“Trajectory sharper than anybody” - Kirkwood’s return to IndyCar winning ways
- Archie O’Reilly
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 6 hours ago
Written by Archie O’Reilly, edited by Dan Jones
There is no doubt in Kyle Kirkwood’s mind.
Having returned to Victory Lane in IndyCar for the first time since 2023 - winning from pole at Long Beach for a second time - the Andretti Global driver feels ready to contend for an IndyCar title.
“Of course,” he said with conviction. “When I was younger, all I did was win championships.”
Kirkwood came into his own when in the lead on Sunday, channelling his experience of consistently fighting at the front of the field through his junior career.
Along with his No.27 team, he controlled, managed and executed his race in pristine fashion.
“Races like today are races that I was more used to when I was in the lower series,” he said. “You dictate the pace of the race and you understand the strategy. You’re in control. Those were what I love.
“Where I tended to struggle in previous years were the ones where you start in the 10th, 11th place and work your way through and you overcome adversity in those ways. That was something that was very new to me.
“So for me to get another one of these and better myself at a lot of these races where I’m starting a little bit further back and still coming forward proves that people can start considering me a title contender.”
Kirkwood is a more developed driver compared to when he took his maiden career win at Long Beach as a sophomore in only his third race for Andretti in 2023.
While he won twice that year, he only finished inside the top 10 seven times and was 11th in the standings. His big goal for 2024 was finding consistency, which was an overwhelming success as he finished inside the top 10 in 13 of the 17 races.
But a win evaded him.
Heading into 2025, the goal has been to match the newfound consistency with more aggression in order to re-find the peak level he showcased two years ago. And only three races into the season, Kirkwood has already coupled that reliability with a field-topping level.
He sits second in points after three rounds and still trails championship leader Álex Palou by 34 points, with the three-time champion - two-time defending - and winner of the first two races of the season coming home second at Long Beach.
But even if it is only three races into the season, Kirkwood takes pride from being as high as he has ever been in the IndyCar standings. There is a clear sense that, as a champion on every level of the Road to Indy ladder, this is where he belongs.
Kirkwood finished a career-best seventh in points last year, owing to his consistency, as Colton Herta made a late charge to second in the standings for Andretti last season. But the team has not won an IndyCar championship since Ryan Hunter-Reay’s success in 2012.
Despite the end result, there was a sense that Herta was not quite in the picture when it really counted in 2024. Kirkwood is determined to be there from the start in 2025.
“Andretti was a title contender last year with Colton coming on strong at the end of the season,” he said. “We want to make that evident throughout the season. We don’t want it to be just right at the end where we’re clawing back at people.
“We want to be there in the fight the entire time, if not leading. This is a big one for us. This is a step in the right direction. We need more of these. This is one step of many more races to come.”
Even this early in the season, Kirkwood sensed that a victory was imperative to quell the headstart being made by Palou. It was a statement of intent that the Floridian outdueled and beat the Spaniard at his own game at Long Beach.
“We really didn’t have that ultimate speed that the No.27 car had,” Palou conceded. “They did an awesome job throughout the weekend. Every time I was having a small chance, he just had a little bit more pace.”
Kirkwood knew Long Beach presented the perfect opportunity for Andretti at one of the team’s strongest venues on the calendar. He felt pre-weekend that anything but a podium finish would not suffice.
The weight of his winless run, spanning back to the Streets of Nashville in August 2023, only served as motivation. And his confidence ahead of Long Beach was ultimately vindicated as he executed a faultless race.
“This was a flawless weekend for myself, for the team, for the crew, for everyone involved,” he said. “When you have flawless weekends like this, you tend to win. This is a big step in the right direction. I knew coming into this event this was our time to turn things around.
“This is probably one of our top three circuits I think on schedule. It’s important that we win those to have any chance of winning a championship. This is a start. Hopefully this is a continuation of great things.”
The first major statement from Kirkwood came in qualifying, where on his decisive final run he ousted teammate Herta - with whom he locked out the front row for Andretti - by over two-tenths of a second around the famed 1.968-mile (3.167 km) street track.
A gap of just shy of half-a-second back to Palou in third outlined the dominance of Kirkwood when it mattered most come the decisive Fast Six session.
