INDYCAR ’26: 3 Races, 3 Different Winners and Championship Leaders
Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
If the first three races of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season are any indication of what is in store the rest of the year, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.
Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 JM Bullion/gold.com Honda for Andretti Global made it three different race winners and three different championship leaders in three races so far this season by winning Sunday’s inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, pulling off a stunning pass of four-time and reigning series champion Alex Palou with 15-laps remaining.
“Yeah, it was kind of all or nothing,” said Kirkwood. “He was so good in the (turns) four, five, six, seven, eight, nine section, the tight, twisty bit. It was hard to get to his gearbox to make a pass on the straight. It put me in a position where we're good on the straight, right now, trimmed more than him, good under braking, and I knew that he was going to brake a little bit later there because his car was bottoming more than ours.
“Yeah, just had to do a bit of a late lunge and surprise him a little bit because if he started defending there was probably no chance of us getting by him 'cause that was probably the only place we were going to be able to pass him.”
Paul Hurley/Penske Entertainment
According to Kirkwood, the element of surprise was crucial to making the pass on the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda when he did.
“I was close enough that time. Palou is a smart person, smart driver. And if he knew that I got that close to him on that lap, and then I waited for the next lap to attack him, he would have defended. We were in a dire straits situation. This is probably the only place I can pass him. This is the only time I can surprise him.
“There was some urgency, but at the same time we were a lot quicker than him. He's someone that is very trustworthy to race against. If you do some of those late lunges, you can trust he's not going to drive you into the wall, like maybe some other drivers will.
“I always love racing against him because we're both very aware of our surroundings and race very, very cleanly together.”
Palou was surprised Kirkwood passed him when and where he did, but admitted he had nothing for him.
“Kirkwood was really fast. I could see already on second and third stint that I was pushing as much as I could, using OT (over take, push-to-pass) to try to get gaps. He was closing 3, 4/10ths on me. I was like, Oh, man, it's going to be tough.
“Yeah, he just passed me incredibly. It was a very awesome overtake. Should have obviously defended a little bit better. It's very easy to say now.
“He was very close. I didn't know if I had to defend or not. He just lunged. It was a clean pass.”
James Black/Penske Entertainment
With three different winners from three different teams already this season, Palou rejects the idea that the series is suddenly more competitive.
“I think last year it was just something out of the norm that we had,” he commented. “I think some people struggled. I think Penske struggled quite a lot, maybe not taking wins until the last race of the season, made that look a lot for the 10 car and CGR. It's always been this competitive. It's not that suddenly it's more competitive.”
Will Power, who scored his first podium finish for Andretti Global in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda since joining the team this year, agreed with Palou’s assessment.
“The series is very tough.
“I felt like I did a perfect race today. It was not the perfect strategy, obviously. I'm third. I always thought at Penske anytime we did our job, we'd end up close to the podium. I feel the same in this team now.
“Yeah, it's an incredibly tough series. Very tough. Good stuff. You got to be very versatile. Very hard to win on all disciplines.”
Kirkwood now has a 24-point lead over Palou, the winner at St. Pete, with Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward in third, 33-points behind Kirkwood. Last week’s winner at Phoenix Raceway, Josef Newgarden fell to fourth in the standings, 34 back of the leader.
After a couple years of Palou dominating the series, Kirkwood believes he can take the fight to him this season, but…
“We're three races in,” Kirkwood cautioned. “I don't want to focus too much on the championship. I want to focus on the next race in front of us, maximizing our performance.
“Of course, we're good at street courses. We've figured out short ovals now. We're going to a road course next. That's where we need to thrive.
“There's a lot of work to do. We want to be the biggest threat. Every driver does. We're currently the biggest threat to him and the entire rest of the field. But we need to continue that because we got a lot of races to go.”
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
While this season has all the early makings of a bare-knuckle brawl for the championship, Kirkwood would like nothing better than to make it a boring affair.
“Like I said, it’s three races, right? We've had a shot at winning all three of them. Of course, based on the last two years, we'd like to beat Palou. Both Josef and I can say that. It's good that we're having different winners in the series. I think for the series as a whole, it's important to shake things up for the viewers.
“We have a lot of viewers right now, so we need to continue to have viewers. We don't want to bore them. It's good that we're having different winners. We want to change that here with the 27 car. We want to see us look like making the race a little bit boring (smiling).”
After three consecutive race weekends to open the season, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will get a short break before resuming with the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on March 27-29 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
“I think it's been a really, really good first start of the season,” said Palou. I think from a series standpoint, it's been incredible to see what everybody's been pushing on. Hey, we don't need breaks after once we start. I think you can see it on the ratings, on how engaged everybody is. I think that's a big gain.
“Yeah, cannot wait for Barber.”
Neither can everyone else.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.