Alex Palou earned the pole position for Sunday's Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. He secured the top spot in the final seconds of the qualifying session Saturday.
Palou, the two-time reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and current series points leader, claimed his first pole of the season and the seventh of his career. His best lap in the Firestone Fast Six round was 1 minute, 7.2918 seconds in the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
The Spaniard has shown strong performance early this season, winning two of the first three races and finishing second in the other. He holds a 34-point lead in the standings over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global.
Three-time Barber winner Scott McLaughlin will start second after his lap of 1:07.4387 in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet. Colton Herta qualified third at 1:07.4576 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global.
Two-time series champion Will Power will start fourth, his best qualifying effort of the season, with a lap of 1:07.5616 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Rinus VeeKay took the fifth spot, his first Firestone Fast Six appearance on a road or street circuit since winning the pole here in 2022, with a lap of 1:07.9103 in the No. 18 askROI Honda fielded by Dale Coyne Racing.
Rounding out the third row will be Nolan Siegel in sixth place. Siegel earned his first career Firestone Fast Six appearance in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with a lap of 1:08.0470.
Several notable drivers failed to advance from the initial qualifying rounds. Kyle Kirkwood, who won the pole and race last month at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, will start 18th in the No. 27 PreFab Honda of Andretti Global.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon will start a season-low 26th in the 27-car field. Dixon went off track in the gravel during the first segment, ruining his lap time in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It marks his worst starting position since the 2021 event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The 90-lap race is scheduled to begin Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET. Palou will seek his first win at the 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural-terrain road course since his first win in the series back in 2021. Fans can view Qualifying Results online.
"What an amazing day for the 10 car," Palou said. "This is such a special place for us here... It was super close. I was just hoping to get a perfect lap on the second one on the alternates. So, yeah, cannot wait for tomorrow now.”
