Palou perfect at Barber as pit stop problem thwarts Lundgaard

Palou’s nearest rival for the lion’s share of the race would be McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who charged through from 10th on the grid to be a contender.

Lundgaard had a shot to win the race, only for a slow final pit stop to cruel the Danish driver of having any chance of an undercut.

Lungaard wound up returning to the race after his final pit stop behind Graham Rahal, and with three laps to go finally got by into the downhill Turn 5 hairpin.

Rahal hung onto third place, despite a late charge from Team Penske’s David Malukas.

Palou’s win puts him two points off the lead of the IndyCar Series points with Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, who finished fifth.

“Incredible day for the #10 DHL Honda car. I told you, qualifying was one of the best cars, car balances I ever drove,” said Palou, who racked up his 21st win in the series.

“Today, in the race, it was really good in the beginning, really good at the end. We suffered a little bit on the used [hard compound tyres]. It was just a decision we took on strategy.

“Incredible. Another win. I love this place. It’s been a great day.”

TIME LOST ON PIT LANE FOR LUNDGAARD! 😬 pic.twitter.com/BqwL62Lbhd

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 29, 2026

For Lundgaard, it was a bittersweet second place finish.

Asked whether he had enough to challenge Palou for the win, Lundgaard said he thought he did.

“The pace that we had and just how we were catching him, I think so,” said Lundgaard.

“It’s unfortunate. I think there was a bobble on the pit stop. I don’t know if it was my fault or the car went down too fast.

“At the end of the day I wanted to go out there and repass Graham, just to make up for that and make a statement that we got it.

“The guys have done an amazing job and I don’t think that’s really ever happened. One in almost 100 starts, I think it’s okay.”

The 90-lap race went incident-free, which limited any radical strategies.

Marcus Armstrong was New Zealand’s leading interest in sixth while Scott Dixon improved from 13th to seventh. Scott McLaughlin, meanwhile, went backwards from 14th to 16th.

IndyCar returns with the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19.

Results: IndyCar Series Alabama Indy Grand Prix, Barber Motorsports Park