Alex Palou wins at Barber Motorsports Park Second Year In a Row. Also, Catching up with Pato O’Ward

Roger Penske:
This is Roger Penske and you're listening to Pit Pass Indie, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcast. I'm your host, Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar Series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar Series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport. I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCSports.com, SI.com, ESPN SportsTicker, Sports Illustrated, AutoWeek, and Speed Sport. So let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental as we continue our sixth season of giving IndyCar fans an inside look at the most exciting form of racing on the planet, the NTT IndyCar Series. We welcome back our friends from Penske Truck Rental who return as the presenting sponsor of Pit Pass Indy. Penske Truck Rental helps Pit Pass Indy bring you the inside stories of IndyCar from the paddock to the racetrack to the highways and streets of America. And this season, Penske Truck Rental and Pit Pass Indy will help celebrate Team Penske's 60th anniversary. Team owner Roger Penske began the most successful racing team in history in 1966 out of a small garage in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, along with his driver, engineer, and team partner, Mark Donohue. By 1972, Donohue was the winning driver of the Indianapolis 500, the first of Penske Racing's record 20 Indy 500 wins. After a successful time based out of Reading, Pennsylvania, since 2007, Team Penske has operated out of a massive facility in Mooresville, North Carolina that also includes championship winning teams in NASCAR, IMSA sports car racing, and the World Endurance Championship. As we head into the Easter break, Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental was at the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama, the weekend of March 29th. For the third time in his career and the second year in a row, Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was the winning driver at the beautiful 2.3 mile, 17 turn natural terrain road course. At a race course that requires precision, Alex Pillow was perfection. Pillow started on the pole and drove away to the 21st career IndyCar win in Sunday's Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. The four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion for Chip Ganassi Racing led 79 laps in the 90-lap contest. In his latest win, Palou defeated Christian Lungard's No. 7 Errol McLaren Chevrolet by 13.2775 seconds. Graham Rahal's No. 15 Honda was third, 14.277 seconds behind the winner, followed by Team Penske's David Maloukis and the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. And Dreddy Global's Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five in the number 27 Honda and maintains the NTT IndyCar Series points lead by just two points over the race winner. There were no cautions in the race and five lead changes among three drivers. As previously mentioned, Palou led 79 laps. The other drivers that led were Christian Lungard for 10 laps and Graham Rahal for one. Let's kick off this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental with this exclusive interview with Alex Pillow after his big win at Barber Motorsports Park. Hello, Alex.

Alex Palou: Hello, Bruce.

Bruce Martin: I remember yesterday after you won your 13th poll, you were going, oh, no, no, no, that's not a good number. But today, you won your 21st career IndyCar Series victory. And if you know anything about gambling, 21 is a good number on the blackjack table. So in some ways, you parlayed an unlucky number to a very lucky number. How gratifying was your victory for the second year in a row here at Barber Motorsports Park and the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix? It was good.

Alex Palou: It was very, very gratifying to win today. It was a very tough race. It didn't look like that on paper, especially with the end result. But there was a very close virtual battle, let's say, with Lungert, myself, and Rahal. we were going to be a little bit in trouble with those traffic lap cars when I started my last stint. And we knew that we were going to be fighting head-to-head with Lunger. But yeah, ultimately, he had the slowest stop. We were able to stay in the lead, open a gap and kind of manage from there. So very happy that everything worked out for us and to have another win here at Barber.

Bruce Martin: How well aware were you of Christian Lungard's strategy because he was able to build a pretty good gap there, which may have paid off, except he had an issue in pit lane on his pit stop with his rear tire not being tight.

Alex Palou: Yeah, super aware of his strategy, of his gap. Like, I think we started, he was seven seconds back and he kind of was at three seconds back. So, and that was like throughout the third stand, but we were pushing super hard. We didn't really have more speed at that point because we were using a new set of primaries. But anyway, glad everything worked out. As a driver, I like to be very informed of what's going on, who we're fighting with and how we can hopefully get ahead of them. And yeah, as I said, glad that we got the victory today.

