The first practice session for The NTT IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park concluded on Friday afternoon with the No.3 of Scott McLaughlin for Team Penske lead in both Group A & B with a lap of 01:07.38.
The two-time winner at the circuit (2023 and 2024), will look to earn his first win of the 2026 campaign this upcoming weekend.
The session began at a normal pace, but didn’t come without an incident early on. In Turn 9, the No. 20 of Alexander Rossi for Ed Carpenter Racing experienced what was believed to be a fuel system issue. However, it turns out the car was dealing with an unrelated power issue.
Points leader for Andretti Global, Kyle Kirkwood, would be second fastest in the session behind McLaughlin with a 0.0288 difference.
Other notable results were the No.7 of Christian Lundgaard for Arrow McLaren who was initally the fastest in the session before McLaughlin. The other two Penske drivers of David Malukas & Josef Newgarden were slotted in the fifth & sixth spots.
Aside from the aforementioned Kirkwood, the only other Andretti Global Honda inside the top 10 was the No.26 of Will Power.
Official Results:
| Position | Car | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 01:07.3840 |
| 2 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian | 01:07.4128 |
| 3 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | 01:07.4158 |
| 4 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | Arrow McLaren | 01:07.4379 |
| 5 | 12 | David Malukas | Team Penske | 01:07.5456 |
| 6 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 01:07.5600 |
| 7 | 10 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:07.6733 |
| 8 | 76 | Rinus VeeKay | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 01:07.7103 |
| 9 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian | 01:07.7646 |
| 10 | 26 | Will Power | Andretti Global | 01:07.8818 |
| 11 | 18 | Romain Grosjean | Dale Coyne Racing | 01:07.8926 |
| 12 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 01:07.9038 |
| 13 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | Andretti Global | 01:07.9273 |
| 14 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian | 01:07.9521 |
| 15 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:07.9701 |
| 16 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | ECR | 01:08.0586 |
| 17 | 45 | Louis Foster | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:08.0887 |
| 18 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | ECR | 01:08.1898 |
| 19 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | Arrow McLaren | 01:08.2264 |
| 20 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:08.2607 |
| 21 | 4 | Caio Collet | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 01:08.2692 |
| 22 | 19 | Dennis Hauger | Dale Coyne Racing | 01:08.3522 |
| 23 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:08.3972 |
| 24 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 01:08.6425 |
| 25 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:08.6814 |
