Alex Palou was back to perfect form on Sunday (March 29) and went nearly unchallenged to net his second NTT IndyCar Series win of the 2026 season and back-to-back wins at Barber Motorsports Park, the fifth driver to ever win consecutive races at the Alabama circuit.
Palou won the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix from the pole for his 21st career victory and advanced to two points behind Kyle Kirkwood for the championship lead through the fourth race of the season.
“Incredible day for the No. 10 DHL Honda car,” Palou told FOX after the race. “Qualifying was one of the best car balances I ever drove. Today, in the race, it was really good at the beginning, really good at the end, but we suffered a little bit on the used [Primaries] we had to use; it was just a decision we took on strategy. But, incredible, incredible, another win here. I love this place. I love the fans. It’s been a great day.”
Palou won with a commanding 13.476 seconds, but the timesheet doesn’t tell the whole story.
Christian Lundgaard gave Palou the best challenge for the win and looked poised to fight to the end on fresh black Primary tires until his pit crew couldn’t tighten the right rear tire, costing him over 10 seconds in the pits. He was able to pass Graham Rahal in the closing laps to secure the runner-up finish.
All things remaining equal, Lundgaard was poised to take the fight to Palou in the race’s final stint, with a tire advantage to boot.
The Dane ran down Palou on new soft tires and looked to take advantage of Palou running in slower lap traffic until the mishandled pit stop. “I don’t think we can be unhappy with a 10th-to-second,” Lundgaard told FOX after the race.
Rahal started third and fended off David Malukas to the checkered flag to secure his first podium since 2023, when he finished second at the second Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race. He bore the flag for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing while his teammates, Mick Schumacher and Louis Foster, fought to stay on the lead lap ahead of the dominant Palou.
Malukas fell from second to fourth after starting on the soft red tire and finished as the highest Team Penske Chevrolet. He earned his second top five of the season. He saved over 100 seconds of Push to Pass but couldn’t secure his second podium of the year.
Kirkwood exits Barber with his best finish and first top five at the 2.3-mile road course.
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Marcus Armstrong, Scott Dixon, Santino Ferrucci, Marcus Armstrong and Josef Newgarden rounded out the top 10
While initially most teams came into the day thinking the red Alternate tire would be preferred, instead, the black Primary tires would show to have the pace for most drivers in the field.
The only incident on track was Rinus VeeKay spinning in turn 4, but otherwise there was no caution for cause.
2026 IndyCar Barber Race Results
IndyCar will take the next few weeks off and will return for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Tune into FOX for coverage of round five of the championship.