Bruce Martin: Barber Motorsports Park has decided your first career IndyCar Series victory in 2021. It was your first race with Chip Ganassi Racing. Now you've won here two years in a row. What is it about Barber Motorsports Park that fits Alex Pillow's racing style so well?

Alex Palou: Tough to say. I just love the feeling of the IndyCar around here, just kind of on the high speed, the compression, just kind of the car balance and the feeling that I get as a driver. It's really, really good. It obviously helps that as a team at CGR, we have a very good car balance here that allows all the drivers to be consistent and to be confident. But I just love this place. Every lap around here, it's a blast.

Bruce Martin: Would you say this is a track that requires precision? And if so, would you say that you drove with perfection?

Alex Palou: Yeah, for sure. It demands precision, a lot of precision. but driving perfection or not, I tried my best. There was a couple of moments where I did a couple of mistakes here and there and lost some tenths, but yeah, I'm still really happy with how we executed and how I drove today. As I said, there was a couple of moments where I struggled a little bit with balance and started being inconsistent, but overall, I thought it was a great race for us.

Bruce Martin: There's a lot of tracks where we could say that's Alex Bello's best track, but do you consider Barber Motorsports Park Alex Bello's best track?

Alex Palou: Yeah, it's a track that I really enjoy. It's a track that every time we come here I feel very good with the car, so it's for sure one of our best tracks.

Bruce Martin: There was a little bit of a curveball during Sunday morning warm-up when everybody discovered the Reds aren't going to be the tire of choice. Got to go with the Blacks. How quickly were you able to process that? And what was the difference in feel between the two that you felt in Sunday morning warm-up that the Reds would not be the tire of choice?

Alex Palou: Yeah, that was tough because basically throughout the weekend we prepared and we just were ready to be a red race where we would use more reds than primaries. But yeah, I'm very glad that it worked out for us because after warm-up we were struggling a little bit with our decisions and the tasks that we had available. But yeah, once again the team was able to execute although we were not on the best conditions.

Bruce Martin: George Barber built this track. George Barber was a great man, a great philanthropist. He leaves the state of Alabama with this beautiful facility, the beautiful Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. He passed away on February 16th, but how much did you feel George Barber's presence today?

Alex Palou: Yeah, I mean, what an incredible job he had done to build this thing, to keep it at the level that he has been able to raise the bar of the event, of the track, the museum, as you said, it's one of the best museums I've ever seen. And the track as well, it's just awesome every time you enter. So, obviously sorry that he's not here, but… You can feel that he's still around because the track is still at the perfect level as he wants.

Bruce Martin: IndyCar just concluded their version of March Madness, four races and five weekends. Now you're going to be off for a couple of weeks, including Easter, before the series resumes with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. How excited are you to get to spend Easter with your little girl?

Alex Palou: I'm very excited. We've been preparing her, trying to explain what's going to happen. So yeah, I can't wait to see how fun she has this weekend.

Bruce Martin: How big an Easter basket is she getting?

Alex Palou: She's going to get a big one. Yeah, no worries.

