Palou Is Unstoppable En Route To Victory In Alabama

Alex Palou celebrates in victory lane Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment photo)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou proved Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park that when you give him track position, he’s not about to squander it.

The three-time and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion started from the pole and put on a surgical drive to win the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, leading 81 of 90 laps in the No. 10 HRC Honda.

Working a three-stop strategy, Palou only trailed briefly following each of his pit stops in the caution-free race. He cycled out to the top spot for good with 33 to go and controlled the remaining distance.

Palou ultimately took the checkered flag 16.0035 seconds clear of runner-up Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren. It marked the 14th Indy car win of Palou’s six-year career and the fifth time he’s won from the pole.

“It was a perfect day,” said Palou, who became the first driver to win three of the season’s first four races since his CGR teammate Scott Dixon accomplished the feat in 2020.

“I’m super proud of everybody that has been working on the (No.) 10 car at Chip Ganassi Racing. The car today was amazing,” Palou continued. “We were super fast and I just had a ton of fun out there. I was a bit lonely [toward the end], but I loved it.”

Four years removed from his first Indy car win, which also came at Barber, Palou added the latest in a series of memorable moments with CGR at a track that he considers one of his all-time favorites.

Alex Palou (10) leads a line of cars Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. (James Black/Penske Entertainment photo)

“Doing this four years later with the same team, at the same place I won for the first time in this series, it’s amazing. It really is,” Palou noted. “We’ve always been good here. I love this place and every single lap here is so special. This one is important to all of us.”

The 28-year-old Spaniard also expanded his championship lead to 60 points over Lundgaard, who moved into second place in the standings.

Lundgaard’s masterful drive from seventh on the grid to second included several quick pit stops, allowing him to leapfrog Andretti Global’s Colton Herta during the second pit cycle.

The Danish driver maintained position behind Palou the rest of the way, notching his best finish of the season thus far and his third straight podium in his first year carrying McLaren’s papaya livery.

He had nothing for Palou, however, and admitted as such after crossing the finish line.

“We knew we could go aggressive after qualifying (having an extra set of softer, red-sidewall tires from being knocked out in Q2),” Lundgaard said. “The car hadn’t been as good all weekend as it was when we tested here, so it was a bit tough mentally dealing with that … and we didn’t really have time to make a lot of changes because of an issue in [practice] one.

“But we made one good adjustment overnight and it was a deal breaker. I think that’s why we ended on the podium today.”

Scott McLaughlin, who was seeking his third straight Barber Indy car win, started second next to Palou but ended up on the final step of the podium when all was said and done.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay put together a remarkable drive, finishing fourth ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power, who closed the top five in a rebound run for his No. 12 team.

Pato O’Ward, Herta, Alexander Rossi, Nolan Siegel, and Josef Newgarden closed out the top 10.

Using longer stints to jump ahead at the very end of the pit cycles, McLaughlin led three laps, while Marcus Armstrong was out front for six circuits Sunday. It was all Palou otherwise.

Notably, six-time champion Dixon charged from 26th to finish 12th and was the biggest mover.

With Barber going caution-free, the NTT IndyCar Series has now run 339 consecutive green flag laps, dating back to a lap-seven restart in the season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

An opening-lap yellow at St Petersburg has been the only slowdown so far this season.

Next for the NTT IndyCar Series is the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where – fittingly enough – Palou was victorious one year ago.

Broadcast coverage of the last race before the 109th Indianapolis 500 is slated for Saturday, May 10 at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the IndyCar Radio Network, and SiriusXM IndyCar Nation, channel 218.