Christian Lundgaard has entered the IndyCar championship chat 

Few have challenged four-time champion Alex Palou over the past few seasons, but Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren is right there in the proverbial rearview when it comes to the NTT IndyCar Series.

Four-time and three-time reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing captured the weekend’s race at Barber Motorsports Park for a second straight year and is currently second to Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood by two points in the championship standings, despite winning two of the 2026 season's first four races.

While Kirkwood’s emergence has garnered headlines recently, especially after he came on strong late in 2025, McLaren's 24-year-old Dane deserves his flowers, too.

He may actually be a more serious threat to the championship lead with the equally emerging McLaren team. His hard charge to second place on Sunday in Alabama boosted him to third in points with two podium finishes through four races in 2026.

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Lundgaard charged from 10th in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix and nearly pulled off an upset victory in the process. He found the lead by the halfway mark of the 90-lap race, and when Palou later relinquished the lead by pitting for the last time on lap 65, Lundgaard maximized the opportunity.

Four laps later, he pitted, but unfortunately for him, a snag with the right rear wheel delayed the pit stop, costing him close to 10 seconds of valuable time.

Lundgaard, who led 10 laps of the 90-lap race, still managed to get around Graham Rahal to secure second place, but the end result certainly seemed like a missed opportunity for his first win of the season and second of his young IndyCar career.  

“Everything you just said sounds great except the P2 part,” Lundgaard said in a post-race press conference to IndyCar media. “I think we had a race-winning car today. Obviously, it's frustrating, the past many few races, we've produced such great race cars on Sunday. We've been lacking on Saturday. It's just frustrating.

“I'm not really sure what happened in the pit stop. I'm not sure I can really comment too much on it. Again, it's unfortunate. Obviously came out behind Graham there on the last stint and just wanted to really get that second place for the team, as well. It wasn't just for me. This is where we were. At least with a bobble on pit road, let's get the same result, not worse. We had the pace. Got by Graham. That was nice.”

Lundgaard hasn’t won a race since Toronto in 2023, when he became the first Danish driver to win an IndyCar race, and is still searching for his first with Arrow McLaren since joining the team a year ago. His consistent performance to date in 2026 has the look of a champion, and Palou appears to have his hands full with both Kirkwood and Lundgaard.

“It’s still early, and [Palou] is still in front of us,” Lundgaard said of the four-time series champ. “I think we had a chance to make a difference today, but we can’t be unhappy [starting] 10th [and finishing] second.”

Driver of the day?

IndyCar on Fox Sports lead race commentator Will Buxton said on the latest episode of SPEED with Harvick and Buxton that Lundgaard deserved Driver of the Week honors.

“I thought he was utterly phenomenal this weekend,” Buxton debated on the program. “Put the moves on when they were needed, made them work, didn't get himself into any sticky situations. Drove with conviction. And I think that win should have been his.

“Should have won the race. Certainly should have been in the fight in the final stages of the race. You can tell, these guys are all tired of getting beat by Palou. And the work, and effort, and everything that they've put in this year. They're going to win some races, that group.”

Lundgaard is set to resume his pursuit on the streets of Long Beach California in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 19. Watch on Fox with a free trial of FuboTV!