Kirkwood Sheds Street Racer Rep At St. Louis
Photo by Matt Fraser/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
With four wins on street tracks, Kyle Kirkwood was developing a reputation of being a one-trick pony.
Sunday night at World Wide Technology Raceway, the driver of the No. 27 Siemens Honda for Andretti Global changed that narrative by winning the Bommarito Auto Group 500 - his first career victory on an oval.
“I mean, it's kind of funny, right? You get on this streak where it's like, oh, he's doing so well, he's winning races, street courses. But then you get your fourth and people are like, another street course for Kirkwood. It's not as big of a deal now. When is he going to win something else?
“It takes away from the street courses, so this was huge for me. This was by far bigger than last weekend (at Detroit) because of that.
“I think Detroit was one of the most satisfactory wins that I've ever had because I actually had to pass some people for some things. But today just like kind of puts a stamp down a little bit more, like hey, this kid might actually be able to contend for a championship and do things.
“Everybody knows you've got to be diverse in this series. You've got to win at multiple circuits. You've got to win at multiple venues. Whether it's a short oval, long oval, street course, road course, whatever it might be, you've got to win at all of them. A step in the right direction for sure.”
Photo by Matt Fraver/Penske Entertainment
Kirkwood’s win didn’t come easy as varying fuel strategies came into play in the chaotic final laps of the race, with Kirkwood taking the lead only five-laps from the checkered flag, leading Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren to the line by just .5398 of a second and with Christian Rasmussen in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet just .8896 of a second behind.
“I understood the strategy pretty well. I understood that some of those guys there at the end were trying to make the fuel work and if they got a caution, they would have. It would have been pretty easy for them to make it to the end if there was just one caution.
“As I come down the front straight I look at the (scoring) pylon, and after you've done your stop and you're like 10, 15 laps into your stint and you're like, those guys are trying to make it, and now you're looking for those cars. Even though (the team) was filling me in on it, I was still paying attention to what was going on out there.
“Yeah, a good day. Everything worked to plan accordingly. If I'm being honest, we didn't start with an amazing race car; we finished with one. That was just due to the work that the crew did and due to the work that Honda did.
“I think as the conditions cooled,” Kirkwood continued, “we picked up some power, and then as the conditions cooled for our car we got a little better, but we also tuned on it, too. We were making changes at almost every single stop to get ourselves into a good window, and that played a huge factor in today's win because in the beginning stages it felt like we have anything.
“So we kept our heads down and stayed calm, cool, and collected, took opportunities where they came, and fortunately came away with that win.”
Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment
Staying cool, calm and collected has been key for Kirkwood in 2025. In what has become a breakout year for Kirkwood, who now has a career-best three wins on the season, the 26-year-old Floridian has shown a veteran’s maturity and has developed into a legitimate title contender.
“I mean, (it’s) doing the simple things right. Knowing when to attack, when not to. Understanding kind of that dynamic. And I'm beginning to understand the strategy a lot more.
“Honestly, it's mostly from just driving and then learning from the guys that have been around a lot. As I've been with Andretti, I've been much closer to the pointy end of the field in a lot of races and have lost to a lot of those guys that have an amazing pedigree. And those losses are big, right? Like you learn a lot on how they win and how they do it. Those are key takeaways that I try and do or try and take away from it and apply it to races like this.
“It tends to be working a little bit at least.”
Other than Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, Kirkwood is the only other driver to win this season in INDYCAR. What once seemed like an insurmountable gap to Palou, a five-race winner this season, Kirkwood is now third in the standings, just 75-points behind the three-time and reigning series champion.
“It's double digits again,” said Kirkwood. “Triple digits are never a good sign in a championship. Moving closer. It's still a long ways to go.
“He's good at a lot of races that we're coming up to, so those are the ones that are going to really count. This has been a track that we haven't been amazing at so, it's great to claw back some points here.
“But everybody knows we're going to go to Road America next week and he's going to put on a show there and we'll have to do everything in our power to keep him from looking shiny once again on road courses.”
Kirkwood would be even closer to Palou in the championship if not for having his sixth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 wiped out after failing post-race technical inspection.
“We're just proving that no matter what's happened in the past that we do produce race-winning cars and we are at the pointy end, especially on ovals.
“It was an exclamation point at Detroit, but maybe this one is even a bigger one because it's at an oval, like the third fastest oval that we go to. Yeah, that was a big win here today for that reason.”
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.