Andretti as a team has lacked consistency in recent years - unable to replicate the same output across all the team’s cars. But while they have not converted a race finish to match across all cylinders, Kirkwood, Herta and Marcus Ericsson have all qualified inside the top 10 at every race so far in 2025 - including all making the Fast Six at Long Beach.
There is a notable synergy between the three drivers - all proven race winners - and healthy competition between a trio driving each other onwards. A no-ego, no-selfishness culture has blossomed, with strong camaraderie and trust and each driver transparent and learning from one another’s differing views.
All starting inside the top five at Long Beach, including a front row lockout - a flipped version of that in Toronto last year, where Herta led Kirkwood - led to the prospect of the Andretti drivers working together to get over the line, as was the case across the border in 2024.
The three team cars were free to fight one another but Herta and Ericsson both faded early in the race, ultimately finishing seventh and 12th. Kirkwood was left to fend off Palou, who found his way to second after the early opening pit cycle after initially dropping to fifth, alone.
It was a test that he relished.
The opening segment of the race was chaotic as the 21 alternate-tyre starters - hoping for an early caution that never came - all pitted inside the opening 10 laps. But while a frenzy ensued behind him amid a concoction of drivers on a mixture of hot and cold primary tyres fresh out of the pits, Kirkwood stayed in a zone out front.
By the time the cycle ended, he had maintained the net lead ahead of Palou, who pitted the lap prior. It was a first sense of unflappability that continued throughout the race from the Andretti driver.
Beyond the opening pit cycle, Kirkwood twice more had to fend off an undercut attempt from Palou. In the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s renowned style, he upped the ante and prepared to seize the initiative around the pit cycles having been content to sit in and manage his race behind Kirkwood.
It was an ominous sight seeing Palou - sporting up-to-temperature tyres - charging down a more vulnerable Kirkwood on colder rubber at the start of the race’s final two stints. Kirkwood came under particular duress after his final stop, where there was a minor bobble. But he weathered a lap of immense duress with supreme collectedness.
“I just caught the traffic in the very last corner,” Kirkwood said of his final stop. “It was actually ideal timing. It didn’t hold me up whatsoever. If anything, I think I was probably on my fastest lap at that moment and came into the pit lane.
“We had a little bit of a hiccup in pit lane, which brought us back to [Palou]. He had a really quick pit stop. It got things really close.”
But once Kirkwood had fended off the charge of Palou, the race was essentially won.
“We had a great [final] pit stop,” Palou said. “It was pretty close. I thought I was going to have a chance but then my tyres were not 100 percent either. Just had a big oversteer out of Turn 5 and couldn’t really go on power to get a good exit. He was safe from there.”
After extending the dreaded initial alternate stint one lap further than Palou, Kirkwood was always a step ahead. His No.27 Andretti team - led by strategist Bryan Herta - went toe-to-toe with and outdid the current best in the business.
And in the cockpit, no matter the pressure, Kirkwood maintained a distinct air of calm and continued to execute in seamless style.
Kirkwood’s management of the race was exceptional. He came into the critical final stint with more push-to-pass banked than Palou, which was no doubt an integral part to holding on to the lead when he came under the most pressure.
Palou’s window of opportunity quickly closed and a sense of control continually emanated from the cockpit of Kirkwood’s No.27 Honda.
“I knew I needed to save as much as him to be able to keep going a lap longer than him,” Kirkwood said. “That was the name of the game. Overcut was more powerful than undercut. He made that undercut look powerful, even though it really wasn’t.
“To keep him at bay was the most important thing. Of course, there was [Christian] Lundgaard on a different strategy hunting us too. We had pace on him to be able to keep him at bay as well. He was kind of out of sight, out of mind.”
Even when lapped traffic became a factor late in the race, Kirkwood showed composure and not a hint of panic. Navigating traffic was a key lesson learned from his victory at Long Beach in 2023, where he felt traffic management almost cost him that first career victory.
The sense of measure and cleanliness was reminiscent of Palou. And to have fended him off as he did during the time in the race where Palou comes into his own and pounces - as was the case in St. Petersburg and at The Thermal Club - laid down a marker.
