Palou takes pole in Grand Prix of Alabama Qualifying

Credit: Sydney Redden

Álex Palou took his first NTT P1 Award in 2026 to take pole at Barber Motorsports Park.

After a long day for IndyCar, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver secured the top spot for Sunday's race ahead of Team Penske's David Malukas and Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Graham Rahal.

Group 1

The first group of drivers headed out on track to begin qualifying and cap off a dramatic Saturday after Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin hit and subsequently went through the fencing into Turn 1.

Qualifying continued in similarly dramatic fashion, as Will Power hit the tyre barrier at Turn 5 just a few minutes into the first group's session. A lengthy delay was required to repair the barriers after his hard crash. The clock eventually restarted with just five and a half minutes to go for everyone (minus Power) to set their lap times.

With the running and timing shaken up by Power's early crash, it was rookie driver Caio Collet who held the top spot for the opening minutes after the restart. Palou overtook him and claim the top spot with two minutes left in the session, Christian Lundgaard popping up to take second place.

With less than a minute to go, it seemed like most of the drivers were set to improve on their final laps. Only one driver managed to jump up the order on their final lap, Arrow McLaren's Nolan Siegel. But Siegel's improved time was only enough for eighth, so he was left amongst those knocked out.

So Palou topped the timing sheets with Lundgaard and Rahal in the top three. Marcus Armstrong, Alex Rossi and Santino Ferrucci were the other drivers set to move forward into the Fast 12.

Scott Dixon, Siegel, Christian Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson, Collet and Power were all knocked out and will be starting towards the back in Sunday's race.

Group 2

Credit: Sydney Redden

The 13 drivers in the second group of qualifying took to the track hoping for a cleaner session than their competitors had faced in the first group. Team Penske's Malukas was the early pacesetter for the group before getting beaten out by Kyle Kirkwood, the former Indy NXT rivals the first two of Group 2 to set lap times in the 1:06s range.

With three minutes to go, Romain Grosjean was looking to improve with a very fast lap when he was impeded by Sting Ray Robb, the young American driver not alerted to the presence of the Frenchman behind him on a fast lap. Grosjean remained in ninth as a result, but his next lap proved his speed and propelled him to the top, almost half a second up on Kirkwood's time.

Unlike the previous group, almost all the drivers on track looked quicker and ready to improve on their final lap times. Malukas improved, then Kirkwood jumped up to regain the top time. The pair of them remained as the top two when all was said and down, Grosjean down to third but still solidly through to the next session. Also making it through to the Fast 12 were Josef Newgarden, Marcus Ericsson and Pato O'Ward.

McLaughlin, who along with his car made a miraculous recovery to be ready for qualifying, finished seventh and was the top driver knocked out. Beneath him were Rinus VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Mick Schumacher, Louis Foster, Robb and Hauger.

Fast 12

As the top six drivers from both groups came out on track for a chance to progress to the final session, Team Penske's Newgarden was the early pacesetter. Kirkwood jumped up to second place with six minutes still to go, but he was unable to best Newgarden's lap done on the softer tyres.

Ahead of everyone's final set of runs, Malukas was in third ahead of the McLaren pairing of Lundgaard and O'Ward. Palou was the final driver set to advance as it was, with Rahal the top driver in the elimination zone.

Then Palou jumped up to the top spot, but others behind him were continuing to improve and within a few moments Kirkwood set a time of 1:06.038 to get back into first place. Armstrong had been sitting at the very bottom of the pack but jumped up to third, ending in fourth as Malukas improved as well.

Rahal also jumped up and into the top six, with Grosjean the final driver to make it through to the hunt for pole position.

Ferrucci finished seventh, where he will start tomorrow's race. Behind him and also set in their starting order were Ericsson, Newgarden, Lundgaard, Rossi and O'Ward.

Fast 6

Credit: Sydney Redden

Six drivers from six different teams took to the track at Barber looking for a chance to start out front in the race. Malukas was the only driver of the group who had secured a pole position so far in 2026.

As drivers began their first laps, Grosjean was the first to stumble as he took a trip through the grass on one of his push laps. Fortunately he was able to avoid major incident, and the session continued with just three minutes on the clock.

Rahal was holding provisional pole, but the speed of the drivers behind him meant that keeping that position was hardly a guarantee. And it wasn't long before Palou set a time of 1:06.234 to go fastest overall as Armstrong and then Malukas took second place.

Rahal then improved to take third from where Armstrong was sitting, bumping the New Zealander down to fourth. Kirwkood, who wobbled on his fast lap and was unable to set a competitive time, qualified fifth with Grosjean down in sixth.

So it was Palou who set the fastest time of the session and Palou who will start tomorrow's race from first, for the first time this season. Malukas will be chasing his first race win, something he's been close to since joining Penske this season and something that will seem more reachable than ever as Palou's grip on the title has slipped ever so slightly.