The IndyCar Afterburn: Alabama 2026

Today’s theme music: “Pop the Trunk” by Yelawolf

Barber Motorsports Park, named for its recently-deceased founder, was originally built to serve as a motorcyclist’s paradise, and while it remains that, it’s also become a staple of American open-wheel racing. This year’s Alabama Indy Grand Prix served as the first permanent road course race of the 2026 IndyCar season, and just like last year, the drivers were good little boys who ran nothing but green flag laps and ultimately all finished the race with their cars intact. We still had our pockets of drama, though, and it’s set up a very exciting situation going into one of the marquee races of the year. So let’s get into the ups, downs, and all-arounds from Birmingham and see who finished the opening month of the year in a favorable position.

Palou cleans house

If we’re just looking at the top of the leaderboard, Barber went exactly the same as last year. Once again, Álex Palou started from pole, and once again, he overwhelmingly ruled this race from flag to flag. Out of 90 laps, Palou led 79, including the entire first half of the race, and often did so by absurd margins. Indeed, he took the checkered flag with over 13 seconds to spare, giving El Gorila his second win of the year and his second successful defense of a local crown. He’s as imperious on road courses as ever, and that could turn out to mean everything by the end of the season.

Lundgaard fumbles shot at victory

If anyone could have stopped Palou today, it was Christian Lundgaard. With Pato O’Ward running anonymously in the midfield for the first time all year, Lundgaard was the absolute tip of the papaya arrows, charging hard up from 10th early, posting the fastest lap, and leading ten laps on the day. Going into his last pit stop, all signs pointed to the Dane and the Spaniard dueling for victory, but once Lundgaard got there, the rear right tire changer fumbled the whole thing away, keeping the #7 in the box for over 17 seconds. An emphatic crossup with three laps to go at least put him back in 2nd, securing Lundgaard’s second podium finish of the year, but he’ll be ruing what could have been his first win in orange.

Rahal shocks for bronze

Rahal Letterman Lanigan have been putting in work all offseason to upgrade into a fighting force, and this weekend saw it bear real fruit for the first time. Family scion Graham Rahal surprised with a P3 start, then made jaws drop by running easily his strongest race in years, staying top 3 practically all day and leading the one lap Palou and Lundgaard didn’t. It also helped that he, like his two rivals for the win, started on hard tires, a strategy call that turned out to define the race for everyone.

However, what looked like a potential cruise to the silver became much more complicated down the stretch. As the final laps ticked down, Rahal found himself with far less push-to-pass than Christian Lundgaard, who managed to overcome the disastrous final stop and retake 2nd place. That put Rahal in the clutches of David Malukas, who’d started on the front row, did the best of the soft-tire starters, and had an absurd amount of P2P in the bank. With Rahal down to single digits and Malukas carrying over a full minute’s worth going into the final lap, the veteran put all his wiles to use and, by the skin of his teeth, denied Lil Dave.

That meant Rahal took his first podium since 2023, RLL’s first podium since 2024, and the team’s first anywhere other than the Indianapolis road course since Christian Lundgaard won Toronto for them. For the first time in a long time, Rahal has little to complain about, and with the big four’s stranglehold on the podium places taking its first big hit, the other midfield teams will be hungry to get their drivers a moment of glory.

Kirkwood consistent as always

National Championship leader Kyle Kirkwood had his worst day of the season so far, but it was still a day many other drivers would have killed for. While not much of a threat for the win, the Floridian still fought well, threatening Rahal for the podium early on, and ultimately came home 5th, and combined with Pato’s poor showing, that leaves Captain Kirk as the only driver with nothing but top-fives to his name this year.

Power climbs from the wreckage

After a crash in qualifying, Will Power had to start from practically the back of the grid and seemed doomed to another wasted race day. However, the Australian made the most of the opportunities in front of him, and it paid off with an eleven-place climb to 12th by day’s end. It’s been an up-and-down start to his Andretti tenure for sure, but moments of resilience like this show why the team was so quick to snatch him off the market.

Grosjean peaks too early

Dale Coyne’s Romain Grosjean has long had an affinity for Barber, and he showed that again by qualifying into the Fast 6 for the second time this year. Grosjean was a scene-stealer throughout the early and middle portions of the race, getting into multiple engaging fights for position with the likes of Marcus Ericsson and Santino Ferrucci, but the Frenchman from Geneva ultimately lost ground late and finished a mere 13th. Given that Rinus VeeKay took the same car all the way to 4th place at this track last year, it’s a disappointing result, but there’s still plenty of time for Grosjean to recapture and surpass the heights of his St. Pete run.

Championship Collage: Palou closes in as Honda pulls away

Álex Palou may have swept the bonuses to score maximum points, but Kyle Kirkwood leaves Alabama with the National Championship lead still in hand. With just two points separating them, their fight at Long Beach will be one to watch. Christian Lundgaard stands 3rd, David Malukas and Josef Newgarden lurk close behind, Pato O’Ward rounds out the triple-digit points club, and Scott McLaughlin sits tied with Marcus Ericsson for 7th with Marcus Armstrong one point behind them both.

In a rough day for the rookies, Caio Collet prevailed for a second consecutive race just by being the only one of the trio to finish on the lead lap.  The Brazilian continues to close in on Adidas superstar Dennis Hauger for the Rookie of the Year lead, with just six points separating the two. Mick Schumacher continues to limp behind them both.

In the Manufacturers’ Cup chase, Honda are starting to build momentum, taking the pole, the win, and two slots on the podium. Their 1-3 to Chevrolet’s 2-4 extends the gap to 47 points, and with Honda’s home race coming up, they have every reason to floor it and leave their opponents in the dust.

Finally, in our official unofficial Nations’ Cup standings, Denmark are the big winners, leapfrogging Sweden and Mexico to get right to the doorstep of the podium, which remains unchanged with the United States, Spain, and New Zealand standing in that order. France also had a decent return, jumping two spots thanks to winning a tiebreaker over Brazil.

Future Flames: long live Long Beach

After the busiest March in series history, we’ll run just one race in April to close out our Sun Belt swing, but what a race it is. The Grand Prix of Long Beach is the most coveted IndyCar race with right turns involved, and smart strategy will be paramount for those looking to claim the crown in SoCal.

There’s a lot of organizational pride on the line here, as Andretti, Ganassi, and Penske all look to become the first team with eight wins at this race. On an individual level, Kyle Kirkwood hopes to cement the first local dynasty since reunification, as winning here back-to-back would make three wins in four years. His teammate, the revitalized Marcus Ericsson, will look to convert Andretti’s ever-present strength at this track into a needed victory. And, of course, we can’t forget Álex Palou, who’s finished in the top 5 every time he’s raced here, including three podiums, but never reached the top step. Could this be the year King Kong finally climbs this skyscraper?