LEEDS, Ala. — Nothing seemed to go right for Pato O’Ward at Barber Motorsports Park in Sunday’s (March 29) Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
After starting the weekend third in Friday’s opening practice session, the 2022 Barber winner qualified 12th and finished 17th in the fourth NTT IndyCar Series race of 2026.
“I had nothing today,” a frustrated O’Ward told Frontstretch. “Really struggled with the car all day. You know, we also weren’t the best in pit lane, bummed for Christian [Lundgaard] there. He was really strong, so I was, you know, hoping for the team to be able to get that win away from [Alex] Palou.”
Teammate Christian Lundgaard finished second after his chance to snatch the lead from eventual race winner Alex Palou slipped away due to a slow right rear tire change on his final pit stop.
Alex Palou Wins Barber After McLaren Pit Fumble
O’Ward’s race was bad from the green flag. After getting squeezed at the start, the 2022 Barber winner dropped four positions on the first lap of the race. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet moved around Rinus VeeKay to get 15th position, where O’Ward remained until the first pit stop sequence.
After starting on a new set of Firestone’s red sidewall alternate compound tires, O’Ward’s team switched to a new set of the black sidewall primary compound tires. The 2018 Indy NXT champion blended out of the pits in 13th position with Alexander Rossi and teammate Nolan Siegel no longer in front of him.
After the second pit stop sequence, Rossi moved back ahead of O’Ward, who was now on another new set of the Alternate tires. The third and final pit stop sequence, however, dropped O’Ward down to 16th, which became 17th after Romain Grosjean got around him.
O’Ward’s position did not change and he finished less than a second behind Scott McLaughlin.
“As for the No. 5 side today, we started the weekend strong,” O’Ward said. “And then we, every session that went on, we just got weaker and weaker and weaker and I don’t have an explanation for it.
“I don’t think the guys here have an explanation for it either. It’s very frustrating, and yeah, we f—ing sucked today.”
O’Ward was very clear that there were no lessons to take away from his weekend at Barber.
“We got our a– kicked. That’s what we can take away.”
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19th.