Bruce Martin: Well, I think you can get her a big one because you're a big winner here in IndyCar, but Alex Pillow, congratulations on your second straight victory here at Barber Motorsports Park, third overall. We'll catch up with you when the series resumes, but once again, thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Alex Palou: Thank you, Bruce.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Josef Newgarden: Hey everyone, this is two-time Indy 500 winner, Josef Newgarden, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. Entering the race weekend, PitPass Indy had a chance to catch up with several drivers, including Christian Rasmussen of ECR. The young driver from Copenhagen, Denmark, had a tremendous chance of scoring his second career victory on March 7th at Phoenix Raceway before some hard racing followed by contact with Will Power of Andretti Global damaged his car just enough that it faded in the closing laps. Rasmussen explained his side of the incident, along with his recent discussion with Power, in this exclusive Pit Pass Indy interview. Hello Christian. Hadn't had a chance to talk to you since some of the things that have developed, so how would you categorize first the Phoenix incident and then also how you did it Arlington?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, well let's take Phoenix first. Phoenix was a A very strong run for us. Obviously, we showed that we are once again one of the cars to beat on the short ovals and we're competing right up at the front once again. So, we kind of continued where we left off from last year, which is a nice thing. Obviously, the incident with power was unfortunate. Not much, I think. I mean, obviously, in hindsight, there's always stuff you could have done differently. I think, is there anything I would have done differently? No, not really. Obviously, I would have liked to change the outcome, because I do think we were the best car out there and we could have won the race. But also, that exact pass was one that I had done, I don't know, four or five times during the race anyway. So, obviously, that really sucked, but… Still a good showing, and we showed that we can compete up at the front on the short ovals. Arlington was a little bit tougher for us. First fast 12 qualifying this year for us, which was a positive. So starting to get a grip with qualifying a little bit more. And then in the race, we had a lot of deck on the red tires, and we just stayed out too long. And that's where we kind of lost. a lot of the race and then towards the end we had an electric issue with the car so we didn't even get to finish anyway so that was a tough weekend overall. We've had a kind of tough year, a tough start to the year overall so we're looking forward to this weekend to hopefully turn that around.

Bruce Martin: And as fate would have it, Will Powers said he goes to the men's room and standing right next to him was Christian Rasmussen. So do you find that kind of a Murphy's Law type scenario?

Christian Rasmussen: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you can think whatever you want to think about each other, but most of the times we actually get along. What happens, happens. That's part of racing. But I mean, me and Will are fine. Obviously, I don't agree with what happened. But he was also very apologetic over the incident and took full responsibility. So we move on. I'm sure we'll have a lot of good races in the future. And sometimes that's just what happens in racing. Again, Again, that's what happens on racing. I think the way we race on ovals is a little bit different than what we do on road and street courses. If you are on the outside on a road and street course, that is what you can expect. That's just how we race in IndyCar. That's not just me. But I think the level that we do on ovals, you got to leave each other a little bit of room. And again, like I said, he was apologetic. I can't really hold a grudge too much. Obviously, would I like that win or podium? Yes, of course. But at the end of the day, we move on and hopefully we can compete for wins again next time we're on an oval.

Bruce Martin: Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global entered the Barber weekend as the points leader. He left Barber still on top of the points, but by just two over Alex Below, who won the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. Pit Pass Indy caught up with Kirkwood entering the race weekend for this exclusive interview. Hello, Kyle.

Kyle Kirkwood: Race winner. Hopefully, it's not just for one weekend. That should be the badge. Hopefully, not for just one weekend. No, it's been good. It's a good feeling to be the points leader for the first time ever in IndyCar Championship. I haven't led a points championship since Indy Lights in 2021, so it's a pretty big deal. It's a fun time to be alive in IndyCar racing. Given that, we're three races in. It's not really a big focus right now, but it is a nice feather in my cap to say I had led a IndyCar championship, and hopefully that trend does continue.

Bruce Martin: And the race after this is one of your best races, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, so you've got to really be pumped up about maybe getting another victory there.

Kyle Kirkwood: Still have a race to do here this weekend, Bruce. We're going to try and do the best that we possibly can here. Historically, road courses haven't been our strong suit, but this is where points are actually going to pay out for us. We know we're good at street courses. We're not that worried about our performance there. It's really trying to find something on these natural terrain road courses and short ovals, which I think we have something for. We're working hard. This is where Our championship really starts this year, right? Because we've had three good races that we knew we were going to be good at. And now this is kind of the question mark in our brain. How are we going to be here? How is this going to stack up for our championship run? So this is a major focus on this race right now, more so than what's to come.

Bruce Martin: There are several drivers in IndyCar who have become fathers in the past few years, and with Easter weekend coming up, it's a big family moment for these drivers. Scott McLaughlin has a young daughter, Lucy Violet, and I asked the Team Penske star his plans for the family's Easter celebration. Now a serious question, how big an Easter basket is Lucy getting next week?