They were two drivers in a different league. And it was Kirkwood that stood up to the series’ hottest current commodity and Andretti that ousted Ganassi.
“Things are starting to click in multiple ways,” Kirkwood said. “We’re producing fast race cars. We’re getting better at the places we weren’t so great at. Our pit stops are exponentially better.
“There’s a tonne of investment going into it. It’s big to see investments paying off. Hopefully this is a continuation of something and a step in the right direction. This is just momentum rolling into the next few races, the Month of May.
“I’d say the trajectory that we’re on is maybe sharper than anybody else’s right now in the series.”
Let-downs in team-wide execution have needed to be eradicated at Andretti. But there is a clear vision that the team is heading in a positive direction as a collective - now under the guise of Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports, parent company of Andretti Global.
“Andretti Global has been on an upward trajectory on IndyCar,” declared Towriss, who was in attendance at Long Beach. “It’s a process to improve. There’s a lot of areas of improvement. There’s the speed in the car. There’s execution on pit road. We really have just continued to build.
“Obviously Palou is having one hell of a season - he’s going to be tough to catch. But we think we can do it and we’re going to make it tough for him.”
Having withstood Palou’s pressure, Kirkwood made sure the Spaniard was no match in the closing stages at Long Beach. The comfort of leading the pack came to the fore as he drew out the gap to over two seconds by the chequered flag.
“These are the days that we live for as drivers, as teams,” Kirkwood said. “It’s a special one to go out here and dominate like this. It might have made it a little bit boring but these are important for us. This is exactly what, as drivers, we want to see happen.”
Kirkwood dictated proceedings without needing any flair and without taking any undue risks. He beat Palou in a straight fight.
“We have raised the bar for each of the drivers,” Towriss said. “Kyle has responded so positively to that. Kyle is a tremendous talent. For the No.27 team to continue to come together, for Kyle to continue to mature as a driver, I think you can expect a lot of great things from him going forward. I know we certainly are as a team.”
For several years now, Andretti has appeared to be Herta’s team - he has been the constant. But Kirkwood’s on-track performances mark intent to emerge from that shadow, even though whatever the external perception may be could not bother him less.
“I don’t mind being the underdog to you guys mostly,” he said. “I’m not under-appreciated. I’m considered as still one of the up-and-comers. I’m 26 now. Palou is winning championships at 26 so…
“But the team really appreciates my efforts. That’s what matters to me.”
Nothing will beat getting his first career win in IndyCar’s most iconic race outside of the Indianapolis 500. But to win the 50th edition of the Grand Prix of Long Beach is still something Kirkwood sees as an honour.
“Getting the first win for me in 2023 was crucial for my career, crucial for my longevity,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d still be sitting in an Indy car if it wasn’t for that win and the win at Nashville. But this one’s a close second.
“I don’t think it’s set in yet for me. I know how special it is coming into this. To win the 50th anniversary of this is huge. To be a multi-time winner here is absolutely massive. It’s turning into a shorter and shorter list that I’m putting my name on.
“I’m proud to do it in an Andretti car, too. Andretti has a huge history here. To add to that history is big for me, big for the team. It’s big for everyone involved.”
There is genuine belief in the Andretti stable. A stable driver lineup is a rarity within the volatile climate of IndyCar, while structural change with Towriss taking majority control of the team appears to have paid off so far.
“Clearly three races in now, we seem better than we have been in the past couple years,” Kirkwood said. “That’s due to his leadership and the investment that’s going into the team. We have an influx of people, an influx of development. There’s a big will to win.
“We got the win here but we also had really good performances at the past two circuits. Thermal was not a good track for us and we turned it into a great track, having two cars that were running in the top five for most of the race.”
Towriss, who has taken leadership of the team amid Michael Andretti’s step back, has big ambitions for the team. The potential is significant.
“Our goal is to be a premier and dominant team in every motorsport that we are participating in, including IndyCar,” he said. “That’s a key component of the business side. Certainly winning races does a lot for a team from a commercial standpoint.
“We just want to continue to create fans. We want to continue to create interest - interest in our team, interest in our drivers, interest in IndyCar. We’re going to continue to push the envelope.”
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