lap 62 and it’s now 4.4s.

Lap 64 and it’s 3.7s. Rahal is 8.6s down. Lundgaard is making his move.

Lap 65 and it’s 3.3s as Palou is coming up to lap Schumacher and has others to get past.

Lap 66 and Palou is in. Fights Schumacher out of the pits.

Lap 67 and Rahal and Malukas are in. Lundgaard has 27.0s on Palou who is in jeopardy of being leaped by Lundgaard in the pit stop exchange.

Lap 68 and Lundgaard turns a 70.2s lap to Palou’s 70.0s.

Lap 69 and Kirkwood pits. Lundgaard has 27.8s on Palou.

Lap 70 and Lundgaard pits. He’s got enough of a gap to possibly take the lead from Palou. But his right-rear tire changer has issue after issue tightening the wheel nut. He loses a ton of time and falls to P3 behind Rahal. Cruel luck.

Lap 71 and Palou leads Rahal by 10.8s and Lundgaard by 12.5s. Top six are on primes to the checkered flag.

Lap 74 and Palou leads Rahal by 11.4s and Lundgaard by 13.6s. Elsewhere, Dixon is up to P7 and Power is P12.

Lap 85 and Palou is in full control with 11.8s on Rahal, but Lundgaard is on Rahal’s tail, 12.2s back from the leader.

Lap 87 and Palou leads by 12.3s. He won last year by 16.0s. Ooof.

Lap 88 and Lundgaard takes P2 from Rahal.

Lap 90 and Palou wins his second race of the season.

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