The NTT P1 Award changed hands four times in the last 40 seconds of an exciting qualifying session Saturday for the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park, but it was that guy again – series points leader Alex Palou – who claimed the top spot.

Three-time and two-time reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Palou earned his first pole of the season and the seventh of his career with a top lap of 1 minute, 7.2918 seconds in the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda during the Firestone Fast Six. Palou has won two of the first three races of this season, finishing second in the other, and has built a 34-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global in the standings.

SEE: Qualifying Results

“What an amazing day for the 10 car,” Palou said. “This is such a special place for us here. We got our first race win in INDYCAR back in 2021.

“It was super close. I don’t think my first lap (in the Firestone Fast Six) was very good. I was just hoping to get a perfect lap on the second one on the alternates (Firestone Firehawk tires). So, yeah, cannot wait for tomorrow now.”

The 90-lap race is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network). Palou will seek his first win on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile natural-terrain road course since he earned his first series victory in his inaugural start with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. Palou drove for Dale Coyne Racing as a rookie in 2020.

Two-time reigning Barber winner Scott McLaughlin just missed earning his second straight pole for this race. He will start second after his best lap of 1:07.4387 in the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet.

Colton Herta will start third after his best lap of 1:07.4576 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global. Two-time Barber winner Will Power will join Herta in the second row after qualifying fourth at 1:07.5616 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. It was the best qualifying performance of the season for two-time series champion Power, whose previous best was 13th at St. Petersburg and Long Beach.

Rinus VeeKay qualified fifth at 1:07.9103 in the No. 18 askROI Honda fielded by Dale Coyne Racing. This was the first time VeeKay has reached the Firestone Fast Six on a road or street circuit since he won the pole for this race in April 2022.

Nolan Siegel rounded out the third row with a career performance. Siegel will start a career-best sixth after his best lap of 1:08.0470 in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. It was the first time Siegel made the Firestone Fast Six in his young NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, which started midway through last season.

Two notable drivers failed to advance out of the first round of the three-segment qualifying format.

Kirkwood will start 18th in the No. 27 PreFab Honda of Andretti Global after winning the pole and the race last month at the most recent event, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon went off track into the gravel trap on his last flying lap in the opening segment and failed to advance in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He will start a season-low 26th in the 27-car field, his worst start since he also qualified 26th for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix in August 2021 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) is setting its sights on a forward push through the field after qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday, setting the grid for Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix (1:30 PM ET, FOX, SiriusXM Channel 218).

Practice sessions one and two saw both Felix Rosenqvist – No. 60 SiriusXM Honda and Marcus Armstrong – No. 66 SiriusXM / Root Insurance Honda clock laps in preparation for Saturday afternoon qualifying.

The final moments of Practice two saw rain come through, giving both cars a sense for running in wet conditions with rain also predicted for qualifying just two hours later. But clear skies returned just in time for qualifying, setting the stage for an intense battle around the scenic 2.3-mile racetrack nestled in the rolling hills of Alabama.

Marcus Armstrong, driver of the No. 66 SiriusXM / Root Insurance Honda, was the first MSR machine to head on head on track in Group 1. The New Zealander closed out the qualifying session third fastest, posting a 1:07.568-second lap – his quickest time of the weekend so far and enough to transfer into the Top 12.

With the track evolving rapidly, Armstrong fought to replicate his earlier pace in the Top 12 round. but ultimately settled for 11th on the starting grid.

Rosenqvist, who is making his 100th INDYCAR SERIES race start this weekend, took to the track in Group 2 in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda. Rosenqvist came up just 0.01-seconds shy of advancing, finishing seventh in his group and securing a 14th-place starting position for Sunday’s race.

Meyer Shank Racing has shown consistent race-day strength this season with four top 10 race results in the books, and both drivers will look to make the most of the 90-lap race.

Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will go green at 1:47 PM ET and will be broadcast live on FOX and SiriusXM Channel 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Marcus Armstrong: “The car felt good in Q1 but Q2 we clearly had something different going on with the tires, I just had no grip, and we made a bit of a meal of it. But on the plus side, we saved some tires for the race which I think is good. The car had good pace on reds so that’s promising.”

Felix Rosenqvist: “I’m not super happy to be P7 in our group. At least we have a bit of a better tire situation than some people. I’m a little bit disappointed, I didn’t feel that I had much more to be honest. I struggled a lot on the blacks and then it felt a bit better on the reds – and I think it’s going to be a red race. I didn’t really feel like I had another 10th so we have to review it and see what we can do.”

MSR PR

FORT WORTH, Texas – Corey Day flashed plenty of speed and resilience in his second ever start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. 

Improvements and gains are the name of the gain for Hendrick Motorsports’ 19-year-old wheelman. 

And Day certainly built upon his initial run at Martinsville Speedway earlier this year, recovering from an early hole and surviving a couple of crashes late to bring home a 16th-place finish, ending the event on the lead lap. 

On the other end of the experience spectrum was Kyle Larson, who had to stare down some troubles of his own but took advantage of a pair of overtime restarts to drive to a victory. Larson was filling in for the injured Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and picked up his 12th win in the series in his last 28 starts. It was his second victory in the Xfinity Series this year. 

