Alex Palou Takes IndyCar Pole at Barber

Alex Palou earned his first pole of the season and ninth of his NTT IndyCar Series career at Barber Motorsports Park Saturday (May 3) for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix..

Palou put out a best lap time of 1:07.2918 seconds (123.046 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six round, besting Scott McLaughlin by 0.1469 seconds.

Palou will look to extend his streak of three straight top-two finishes to start the 2025 season. With victories at St. Petersburg and The Thermal Club, he enters Sunday’s race with a 34-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood.

While there was rain in the second practice session, the wet weather held off for qualifying.

Firestone Fast Six

Palou’s lap time of 1:07.2918 meant that McLaughlin wouldn’t snag another pole in qualifying at Barber.

Colton Herta starts third behind Palou and McLaughlin.

There were no incidents in this round.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
1.	Alex Palou	10	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
2.	Scott McLaughlin	3	Team Penske Chevrolet
3.	Colton Herta	29	Andretti Global Honda
4.	Will Power	12	Team Penske Chevrolet
5.	Rinus VeeKay	18	Dale Coyne Racing Honda
6.	Nolan Siegel	6	Arrow McLaren Honda

Round 2

Two surprises that made it out of the second round and into the Fast Six were VeeKay and Siegel. However, Josef Newgarden wasn’t able to get a fast enough lap to battle for the pole, going 1:07.7684 seconds. He will start ninth.

Christian Lundgaard was the first driver below the cut and will start seventh.

There were no notable issues during Round Two.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
7.	Christian Lundgaard	7	Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
8.	Pato O’Ward	5	Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
9.	Josef Newgarden	2	Team Penske Chevrolet
10.	Kyffin Simpson	8	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11.	Marcus Armstrong	66	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
12	Louis Foster	45	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

Round 1, Group 1

The opening group had a couple of issues for some drivers. Will Power had vibrations and went off track after a spin, but was able to make the top six in this group. Christian Rasmussen also went for a slide during the session.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
13.	Santino Ferrucci	14	AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet
15.	Alexander Rossi	20	Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
17.	Christian Rasmussen	21	Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
19.	Conor Daly	76	Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
21.	Graham Rahal	15	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
23.	Marcus Ericsson	28	Andretti Global Honda
25.	Jacob Abel	51	Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Round 1, Group 2

The biggest story from the second group was Scott Dixon going for a spin and off track near the end of the period. Dixon is set to start a dismal 26th Sunday.

Position	Driver	Number	Team
14.	Felix Rosenqvist	60	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
16.	Callum Ilott	90	PREMA Racing Chevrolet
18.	Kyle Kirkwood	27	Andretti Global Honda
20.	David Malukas	4	AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet
22.	Sting Ray Robb	77	Juncos Hollinger Racing
24.	Robert Shwartzman	83	PREMA Racing Chevrolet
26.	Scott Dixon	9	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
27.	Devlin DeFrancesco	30	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda

IndyCar Qualifying Results at Barber

The race airs Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX.