Palou cruises to back-to-back INDYCAR victory at Barber Motorsports Park
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Chris Owens
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
Same as it ever was, pole-sitter Alex Palou absolutely schooled the field at Barber Motorsports Park Sunday for his second victory of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season.
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
The real intrigue emerging from the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst was the odd couple who shared the post-race podium with Palou in Birmingham, Ala. Rising series star Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren and veteran Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing injected a bit of drama into an event that has morphed into The Alex Palou Invitational.
The four-time/reigning series champion, Palou earned his second victory in four races this season at the wheel of the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou’s margin of victory was 13.2775-seconds over Lundgaard _ down ever-so-slightly from the massive 16.0035-second win he scored over the Dane last spring. For the record, Palou earned his first INDYCAR victory at BMP in 2021 by a scant 0.4016-seconds.
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“Incredible day,” said Palou, who led 79 of 90 laps around BMP’s picturesque 2.3-mile/17-turn natural terrain road-course. “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 rubber) that we had to use.
“Another win here. Love this place, love the fans. What a great day.”
Indeed, Palou’s third win at BMP raised his career total to 21, again at the expense of Lundgaard _ who led 10 laps en route to his best finish of the season, second podium of 2026 and 11th career top-three. Lundgaard also logged a race-high 11 on-track passes in his No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Christian Lundgaard, Alex Palou and Graham Rahal – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“Yeah, I mean, everything sounds great except the P2 part,” said Lundgaard, a 24-year-old native of Denmark. “I think we had a race-winning car today. Obviously it’s frustrating, the past many few races, we’ve produced such great race cars on Sunday. We’ve been lacking on Saturday. It’s just frustrating.
“Obviously you win races on Sunday, so that’s when you need to have a good car. I think we need to put ourselves in better positions. I think even with the pace and how the race panned out today, we had the car to win the race, we had the pace, we had the track position at the time.”
Christian Lundgaard – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Aaron Skillman
Lundgaard entered the pits at the end of Lap 69 for his final service. That’s when 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 and runaway leader Palou.
“I’m not really sure what happened in the pit stop,” Lundgaard said. “I’m not sure I can really comment too much on it. Again, it’s unfortunate. Obviously came out behind Graham there on the last stint and just wanted to really get that second place for the team, as well. It wasn’t just for me. This is where we were. At least with a bubble on pit road, let’s get the same result, not worse. We had the pace. Got by Graham. That was nice.”
SEE: Race Results
Rahal’s third-place in the No. 15 First Third Bank Honda was his first podium since August 2023 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course.
Graham Rahal – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“I felt like this was coming,” said Rahal, the 37-year-old son of team founder and 1986 Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby Rahal. “It’s a great reward for the guys and gals (at RLLR). Everybody has worked so hard to be back here. Heard all the noise and BS that we get to hear all the time.
“All weekend the car was in really good shape, very, very competitive, very comfortable. The race is actually the most challenging it was. It was extremely stable. In the race, as you guys could see, I was losing the rear a lot no matter what I felt like I could do on tire degradation. That’s been our Achilles’ heel so far this year. We’ve got some work to do.
“I mean, I’m super-happy for everybody on the No. 15. Great pit stops, great strategy. It’s a relief this early in the year to have a good result. Now our job is to go analyze and figure out why.”
David Malukas – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley
David Malukas continued the 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 Roger S. Penske’s juggernaut this season.
“I mean, we were quicker than David all day,” Rahal noted. “He did make a good charge at the end. I wasn’t so worried about him. I think I could have held Christian off. His strength was my weakness. Everywhere else we could pull him a little bit. I was dying in Turn 2 and 3. That was the best part of the track he had. Unfortunately, those two just didn’t blend very well.
“We did the best that we could. That’s life. He was obviously on a charge and we had done a few more laps than him on those tires. I knew it was going to be a battle until the end.”
Series leader Kyle Kirkwood completed the top-five finishers _ all from different teams _ in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global.
Santino Ferrucci – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci placed eighth after starting seventh in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet fielded by Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing.
“A really solid result for the team,” said Ferrucci, a 27-year-old native of Greenwich, Conn. “It was great to have our three veterans here with us from Homes For Our Troops today and overall, just really happy.
“I think we executed this weekend to best of our ability. There’s obviously little things here and there that you can nit-pick, but as a whole, getting a top-10 in qualifying and a top-10 in the race really kicks off the momentum for the season, especially considering we haven’t had the best of starts. The guys have put in a lot of work and it’s great to get a solid result.”
Meanwhile, Pato O’Ward soldiered through a problematic weekend that saw the Arrow McLaren ace finish 17th after starting 12th.
Pato O’Ward – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley
“It was a really difficult day for us here at Barber,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “I don’t have an answer right now as to why we struggled. I’m happy to see the No. 7 with Christian get a podium; I know they were fighting there for the win.
“There are things we need to work on as a team, but I’m glad one of the cars from the team was strong. We need to see where we went wrong, but we weren’t all that different than their car, so it was a very confusing day and one of those weekends where I felt helpless inside of the race car. The good thing about getting beat like this is you kick it into a different gear. We’ll be pushing hard to make sure we don’t let something like this happen again.”
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
Palou’s victory over the other 24 drivers in the field also delivered this message _the 28-year-old Spaniard has gone on to win the Astor Challenge Cup as series champion in the same season as both of his prior Barber victories. Palou remained second to Kirkwood in the 2026 series standings with this victory but trimmed the gap from 26 to two points.