Scott McLaughlin: Pretty big. Yeah, mostly for me though. Yeah, I'm the chocolate guy. What are you going to give her? Oh, I don't know. A little bit of Australian stuff. We bought some stuff from Australia for this reason, so we'll be all right. Thank you.

Bruce Martin: We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

Scott McLaughlin: Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three team Penske Chevy, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin: Welcome back to Pit Pass Indy. We wrap up today's Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental with this exclusive interview with Arrow McLaren star Pato Award, the most popular driver in IndyCar. Not only is our next guest one of IndyCar's best drivers, he's also the most popular. It's Pato Award, Errol McLaren. Pato, we've had three different winners in the first three races of the start of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, so we've already seen a little more wide open playing fields. What's your outlook for the rest of the season here? Do you think this trend will continue here throughout the year? I would love to see it continue.

Pato O'Ward: I think what makes IndyCar so interesting and appealing, I would say, in the years past is because you never quite know when the winner was. I think 2025 is an outlier, where Alex Palau was obviously dominant and super, super strong. But this is a track that I really enjoy, Barbara Motorsports Park. I do think we've got a great shot to be fighting for the win this weekend, so we need to execute, we need to have a good practice, because I wouldn't say last year was the strongest bar before us, so there's some work to do this weekend to try and catch back up to where we were.

Bruce Martin: Not only has the start of the 2026 season been a fast one with three straight races and three weekends, four races out of five in the month of March, they've also been in markets where you were very heavily promoted. A lot of your products, your sponsors activate there. We go to Phoenix Raceway, Padua Ward's very popular there. And then following you out onto the track at the Grand Prix of Arlington, you were like, the hero walking through the masses. And when you see that type of reaction from fans and you know that the fans really are there to cheer you on, what do you think of that?

Pato O'Ward: I mean, Arlington, that whole event was phenomenal. Phoenix, I think, was a pleasant surprise, especially Saturday, where I think we, you know, we drew more crowd on Saturday than what Sunday drew. So I think that's a that's a super good sign to, you know, to what people want to watch. People wanted to be there for us. People wanted to cheer us on. But yeah, I mean, Arlington is I knew was going to be one of my biggest markets, very similar to maybe what a Long Beach was. But just everything about that was it just excelled the the expectations for from everybody. I think I can talk on behalf of everyone. Right. from circuit to the rug on the paddock suites. I mean, everything was top notch, the best of the best, which you would understand coming from organizations like the Cowboys and the Jerry Jones and Texas Rangers, Roger Penske, that perfection that those type of organizations strive for was definitely seen. And obviously all the people that were there to cheer me on was I mean, I wouldn't say expected because there was a lot. I mean, I didn't see one empty grandstand there. And it really was awesome to see the people not just supporting us there, but also enjoying enjoying themselves in the event of of what it brought to their weekend. You know, some people chose to go to the race instead of going to Disney World. Like that's that's big for us.

Bruce Martin: You brought up the fact that it was done in a first-class way, and that really seems to have set the standard for other IndyCar Series races. If you're going to present yourself as a Major League Series, you need to do it like they did at Arlington, rather than the way they do it at some other venues on the track, and do you think that's something that the Series should stress?

Pato O'Ward: I mean, it's just the standard that shouldn't be questioned. Right. I really think that IndyCar fell into a, you know, into a scenario where, you know, I get the promoters want to make the most money out of their out of their event and stuff like that. But there is a standard that should be expected. And when you go to these places like, you know, I've always been an advocate of money makes money. And When things look good and when things are good, people want to be there. And I think Arlington specifically was an event that people felt a lot of FOMO, like whoever wasn't there is going to be there next year. And it's going to be one of the marquee events that we go to during the year. that people are going to look forward to just like a long beach and stuff like that but you know when you compare the two yeah long beach is ran down compared to what arlington looked like right so i do think there's there's a lot of space for the rest of the indycar calendar to up their game and and to make it like like arlington because I think what we saw in Arlington, we're going to see in probably Washington DC, right? There's a lot of places that are now going to be attaching this model and this standard to what that race weekend is going to be. When you go back to another one that isn't up to that, you will feel the change and we need to minimize as much as we can. We need to keep this up because it is a formula that's going to be a winner and it's already proven to be.

