Palou ran a near-flawless race as Barber ran caution-free, and a pitstop mistake for his biggest in-race competition helped Palou pull away to a second lead at the end of 90 laps.

With his win, Palou climbs to 22nd on the all-time win list, tied with Bill Holland. This was Palou’s third win at Barber and second win of the season, becoming the first driver with multiple victories and reclaiming the top of the IndyCar championship standings. Albeit it shares the lead with Arlington GP race winner Kyle Kirkwood.

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Christian Lundgaard was set to challenge Palou for the win, looking for his second career victory and first with Arrow McLaren. Lundgaard got stuck on pit road with a 17.8-second stop on his final pitstop on lap 69. Asked after the race, Lundgaard said he believed that he had the drive and the car to battle Palou for the race win without the mistake.

“I think so,” Lungaard told IndyCar on Fox. “The pace that we had and how we were catching him, I think so.”

Palou beat Lundgaard by 14 seconds, meaning without the extra 10 seconds in his pitbox and without losing time with a battle with Rahal, he would’ve been within the window of Palou’s time.

With five laps to go, Lundgaard lunged, attempting to pass Rahal in turn five, but the No. 15 RLL driver was able to hold on.

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With three laps to go, Lundgaard was back in the hunt for second and attempted the pass again; this time, he successfully made the move and pulled away.

Using most of his push-to-pass on trying to keep Lundgaard behind, Rahal found himself sweating third as David Malukas had more energy than he had more time to pass than time left in the race, coming to two to go. Rahal was able to hold off Malukas for his first podium since 2023.

Kirkwood’s fifth-place finish helped him cling to his first-ever IndyCar championship lead.

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