It was set up to be an exciting Children’s of Alabama Indy GP at Barber Motorsports Park after a great qualifying session. Before the race, Scott Dixon went fastest in the warmup, which was a promising sign that a good race would come if luck went his way.
Alex Palou led the field to green for what was set up to be an exciting ninety-lap Alabama Indy Grand Prix.
All three Kiwis had elected to start on the softer red compound tyre for the start of the race, meaning they would be aiming take full advantage of the faster rubber and move forward early on in the race.
By the end of the first lap, Kyle Kirkwood had jumped Armstrong to move the Kiwi down to fifth, while Dixon had moved up to eleventh, with McLaughlin in thirteenth.
McLaughlin was able to make a good move on former INDY-500 winner Alexander Rossi to move into twelfth by lap four.
By the tenth lap of the race, Armstrong remained in fifth, Dixon remained in eleventh, and McLaughlin remained in twlefth. At the front, Palou comfortably controlled the race by a second and a half over McLaughlin’s teammate David Malukas, who remained ahead of a fast Graham Rahal.
Further down the pack, Christian Lundgaard was making light work of making his way through the field and was bringing the gap down Armstrong ahead.
Drivers on the soft red Firestone tyres started to cycle into the pit lane around lap sixteen. Armstrong was the first Kiwi to come in and was followed in by Dixon and McLaughlin two laps later. Drivers on the harder Firestone compound were showing great pace at this stage of the race, which highlighted how the biggest advantage in the race may come through being perfect in pit lane.
The race stagnated as drivers focused on maximising tyre life through their second stint. On lap thirty, Palou kept control with a three and a half second lead over Rahal. The fast-charging Lundgaard was able to sit in third at this stage, after starting in tenth. Armstrong stayed in sixth ahead of Josef Newgarden, while Dixon and McLaughlin remained down the order in tenth and eleventh. \
Dixon and McLaughlin were both able to climb through the pack to sit in seventh and eighth by lap forty-one, while race strategies diverged and other drivers cycled into the lane. Armstrong headed into the lane on lap forty-two, where Dixon, after running as high as fourth before his second stop came into the lane, followed by McLaughlin.
Palou still led at lap sixty, as Armstrong, Dixon and McLaughlin remained in sixth, eighth, and eleventh. Drivers came in for their final stop around lap sixty-six, which ledf Armstrong to run in second while he extended his stint.
Disaster struck for Lundgaard as his right-rear tyre was slow to be fitted during his pitstop. This sent him back to third after being the only one who could challenge Palou on pure pace. With ten to go, Palou led by a huge twelve seconds, while Armstrong and Dixon sat up in sixth and seventh. McLaughlin struggled late in the race and sat in sixteenth.
With such a significant gap behind, no one was able to get close to Palou as he came home to take a masterclass victory at Barber Motorsports Park. He was joined on the podium by Lundgaard, and Rahal was able to bring his home his first podium since 2023 after withstanding late race pressure from Malukas.
Armstrong came home in a comfortable sixth, ahead of Dixon who put in a great drive to finish seventh. McLaughlin, after a rollercoaster weekend, finished the race in sixteenth.
