Alex Palou was fastest in both practice sessions and in qualifying for the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, the same circuit where last year he started from pole and won by 16.0035 seconds, the largest margin of the entire 2025 season. The four-time IndyCar Series champion set a 1:06.2341 with Chip Ganassi Racing, earning his first pole of the year and the 13th of his career in the category.

"One of the best cars I've ever driven," said Palou. "This morning I already felt the car was very well balanced. We just wanted to start up front, capitalize on a very good car, and see what happens tomorrow."

David Malukas will join him on the front row with a 1:06.3478, and behind them the qualifying results reflected an unusual level of parity: Graham Rahal third with 1:06.5181, Marcus Armstrong fourth with 1:06.5312, and Romain Grosjean sixth with 1:06.8363, meaning seven different teams placed a car in the top seven positions thanks to Santino Ferrucci's seventh-place effort with A.J. Foyt Racing.

Photo By Penske Entertainment

Used tires in qualifying, new ones for the race

Kyle Kirkwood, championship leader with 123 points and a 26-point advantage over Palou after winning at Arlington two weeks ago, ran the entire Firestone Fast Six on used tires and saved a new set of Firestone Firehawk alternate tires for Sunday's 90-lap race. He qualified fifth with a 1:06.8326, although in second practice he had been second, just five hundredths behind Palou, suggesting the team prioritized having a tactical advantage in the race over starting further up.

Power and McLaughlin couldn't complete qualifying normally

The first qualifying round was halted when Will Power reported that the rear brakes on his car failed approaching turn 5, a steep descent into a tight hairpin, and he went straight into the foam barriers behind the gravel trap. Power emerged uninjured and will start 23rd, another blow added to the crash in qualifying at Arlington that forced him to use a backup car and relegated him to 15th in the race, meaning the two-time champion has had two consecutive Saturdays with serious issues in his first season with Andretti Global.

Photo By Penske Entertainment

Scott McLaughlin, another two-time winner at Barber, also resorted to a backup car after a crash at turn 1 during first practice and qualified 14th. Mick Schumacher was the best among the first-year drivers, qualifying 20th with a 1:06.8140.

The race takes place tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Pos	#	driver	team	laps	best lap
1	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	38	1:06.234
2	12	David Malukas	Team Penske	34	1:06.348
3	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	40	1:06.518
4	66	Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	38	1:06.531
5	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian	36	1:06.833
6	18	Romain Grosjean	Dale Coyne Racing	36	1:06.836
7	14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	31	1:06.377
8	28	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global	31	1:06.390
9	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	27	1:06.426
10	7	Christian Lundgaard	Arrow McLaren	29	1:06.510
11	20	Alexander Rossi	ECR	29	1:06.687
12	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	31	1:06.819
13	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	16	1:06.527
14	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	16	1:06.731
15	6	Nolan Siegel	Arrow McLaren	16	1:06.588
16	76	Rinus VeeKay	Juncos Hollinger Racing	14	1:06.741
17	21	Christian Rasmussen	ECR	14	1:06.712
18	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	16	1:06.810
19	8	Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing	16	1:06.794
20	47	Mick Schumacher	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	14	1:06.814
21	4	Caio Collet	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	16	1:06.844
22	45	Louis Foster	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	14	1:06.945
23	26	Will Power	Andretti Global	6	1:09.981
24	19	Dennis Hauger	Dale Coyne Racing	12	1:07.341
25	77	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Hollinger Racing	14	1:07.611