Bruce Martin: Another big Pano market is coming up in the middle of April. It's the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. You have a lot of fans in Southern California. How excited are you to be able to go on and put on a great show at Long Beach?

Pato O'Ward: Long Beach has always been a challenge for me. I'm determined to have a good race week in there and just trying to switch the story around a little bit because every single year, I'm so overloaded with marketing and stuff that I do prior to that, that this year I want to make sure that we execute, that we perform, that we really get what we want out of it. Because I feel like every time I leave Long Beach, it always is a disappointment. Not because of the fans or because of the event, just because the performance is not there. And honestly, to me, Yes, having people there to support us is super important, but I really think it's a waste of an event when you can't also deliver. The whole point of this is to do well and the whole point is to go out there and try to win this damn race and compete, right? driving your ass off for a P12 or a P10. For me, I'm putting a lot of emphasis that Long Beach weekend into, we got to up our game, we need to be better, we need to be faster, we need to have a better race car. I need to be more comfortable there because I just haven't quite found my groove.

Bruce Martin: And then after that, everybody can focus on the Indianapolis 500. There'll be an open test, a two-day open test at the end of April. And then a week later, everybody returns for the Sanzio Grand Prix, and then followed by the 110th Indianapolis 500. So does your heart start pumping a little bit faster this time of year when you see Indy's getting closer? And we all know how bad you want to win.

Pato O'Ward: I would say when the first practice hits after Indy Road Course, that's where I start feeling it. I can't wait for another opportunity at the 500.

Bruce Martin: What is it about that race that surprised you, about the lure of that race? We all knew how big it was, I'm sure you knew how big it was, but when you actually experienced, what was it? that made you say, I really get it. Now I know why these guys come back year after year to try to win this thing.

Pato O'Ward: You don't get it when you haven't done it, but the more years that you do it, the more you understand what that whole event means and is. It just makes you hungrier, hungrier to get it, hungrier to fight, hungrier to compete. Even to the guys that have won it once, they want to do it again. I don't think it's something that'll ever go away. The hunger to feel that and just to be in it is already such an accomplishment to enjoy and be grateful for because, I mean, man, it almost like, it gets you kind of emotional when you see the, not the rockets, but the airplanes on the grid. Man, it's pretty special. I will say every year that it goes on, It just has more of an effect on me.

Bruce Martin: And does it really give you a unmistakable feeling to realize that when they announce Padua Award, the crowd goes crazy, no matter what race it is, but especially at the Indianapolis 500?

Pato O'Ward: I mean, they've welcomed me like I'm one of their own, and I've experienced the cheer like I had won the damn thing already. And I can't imagine what it will be like whenever I do get it. And my goal and obviously a huge dream of mine has been to win that. But I feel like everything that I've already gotten and learned from that place is beyond anything I could have ever imagined already.

Bruce Martin: Well, Pato Award will certainly be a huge celebration when you do win the Indianapolis 500. It's a big celebration whenever you win any IndyCar Series race. And I think you're probably going to get into victory lane here pretty soon. But good luck the rest of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season. We'll catch up with you before Indy. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. Thank you. And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental. We want to thank our guests, Alex Blow of Chip Ganassi Racing, Christian Rasmussen of ECR, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske, and Pato Award of Arrow McLaren for joining us on this edition of Pit Pass Indy. Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests help make Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental, your path to victory lane in IndyCar. On the highways, the raceways, and every pit stop in between, Penske Truck Rental keeps you moving forward. Gain ground with Penske. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at X, previously known as Twitter, at BruceMartin, one word, uppercase B, uppercase M, underscore 500. All of us at PitPass Indy wishes you a very happy Easter. This has been a production of Evergreen Podcast. A special thanks to our production team. Executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin, and final mixing was done by Sean Rule Hoffman and Nathan Corson. Learn more at evergreenpodcast.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.