By: Spencer Neff
March 28, 2026
Qualifying Results Provisional Starting Lineup
Continuing his recent mastery of permanent road courses, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou charged to his first pole of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign. After posting a best lap of 1m06.2341 (125.011 mph), Palou notched the 12th pole of his career. This marks the 107th pole in a combined 1,627 starts for Car Owner Chip Ganassi’s team in more than 36 seasons.
Palou leads the 25-car field to green in Sunday’s 90-lap Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. He started on the pole last year in a dominant victory and has won at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn course one additional time in five previous starts. The 2021 victory was the first of his career.
The pole for he and the No. 10 team makes them a fourth different pole winner this year and fifth different one dating back to last year’s finale at Nashville.
Round 3-Fast Six
The lone Chevrolet starting among Sunday’s Top Six alongside five Hondas was Team Penske’s David Malukas, who ended the final round .1137 of a second back of Palou.
Malukas has the fourth start on the front row in his career and second in three races after winning pole at Phoenix. Row 2 features Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal and Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong. The latter has their best qualifying effort this year while Rahal matches his best 2026 start (Phoenix).
Points leader Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global starts fifth, his best effort of the year to date. Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean matches his sixth-place qualifying position from the season opener in St. Petersburg.
Round 2-Fast 12
Kirkwood led the half-dozen making up the fight for the pole after a best lap of 1m06.0389 seconds (125.381 mph). The remaining five drivers in the proceeding session were Palou, Malukas, Armstrong, Rahal and Grosjean.
Santino Ferrucci, Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden, Christian Lundgaard, Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward did not advance. They will start seventh through 12th in Sunday’s race.
Round 1
Palou started qualifying by posting the best lap during the first group in round 1 of qualifying, a 1m06.1032 lap (125.259 mph).
Making their way into the Fast 12 along with Palou were Lundgaard, Rahal, Armstrong, Rossi and Ferrucci.
Just over four minutes into the first group, Will Power suffered a brake failure entering Turn 5. The Andretti Global driver skidded off track and into the outside tire barrier.
He climbed from the wreckage under his own power. Due to causing the red flag, Power was dropped to 12th in the session, docked his two best laps and would not advance to the second round. He will start 23rd in tomorrow’s race.
In addition to Power, the following drivers would not make the second round- Scott Dixon, Nolan Siegel, Christian Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson and Caio Collet.
Group 2: Kirkwood was fastest during the second, notching a best lap of 1m06.231 (125.051 mph). He would move on to the second round with Malukas, Grosjean, Newgarden, Ericsson and O’Ward.b
Sting Ray Robb was assessed a penalty after impeding Grosjean during the session and was docked his best lap, relegating him to 13th. He will start 25th on the grid tomorrow.
After not advancing, Scott McLaughlin, Rinus VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Mick Schumacher, Louis Foster and Dennis Hauger will start on the outside of rows 7-12.
Up Next
Here is the race day schedule for tomorrow at Barber Motorsports Park. Stay with IndyCar1909.com and our social media platforms with the latest on the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
At-track schedule (All Times Local/Central Time):
Sunday, March 29
9:05-9:35 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, FS1 (Live)
Noon – FOX on air
12:10 p.m. – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix “Drivers, start your engines”
12:17 p.m. – Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (90 laps / 207 miles), FOX (Live)
Header Image By Chris Owens/INDYCAR
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