Alex Palou has three top-two finishes in four NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season, including two victories.

The four-time series champion won the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1 and Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst.

Yet Kyle Kirkwood (photo, top) leads Palou by two points entering the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 19, the next race on the schedule.

That must feel like a win to Kirkwood.

Kirkwood started and finished fifth in Sunday’s 90-lap race at Barber Motorsports Park, adding another solid bag of points in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global.

“That’s a good day,” Kirkwood said. “We had great pace. Our stint pace on primes (primary tire) was really, really solid. So, we were happy with this performance.”

It marked a championship-caliber weekend for Andretti Global, which hasn’t won on a natural road course since July 2022, when Alexander Rossi took the checkered on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Andretti Global also hasn’t won a championship since Ryan Hunter-Reay delivered its fourth title in 2012. If the team will challenge Palou or any other rival this season for the Astor Challenge Cup, results like Kirkwood produced in Barber are a strong start.

Kirkwood entered the weekend with a best Barber finish of 10th in 2024, his second season with the Andretti team.

“We obviously came here with a new philosophy, and it worked out in our favor,” Kirkwood said. “We actually found some performance here. So, yeah, big jump. Good for the championship. That’s what we need, just keeping it consistent.”

Kirkwood is the defending Long Beach winner and has won two of the last three races on the scenic California street course. Five of his six career victories have come on temporary circuits, including the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington earlier this month.

He is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all four races this season. He finished fourth at St. Petersburg and second in the Good Ranchers 250 at Phoenix Raceway.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Secures Podium Finish

Graham Rahal earned his 34th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES podium finish Sunday, placing third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“It was a great day,” Rahal said. “Honda did a wonderful job today. Our guys, all weekend, I felt like this was coming.”

Rahal (photo, above) qualified third while saving a fresh set of Firestone alternate tires, but those did not play a major role Sunday. The more durable Firestone Firehawk primary tires proved stronger than expected, and Rahal’s car lacked stability on alternates.

Early in the race, he passed David Malukas for second on Lap 16 and held the position through the opening pit cycle. Rahal remained second entering his second stop on Lap 45.

Former RLL teammate Christian Lundgaard, now in his second season driving the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, gained ground with a stronger pit sequence and cycled ahead.

A slow 17.8-second final stop for Lundgaard briefly handed Rahal the position again on Lap 69, but Lundgaard charged back and made the pass in Turn 5 with a little less than three laps remaining.

Rahal secured his third Barber podium and his first at the track since finishing runner-up in 2016.

“Just got too loose on the reds (alternate tire),” Rahal said. “The first set of primes felt great, but the last set never quite came in. Trying to fend off Christian was quite hard, and in the end, he got me. But we’re pretty pleased with this.”

David Malukas

Malukas Questions Tire Strategy

David Malukas dropped from a second-place start to a fourth-place finish in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, leaving him frustrated with the team’s tire strategy.

“It all comes down to the beginning, choosing to start on the reds (alternate tire),” Malukas said. “That was not the right strategy.”

The podium finishers – Palou, Lundgaard and Rahal – all started on harder, more durable primary tires, while Malukas opened on the softer alternates.

The 24-year-old Chicago native (photo, above) took some consolation in being the top finisher among those who started on alternates and switched to primaries.

“I think the best we could have done was maybe third if I set up (Graham) Rahal a little better at the end,” Malukas said. “But overall, it’s still a good points day. We learned a lot. Now we know we’ve got to stay ahead of the game when it comes to choosing these tires.

“If we started on primaries, who knows? We might have been right up there in a different battle.”

Malukas is the top Team Penske driver in points entering Long Beach. He sits fourth, 40 points behind Kirkwood. Josef Newgarden is fifth, 43 back, and Scott McLaughlin is seventh, 57 back.

Malukas has three consecutive top-six finishes after opening the season 13th at St. Petersburg.

Odds and Ends

  • Atlanta Braves legend Dale Murphy gave the command to fire engines Sunday at Barber. Birmingham, Alabama, is about 145 miles west of Atlanta.
  • J. McCarron, former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback and current Birmingham Stallions coach in the UFL, rode in the Fastest Seat in Sports on Sunday. McCarron led the Crimson Tide to consecutive national titles in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
  • Palou has 12 wins in the last 21 natural road course starts. He finished on the podium in all seven natural road course tracks last season, too.
  • Lundgaard made 11 on-track passes, including seven for position in Sunday’s race. Both were race highs. He has six podium finishes in his last eight natural road course starts, including four runner-up results.
  • Marcus Armstrong earned his third consecutive top-10 finish of the season, finishing sixth in the No. 66 SiriusXM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian. It also marked his best career Barber finish, improving on ninth in 2024 with Chip Ganassi Racing.
  • Scott Dixon climbed from 13th to finish seventh in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon has 14 top-10 finishes in 16 Barber starts. This was his first since finishing seventh in 2023.
  • Santino Ferrucci became the 18th different driver to score a top-10 finish this season, placing eighth in his No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet fielded by AJ Foyt Racing. His best Barber result remains seventh in 2024.