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Children's of Alabama INDY Grand Prix 
Birmingham, AL - March 29, 2026

JOSEF NEWGARDEN No. 2 PPG CHEVROLET

START: 9TH 
FINISH: 10TH 
POINTS: 5TH (-43)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet team finished 10th in Sunday's Children's of Alabama INDY Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park after fighting handling conditions most of the afternoon. The three-time Barber winner started from the 10th position and worked his way up to eighth before radioing to his crew that he had a vibration on the No. 2 Chevy. The timing stand called him to pit lane a few laps earlier than they had hoped to, resulting in a longer second stint on the red, alternate Firestone tires. After the two mandatory stints on the alternate tires, Newgarden finished the race on the primary tires, yet the handling issues persisted through the end as he and the team salvaged a solid, top-10 finish.

NEWGARDEN'S THOUGHTS: "Tough day for the team. First of all, they did a great job. Good pit stops, good strategy. Stuck with it all day. We were scrapping out there to finish 10th. It was hard for us today. I wasn't sure we were going to make it to then end. But we did what we could. We just have to analyze everything. Totally different from what I predicted going in-what everyone predicted. The PPG Chevy felt like it had longevity. The tires acted the opposite way it had in the past. So we have to figure out why. We had a fast car. We are all motivated. We have a long way to go so we gave to stay focused."

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 ODYSSEY BATTERY CHEVROLET

START: 14TH 
FINISH: 16TH  
POINTS: 8TH (-57)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet team battled back from a scary Saturday afternoon practice accident to finish 16th in Sunday's Children's of Alabama INDY Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. McLaughlin led the Friday afternoon practice session and looked on his way to a third victory at Barber before losing control of his Chevy in the Saturday morning practice session, backing into the catchfence at a high rate of speed. Great work by the No. 3 team allowed McLaughlin to qualify in the 14th position, and he was able to gain three positions on the first stint of the 90-lap event. Unfortunately, as the race proceeded without interruption the brake ducts on the Odyssey Battery Chevy began to fill with track debris. This resulted in a loss of braking power while also overheating the rear tires to cause severe handling issues throughout the second half of the race. In the end, the handling was too much to overcome as McLaughlin crossed the finish line in the 16th position.

MCLAUGHLIN'S THOUGHTS: "Tough day for us in the Odyssey Battery Chevy. We didn't quite have the pace on the blacks. It was a little bit better on the red tire, but ultimately just didn't have the pace in general. Just frustrating because there was a lot of promise. I felt like we were pretty good as the track sort of came up, it got hotter and hotter. So, we've got a little bit of work to do to figure out what went on this weekend. Obviously, my crash didn't help. But, you know, just gonna move on. We've got a lot of work to do on my end."

DAVID MALUKAS No. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET

START: 2ND  
FINISH: 4TH  
POINTS: 4TH (-40)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: David Malukas and the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet team led the Team Penske effort once again, this time with a fourth-place finish in Sunday's Children's of Alabama INDY Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park to move to fourth in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES standings. In what was a tight final round of qualifying on Saturday, Malukas nearly earned his second NTT P1 Award of the season before starting the front from the outside of the front row. The first-year Team Penske driver kept his bright No. 12 Verizon machine at the front of the field for the duration of the event and nearly scored another podium finish following an exciting, late-race battle with the No. 15 of Graham Rahal before taking the checkered flag in the fourth position. 
 

MALUKAS' THOUGHTS: "It all comes down to the beginning, of choosing a start of the race that was not the right strategy. I think the best we could have had was P3, I think if we could have set up Graham a little bit better at the end, then maybe could have had a podium. Overall, it's really a good points day for us and Team Penske. We learned a lot., yeah, now we know, we got to stay ahead of the game when it comes to choosing these tires. If we started primaries, who knows, we would have been right up there and it would have been a different battle. But either way, thank you to Team Penske, Verizon and Chevrolet."

The fifth round of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season will take place on the streets of Long Beach, CA for the historic Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 19.