While Sunday’s margin of victory was the biggest in a series race since Palou’s rout last spring at Barber, the final gap might be misleading. Palou led by 7.2-seconds on Lap 52 while running on a used pair of Firestone Firehawk primary tires. Lundgaard started to chip away at that gap, gaining nearly a half-second on some laps on the quicker but less durable alternates.
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley
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, only to end up dealing with that slow right rear-wheel change. Palou was basically home-free, although Lundgaard maintained he might have been able to catch-and-pass his BMP nemesis.
“I think so,” Lundgaard said. “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.”
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
Palou led Rahal by 10.8-seconds after that pit drama and cruised to the finish in a rare, caution-free race. Still, Lundgaard and Rahal engaged in a spirited sprint 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. Rahal then held off the charging Malukas to keep the podium spot and momentarily silence the social media critics of his race craft and the relative competitive standing of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Alex Palou – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“I think you guys know what I mean about that,” Rahal said when asked about his earlier BS remark. “I don’t have to say a whole lot. There’s enough bullshit out there that I got to deal with.
“It’s nice. It’s nice. I’ll still hear it. It’s funny, you read Twitter every day, ‘He can’t qualify.’ I qualified in the second row last week. Just shut up. There’s a whole lot of dumb-asses out in this world right now. Got to live with it. Pardon my French.”
Next up on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the 51st edition of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19. The 2026 event marks the 42nd time INDYCAR will compete on the 1.968-mile/11-turn Southern California street circuit.
Alessandro de Tullio – INDY NXT by Firestone – Grand Prix of Alabama – Photo by Chris Owens
One day after another heartbreak, Alessandro de Tullio sealed the deal. Rookie de Tullio earned his first career INDY NXT by Firestone victory Sunday, driving his No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing entry to victory by 0.3635-seconds over the No. 28 Susan G. Komen car of Andretti Global’s Max Taylor.
SEE: Race Results
De Tullio delivered the first victory in INDYCAR’s developmental series for the team owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt Jr. since Ed Carpenter won the inaugural Freedom 100 in May 2003 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That was the Foyt organization’s last full-time season in INDY NXT before returning this year.
Alessandro de Tullio – INDY NXT by Firestone – Grand Prix of Alabama – Photo by Joe Skibinski
“It’s incredible,” said de Tullio, a 19-year-old of Argentinian-American descent. “I want to thank first the whole No. 14 crew for such a great car. We knew we could have done it two races ago in Arlington (Texas). We could have had it yesterday. But sometimes that’s the way racing goes.
“The most important thing is we kept our head down, kept focused and third time is a charm, I guess.”
Nikita Johnson, 17, retained the series lead by finishing third in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR entry. Johnson won the first race of the double-header weekend Saturday when de Tullio and Taylor tangled and spun out while running first and second, respectively, with eight laps to go.
Nikita Johnson, Alessandro de Tullio and Max Taylor – INDY NXT by Firestone – Grand Prix of Alabama – Photo by Chris Owens
Enzo Fittipaldi chased Johnson down the stretch of Sunday’s 30-lapper but ended up fourth in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports car. Fittipaldi is a 24-year-old Brazilian-American native of Miami and grandson of two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil.
Tymek Kucharczyk of Poland continued his consistent rookie season by placing fifth in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports entry, his fourth top-five finish in as many starts.
Pole-sitter de Tullio led all 30 laps of the caution-free race, but Taylor pushed him for the duration on the 2.3-mile/17-turn natural terrain road-course. The gap between the top two ranged from five- to seven-tenths-of-a-second for most of the race. But on the final lap, Taylor closed to within three-tenths _ and visions of Saturday were revived.
In the opening race, Taylor made a bold move for the lead in Turn 16 that didn’t work. His left front wheel touched the right rear of de Tullio, forcing both cars into a spin. Johnson squeezed through for the lead and his second win of the season.
This time de Tullio never let Taylor get close enough to challenge for the lead and powered to the checkered flag. The victory erased the sting of disappointment from Saturday and from March 15 on the Streets of Arlington, where de Tullio earned his first career pole but was shoved out of the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 1 and ended up 11th.
“I managed as best as I could, but unfortunately it fell away from us there in the middle of the race,” de Tullio said. “The rears (tires) were pretty dead, so I was just hanging on and trying to cover with Push-to- Pass and cover what I could. We got it done; that’s most important.”
Taylor _ winner of the inaugural event in Arlington _ added philosophically, “It’s points. It’s a long year, and I didn’t realize that (Saturday) when I made that a bit of an aggressive move. Alex did a really good job (Sunday), didn’t make any mistakes. That’s all he had to do, and I was pushing him the whole way, trying to get him to mess up. It was a good race.”
The series will take a break before returning for the second of five double-header weekends this season, May 8-9 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course.
NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 156; 2, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 154; 3, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 121; 4, David Malukas, Team Penske, 116; 5, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 113; 6, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 106; 7, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 99; 8, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 99; 9, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 98; 10, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 85;
11, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 83; 12, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 83; 13, Will Power, Andretti Global, 77; 14, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 65; 15, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 62; 16, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 62; 17, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 57; 18, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 55; 19, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 51; 20, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 51;
21, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 46; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 44; 23, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 38; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 35; 25, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 31.
FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)
Note _ All times Eastern
Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)
Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)
Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 24 _ 110th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, 10 a.m.
Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., 9 p.m.
Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m.
Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA
Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon
Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA
Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.
Note _ Dates and times subject to change.
2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)
Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)
Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)
Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)
Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)
Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1
Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2
Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit
Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill.
Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1
Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2
Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1
Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2
Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.
Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway
Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.
Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1
Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2