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“There was a lot of survival I felt like throughout that race,” Larson said. “Just dodging some wrecks, balance we had to work on quite a bit, so, it was fun. 

“Thanks to JRM for letting me come run this thing here today. Obviously wish Connor was in the car but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up to run this thing.” 

Day started back in the pack after Xfinity Series practice and qualifying were scrubbed by rain on Friday. But immediately, he began a march forward from his 33rd starting spot, despite having never been on the track at Texas. He made it all the way to 11th by the time the first stage ended and improved that showing by three spots by the end of stage two, coming home eighth. 

But the initial venture from the back to the front was just the beginning. Early in stage three, Day sustained damage in a crash and was forced to pit, dropping to the back of the line among lead-lap cars. Again, Day made his way forward, reaching the top 10 before a wreck involving Justin Allgaier, who had been battling with Larson for the lead, brought out a yellow with 45 laps to go. 

Larson assumed the point position after pit stops cycled through with Day being relegated into the low teens again. He’d just reached the top 15 in his way forward again before he spun and hit the inside wall with just 13 circuits remaining. Still, the team was able to get the damage under control and kept Day on the lead lap, where he survived the rest of the chaos that would ensue.

RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series driver averages for Texas Motor Speedway

As for Larson, he pitted while six cars stayed out, relegating him to the fourth row for a restart inside 10 laps to go. He moved up to third by the time another caution flew for a Sammy Smith crash, setting up an overtime restart. 

Yet another stoppage would come with Jeremy Clements spinning after the restart but Larson forged ahead to second, giving him a front-row position with fresher tires. And on the final rerack, Larson powered around Sam Mayer on the outside and cruised to victory.  

The next scheduled event in the Xfinity Series for Hendrick Motorsports will come at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24, with William Byron behind the wheel. 

Watch Byron, Larson and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports contingent as they battle for a win in the Cup Series main event at Texas on Sunday afternoon. Green flag is set for 3:30 p.m. and the race will air on FS1. 

Denny Hamlin thought the addition of crew chief Rodney Childers by Spire Motorsports was going to be a game-changer for the team. It didn’t work out that way to start the 2025 season, and the sides decided to part ways in April, ending their working relationship.

It certainly was a surprise, even if Childers’ No. 7 team, which featured Justin Haley as the driver, wasn’t getting the results they expected. Hamlin reacted to the news on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, trying to make sense of it all.

“Rodney Childers and Spire splitting. It was interesting to see it happen so soon,” Hamlin stated. “I thought that the results of the No. 7 have improved. Now, I think that the team itself has made improvements year over year, so some of those results might be a little misleading, but generally speaking, the No. 7’s been, I thought, more in contention this year. Obviously, Rodney has been a game changer in the game, in the Gen-Six era, and before, you know, when he really could kind of put his fingerprints on the car, I felt like he was, you know, certainly one of the best crew chiefs to ever do it during that time.

“When it came to the Next Gen, obviously the results weren’t there as much, but there’s just so many other factors that go into it. You know, you’re with Stewart-Haas when they’re beginning to close. How much effort are they putting in? Obviously, your pit crew matters. Everything matters. So, it’s hard to really speculate that, you know, it’s just a him and a car combination problem that doesn’t seem to work, but it’s certainly — the results haven’t been there over the last couple years.

“It’s just too hard to point fingers on one thing or another, because, you know, everything is so small and the details all matter, and you know, Rodney is a detailed person. It just seemed like a cultural thing, more than likely. I don’t think — it didn’t seem like it was a performance thing that much. I think that people come with big expectations, when you put a big name on the pit box, it does come with some high expectations. … It ran its course over nine races or 10 races in, so you know both felt like they had to go in a different direction.”

What’s next for Rodney Childers remains to be seen. Still, he’ll have Denny Hamlin’s attention, as the crew chief commands that at least due to his resume. Whether he gets back on top of the pit box or not, and where it takes place, will be an interesting storyline to follow throughout the next couple of months, for sure.

Kyle Larson took the lead on the restart of the second overtime and went on to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The victory is his second of the season in the Xfinity Series. Larson drove the No. 88 for JR Motorsports in place of the injured Connor Zilisch, who suffered a back injury in a last-lap crash a week ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Larson overcame a penalty for an uncontrolled tire on Lap 49 to win.

Taylor Gray finished a career-best second. Riley Herbst placed third, followed by Austin Hill and Sam Mayer.

The 208-lap race was slowed 11 times for 62 laps by cautions. Twenty four of the 38 cars were involved in accidents, the most in a Texas Xfinity race.

Justin Allgaier was among the victims. He couldn’t avoid the slower car of Kris Wright and hit him in the rear, sending Allgaier into the wall and out of the race after leading 99 laps and winning a stage. Allgaier finished 35th.

Stage 1 winner: Justin Allgaier

Stage 2 winner: Austin Hill

Next: The series races at 4:30 p.m. ET May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the CW Network.