Alex Palou wins pole for IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The championship leader in the NTT IndyCar Series will start on pole for Sunday’s race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Alex Palou swiped the top spot in qualifying away from Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by roughly two tenths of a second as time expired. 

“Really happy with the lap, as well. Got a pole that we don’t really get many, many poles. Feels good to start up front,” Palou said after qualifying. 

While Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda is starting first on Sunday, Saturday’s qualifying was a significant improvement for Team Penske as a whole. Despite losing out on pole, Scott McLaughlin put himself in prime position to score a third consecutive victory at Barber Motorsports Park. 

“I’m looking forward to the race,” McLaughlin said. “We always have some really good battles every race that we’ve had. Very hard, fair, aggressive racing. So that’s fun. I’m excited for it.”

Will Power will roll off fourth on Sunday after making it into the Fast Six for the first time this year. His teammate Josef Newgarden will start from the fifth row in ninth.

Also making it into the Fast Six were Dale Coyne Racing’s Rinus VeeKay and Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel. Siegel was the highest qualifying McLaren driver and will start ahead of teammates Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward, who start seventh and eighth, respectfully, on Sunday.

Kyle Kirkwood, the winner at Long Beach, had a difficult qualifying session and will start from the 18th position on Sunday while six-time series champion Scott Dixon went off course during his flying lap and will have to start from the second-to-last spot on the grid in 26th.