Alex Palou is quickly becoming the Max Verstappen of the NTT IndyCar Series, as he continued his dominant start to the season by winning at Barber Motorsports Park by over 16 seconds.
Sunday’s (May 4) race was his second career triumph in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, earning his third win in the first four races of 2025. The three-stop strategy was executed to perfection and his No. 10 HRC Honda Chip Ganassi Racing crew was flawless in the pits. Even a charging Christian Lundgaard couldn’t close the gap any tighter than 5 seconds to make it interesting.
“It was a perfect day, I would say a perfect weekend,” Palou said. “First time we’ve worked that No. 10 HRC livery. Super proud of everybody that has been working on the 10 car and Chip Ganassi Racing, HRC As well. Honestly it was perfect day, the car was amazing and super fast and I had a ton of day. I was a bit lonely there but I loved it, it was an amazing day ”
Aside from the win, Palou started from pole and led the most laps, earning maximum points, which padded his championship lead even more.
“It’s amazing, we’ve always been really good here,” Palou said. “I love this place, every single lap feels amazing in an IndyCar.”
Lundgaard made significant progress during the second round of pit stops, passing his teammate Pato O’Ward and leaping over front-row starter Scott McLaughlin. His runner-up result is his third podium in his first four races with Arrow McLaren Racing.
“It’s awesome, its everything we could hope for but much better,” Lundgaard said. “The No. 7 Velo Chevy McLaren crew has done an awesome job all year. In Thermal we proved it on pace, strategy was good but the 10 car still beat us. We put the car in the wall in qualifying at Long Beach, and raced forward to the podium, and the crew did an awesome job on strategy. And once again we did so today.”
Defending winner McLaughlin couldn’t nail down the three-peat, and valiantly made a charge at the start to get around Palou. However things strung out and he placed on the podium for the first time in 2025.
“The Good Ranchers Chevy has been fast the last few years, we just didn’t have enough today,” McLaughlin said. “Props to Alex, and Lundgaard as well, super quick, but we were third third-best car today, that was it. Very interesting race, wish we had a little bit more tire life on our car, but overall, we’re all good.”
Dale Coyne Racing driver Rinus VeeKay placed fourth, the team’s first top five since 2023. Will Power rounded out the top five.
Palou led 81 of the 90 laps, and never felt any heat for the lead after the first few laps. From there, the battle was on for second, swapping between McLaughlin, Colton Herta, and Lundgaard. Herta had a promising run going, but during his second stop stalled the car, dropping him from second to eighth. He finished seventh.
Race strategy was less mixed in this running at Barber than years past, where the two or three-stop calls put folks into different cycles. With Palou’s blitzing pace, and the third race in a row with no cautions, it made that call mute. Every team opted for three or more stops.
Other notable runs included Scott Dixon, who charged from 26th to 12th, and Nolan Siegel, who earned his second career top 10, first on a road course.
If any driver in the paddock had hoped their work in the offseason had closed the gap to the three-time champion, they need to think again. Palou has had a near-perfect start to the season, with a second at Long Beach being the only time he hasn’t finished on the top step. Even Sunday, he crossed the line with over 60 seconds left in his push-to-pass reserve.
Further, this was the first win of the year where he led the most laps, using pit strategy to get ahead of other dominant cars at St. Petersburg and Thermal. Now, with the speed figured out, he heads to the Sonsio Grand Prix as the defending winner and an even larger points lead than he had before today.
2025 IndyCar Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix Results
The series moves to Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to start the Month of May, with the next race the Sonsio Grand Prix. Coverage will begin Saturday (May 10) on Fox at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and frequent editions of Inside IndyCar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.