NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers don’t usually feel unfulfilled finishing second in races, but that was Christian Lundgaard’s emotion Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park.

With a fast race car, Lundgaard appeared poised to grab control of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst coming to pit road for his final time in a three-stop race. He was only trailing Alex Palou by three seconds, and Palou was struggling in traffic. The race was on – until it wasn’t.

The fastest stops were taking a little more than seven seconds, and Lundgaard’s crew might have delivered one in that time bracket if not for an issue with the right-rear tire. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was dropped from the jack before the tire was secured and then the lug nut briefly got away from the changer. It was more than 17 seconds before the car rolled away, erasing any chance Lundgaard had of overtaking Palou.

By the time Lundgaard regained his composure and the car’s top speed, Palou was off in the distance with an advantage of more than 13 seconds.

“From what I’ve been told, we would have cleared him,” Lundgaard said of the pit stop exchanges.

To make matters worse, Graham Rahal moved past Lundgaard into second place. All Lundgaard could do was get back on his horse in pursuit of Rahal. It took him several laps to initiate a pass, but he executed it with three laps to go.

“Let’s get the same result, not worse,” Lundgaard said of his immediate reaction to the pit stop bobble. “We had the pace (and) got by Graham. That was nice.” 

As for Palou, he finished the race 13.2775 seconds ahead of Lundgaard (photo, above), making the pit stop the deciding factor.

Still, it was a productive day for Lundgaard, who led 10 laps and scored his second top-three finish of the season after finishing third in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This was his 11th podium finish of his career.

“Everything (there) sounds great except (finishing second),” he said. “I think we had a race-winning car today. Obviously, it’s frustrating.”

Lundgaard fielded several questions in the post-race news conference, and each time he tried his best to put the moment in perspective. But the disappointment made it a challenge.

“We finished (second), so we shouldn’t be that frustrated,” he said. “But when you are up against a car that's been the most competitive and best car in INDYCAR for the past many years, to have a chance to beat him fair and square, that hurts.

“It's the position that we've tried to be in the past three years. I think we got there today. Really just to miss out on it for something like that is unfortunate. I think there's a lot of learnings to take from it.”

Christian Lundgaard

Among drivers finishing in the top 10, Lundgaard (photo, above) was the mover of the race. He started 10th and was turning laps three-tenths of a second faster than Palou in the middle part of the race. In that pivotal stretch he shaved more than five seconds off Palou’s lead using a set of Firestone’s softer alternate tires compared to the primary set the Spaniard was on.

It was Lundgaard’s second consecutive podium finish at Barber Motorsports Park. Last year, Palou finished a season-high 16.0035 seconds ahead of him. This finish allowed Lundgaard to jump four positions in the standings, to third after four races.

After entering the Barber weekend 49 points out of the lead, the Danish driver trails Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood by 35 points and Palou by 33.

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