Christian Lundgaard is one of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers poised for more this season, and this weekend’s race at Barber Motorsports Park could be the place he gets it.

Yes, the driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet netted a third-place finish in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but last year at this time he had two such finishes (The Thermal Club and Long Beach). He also had led 49 laps over the year’s first three races – he has led only nine in three starts this season – and was third in the point standings. He enters Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix standing seventh.

Lundgaard’s optimism for this weekend stems from his second-place finish in last year’s race here, and he posted the fourth-quickest lap in Friday’s first practice. That lap was less than a half-tenth of a second off the day’s pacesetter – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin – and Lundgaard was effectively even with Arrow McLaren teammate Pato O’Ward, the 2022 event winner. Their laps were separated by .0221 of a second.

Maybe this is Lundgaard’s weekend to shine the brightest.

“I've always liked this place since the first time I came here in 2022,” the 24-year-old Danish driver said on the FS2 broadcast. “Technically, (it was) in 2021 (as) this is the place I did my first INDYCAR test. I've always liked the place.”

One of the first things Lundgaard noticed about Friday’s practice is that the conditions felt similar to those offered last year. In one respect, that’s good for him. In another, maybe not.

Finishing second in last year’s race certainly should give Lundgaard confidence, especially since it was his third consecutive top-six finish on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course, but he also finished a distant second to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou. The separation between the two was a season-high 16.0035 seconds.

Palou won five of the seven road course races last year while finishing second and third in the others. Lundgaard had a strong road course season in his own right, earning three second-place finishes and two thirds, but his average finish on such circuits was 7.4 compared to Palou’s 1.4.

This is the first road course race of the season. Maybe the results will be different.

“With new (Firestone) alternate (tires) we’re trying to figure it out, and we got it right,” Lundgaard said of the Day 1 practice. “Which is nice from here.

“Hopefully we can get the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in victory lane on Sunday."