Palou executes a total walkover at Barber as IndyCar stays all-green

If you like walk-off home runs, that’s what fans witnessed for two straight hours on Sunday at the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix.

Polesitter Alex Palou led the field of 27 drivers and 11 teams to green for the 90-lap race around the 2.3-mile road course and put on another masterclass performance as the Spaniard effectively led the entire race—except for the brief periods after he pitted—then stretched his lead with ease and recorded his third victory from four races. He finished second in the one he didn’t win…

Although Palou’s dominance has been everything his Chip Ganassi Racing team had hoped for in 2025, it made for another processional race which, remarkably, wasn’t helped by going caution-free from flag to flag. In fact, at lap 49, IndyCar recorded its 300th consecutive green lap of racing this season which isn’t anybody’s fault, but with a breakaway championship leader and no opportunities for restarts and major passing opportunities, The Palou Show motored on to his benefit—and Honda’s — which took its fourth straight victory of the year.

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard sent another message by passing both of his teammates early in the race to charge forward and claim second in the No. 7 Chevy, his third podium in the last three contests. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, winner here the last two years, had no answer for Palou or Lundgaard and placed a distant third.

Nice save by Santino Ferrucci. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/8qklAwiXJG

— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) May 4, 2025

Palou started in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on the faster alternate tires, switched to the harder primaries for his second stint, and with Andretti Global’s Colton Herta chasing him on alternates, the lead should have changed hands, but Palou actually extended his lead by nearly four seconds and then spent the rest of the race on alternates.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay was the other story of the day after starting fifth and finishing fourth in the No. 18 Honda for IndyCar’s smallest team. He held off Penske’s Will Power in fifth with the No. 12 Chevy and O’Ward in sixth with the No. 5 Chevy. Herta, who was on pace to take second, was felled by a slow pit stop that relegated his No. 27 Honda to seventh.

The only adversity to strike throughout the day was on pit lane as half the field seemed to have at least one bad stop due to fuel or tires taking longer than necessary, but on track, the field was well-behaved as the streak of full-green racing that started at Thermal and continued through Long Beach went uninterrupted at Barber under overcast skies and relatively cool conditions in 65-degree weather.

It took more than 30 minutes to get into the woodland facility Sunday morning, which spoke to the great turnout by fans who got to witness one of the most remarkable drives of Palou’s young career.

Key moment

Palou’s second stint on Firestone’s harder primary compound should have exposed him to Herta, who was on the softer alternates, but Palou managed to post laps that were consistently faster than the Andretti driver, adding multiple seconds to his lead during the stint where Herta should have caught and passed him based on tire grip.

It simply made no sense as Palou turned a 1m10.3s lap on harder tires to Herta’s 1m10.7s on softer rubber on lap 36, for example, with both running in clean air. This should have been reversed, but Palou was on another planet.

Race notes

Palou streaked away to lead the field into Turn 1 as McLaughlin and Herta followed closely behind. Palou and McLaughlin were the only two up front to start on Firestone’s faster alternate tires.

Lap 3 and Lundgaard takes P6 from teammate Nolan Siegel. Lundgaard started P8 and passed teammate O’Ward, then Siegel to lead Arrow McLaren.

Lap 4 and Palou holds 1.1s over McLaughlin. Alexander Rossi on alternates is up to P9 from P15.

Lap 7 and Palou’s lead is out to 2.2s on McLaughlin and 4.1s on Herta. Josef Newgarden, who started ninth, is back to 15th, having started on primaries and been passed by a cluster of drivers on alternates.

Lap 9 and Palou’s on a tear, up 3.2s on second and 5.4s on third. How long will the alternates last at this pace?

Lap 10 and the top 10 is Palou, McLaughlin, Herta, Will Power, Rinus VeeKay, Lundgaard, Siegel, O’Ward, Rossi, and Marcus Armstrong. Marcus Ericsson pits.

Lap 11 and Palou’s out to 3.9s.

Lap 14 and it’s 4.9s over McLaughlin.

Lap 15 and Palou’s up to 5.7s over the Penske driver. Newgarden pits.

Lap 16 and it’s 6.2s. Scott Dixon pits, trading primaries for alternates.

Lap 17 and it’s 7.1s. Kyle Kirkwood and O’Ward pit. Slow stop for Kirkwood.

Lap 18 and it’s 8.1s. Lundgaard pits, taking alternates.

Lap 19 and McLaughlin pits, taking primaries. Power pits as well, taking alternates.

Lap 20 and Palou has 10.0s over Herta. Kyffin Simpson pits, but has a long left-rear tire change that adds seconds to his stop.

Lap 21 and Palou’s tires are surrendering as Herta on primaries cut the lead to 9.4s.

Lap 22 and Herta pits to take alternates.

Lap 23 and Palou is struggling to put last-place Devlin DeFrancesco down a lap.

Lap 23 and Palou pits for primary tires.

Lap 27 and Palou retakes the lead after Armstrong pits. He’s 4.6s up on Herta, but Herta’s on the preferred alternates. If he can catch and pass Palou, the race could be his—he has nothing but alternates to use to the end while Palou spends this stint on primaries.

Lap 30 and Palou is 5.5s up on Herta and 8.1s on McLaughlin. Also, at the one-third point, we’re caution-free…

Lap 31 and it’s 6.1s.

Lap 38 and it’s 7.5s.

Of the drivers who had poor qualifying sessions, Kirkwood is up from P18 to P12, Dixon is up to P18 from P26, and some with solid qualifying efforts have gone rearward, starting with Siegel, who had a slow first stop and is back in P9.

Lap 40 and Lundgaard and Newgarden pit. Palou has 8.0s on Herta.

Lap 42 and O’Ward, Power, and Kirkwood pit. Palou’s lead is down to 7.5s.

Lap 43 and it’s back to 8.0s. McLaughlin pits from third to take alternates.

Lap 44 and Lundgaard passes McLaughlin for P12.

Lap 45 and Palou’s up 8.2s over Herta, 12.4s on VeeKay, 14.6s on Armstrong, 15.9s on Rossi, and 24.7s on Rosenqvist.

Lap 46 and Herta pits. More pit stop issues and he loses four positions.

Lap 47 and Palou pits to take alternates.

Lap 49 and IndyCar has completed 300 straight laps of green running this season. Wild.

Lap 52 and Palou’s back to the lead after Armstrong pitted and had…issues in the pits.

Lap 53 and Palou has 5.8s on Lundgaard and 8.7s on Mclaughlin.

Lap 56 and Palou has 6.1s on Lundgaard.

Lap 59 and in traffic, Palou’s lead has come down to 5.1s on Lundgaard.

Lap 65 and Palou’s lead sits at 5.0s over Lundgaard.

Lap 66 and Palou and Lundgaard pit for new alternates as McLaughlin inherits the lead. Palou did the last stint on used alternates to Lundgaard’s new tires.

Lap 67 and VeeKay stops. Lost wheel nut slows his stop. Pit lane has not been friendly today.

Lap 68 and Palou is third with 6.8s over Lundgaard; the top three need to do their last stops.

Lap 70 and Palou is 6.8s clear of Lundgaard and 13.1s on McLaughlin.

Lap 71 and Palou is 7.5s clear of Lundgaard. This is ridiculous.

Lap 71 and VeeKay weathered the stop and holds fourth. Remarkable.

Lap 82 and Palou has 12.9s on Lundgaard and 16.4s on McLaughlin. Barring the unexpected, turn out the lights, the party’s over.

Lap 90 and Alex Palou wins.

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