ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s only fitting that in IndyCar’s return to Texas, the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington wound up in a shootout.
Kyle Kirkwood did not flinch as he hit the accelerator with four-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou on his rear. Kirkwood passed under the white flag, and just as he was set to drive to a green flag finish, Nolan Siegel and Romain Grosjean crashed behind them in Turn 14 to bring out the caution flag that guaranteed the Andretti Global driver the victory.
Kirkwood regained the title as King of the Streets as the Andretti Global driver scored another win on a street circuit, the sixth victory of his career.
Five of his six wins have come on street courses, and this was the first race for IndyCar on an incredibly impressive 2.73-mile, 14-turn street course that includes the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium, and the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field.
“That was so incredible,” Kirkwood said. “Man, we had some pace. They gave me the tools we had today. It was 1, 3 and 4 for Andretti. We are incredibly stoked. We are going to celebrate tonight.
“The car suits me. I suit the car. Man, what an incredible day. We need a lot more like this.”
Kirkwood becomes IndyCar’s third different winner in the first three races this season, while taking the point lead for the first time in his career.
“Incredible car, man, this thing was a rocket ship all day long, thanks guys,” Kirkwood radioed to his crew on the cool down lap.
Honda swept the top four positions with three of them Andretti Global drivers. Kirkwood defeated Palou under caution. Kirkwood’s Andretti teammates Will Power and Marcus Ericsson finished third and fourth.
Palou admitted he wasn’t going to get Kirkwood on that final restart.
“He had an impressive pass, hats off to him, it was incredibly clean and we’ll get him next race,” Palou said. “I was incredibly happy.”
Power had his first podium for a team other than Team Penske since 2008 when he was with KV Racing Technology.
Power made it to the finish on just three pit stops.
“Congrats to Kyle,” Power said. “He was going to be hard to beat, no matter what. It’s a big deal for Andretti. We’re coming. We’re coming. We’re going to be a good team. The Honda was really good. Really user friendly and easy to drive.”
Pato O’Ward was fifth, the only Chevrolet driver in the top five.
“That was all we had,” O’Ward said. “These Andretti’s are freaking strong on street courses. I had such a great weekend driving around this place and everyone here involved in this event, it had to be sold out because I didn’t see any empty seats and the general admission was packed.
“They have set a new standard for what all IndyCar races should look like.”
The start of the race was moved up one-hour to avoid weather later Sunday afternoon. It was breezy throughout the race, but sunny and 83 degrees creating a spectacular backdrop for an incredible initial event in what many in IndyCar are hoping becomes a “Tent Pole” event on the IndyCar Series schedule.
At the start of the race, Marcus Armstrong’s right-rear tire was punctured, so the Meyer-Shank Racing driver had to pit early in the race. He completed two laps before coming in to satisfy the Red Tire rule.
Pole winner Ericsson led the field to the green flag and maintained control of the field. Further back, it was three-wide racing through Rangers Right without any contact.
Ericsson opened a nice lead on the first lap. On Lap 2, Christian Lundgaard spun around in Turn 7, and with the car facing backwards, avoided contact. He continued in the race. Armstrong pitted on Lap 3 to take off the punctured rear tire.
On Lap 4, Andretti Global driver Will Power passed Alex Palou for second place, but Palou was able to quickly regain the lost position. Scott Dixon pitted early on Lap 5, bringing Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson and hit one of his teammate’s tires.
Both Honda drivers completed pit stops and switched a set for Reds for another set of Reds and that meant they could use Firestone Blacks for the ensuing stops.
But it also allowed both to go on the attack with a different strategy than the leaders. The intent was to leapfrog the field on later pit stops.
Simpson was later issued the penalty because it was his front wing that hit his rear tire, bouncing it into Dixon’s pit area.
On Lap 8, Palou narrowed the gap on race leader Ericsson, closing the gap to 0.537 seconds. Ericsson was able to increase the lead to 1.1207 seconds by Lap 10. Both Ericsson and Power informed their crews that they couldn’t go much longer on the Red tires, opening the possibility of a four-stop race.
O’Ward pitted on Lap 15. Meantime, Ericsson was attempting to stretch his stint for as long as he could before pitting. The strategy seemed to work as Ericsson led Palou by 1.2279 on Lap 15.
Ericsson and Palou both pitted on Lap 18 and Palou was first out after Ericsson’s crew had a wheel gun issue that got him out a second later. It was the second Andretti Global driver that had a wheel bun issue. The first was Kyle Kirkwood on his first stop.
Power was the lead after Ericsson and Palou pitted with Felix Rosenqvist second. Power was the longest to use the set of Reds when he pitted on Lap 23, but when he left his pit box, Louie Foster of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing pulled into his pit, forcing Power to get on the brakes, costing him about 3 seconds on pit exited.
Team Penske drivers David Malukas and Josef Newgarden made contact, spinning out Newgarden’s Chevrolet.
When the first pit stop sequence was completed, it was – guess who – Palou in the lead, 1.9550 seconds over Ericsson. O’Ward was third.
Ericsson made his second pit stop on Lap 27 and could use Firestone Blacks the rest of the way. Meantime, Kirkwood had a spin out on the left rear, costing him plenty of time in the pit area.
Palou pitted as the leader on Lap 29, using up both sets of soft tires and was now on the Firestone Blacks for the remainder of the race.
By Lap 40, Power was back in front and led Palou by 4.007 seconds with Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global third, 10.5624-seconds behind the leader. Christian Lundgaard was fourth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with Ericsson’s No. 28 fifth.
Power pitted with 24 laps to go for a fresh set of tires and fuel, turning the lead back over to Palou.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver made his pit stop with 21 laps to go. Meantime, across the dual pit lane, Kirkwood made his pit stop as the second-place driver and Palou was first out of the pit exit. Kirkwood set his sights on tracking down Palou, as the two were fighting it out for the win.
With 20 laps remaining, it was shaping up as a good battle between Palou and two of the Andretti Global drivers including in order Kirkwood and Power.
With 16 laps to go, Kirkwood went late in the brakes, dove to the inside of Palou and made the divebomb pass to take the lead in Turn 13, thrilling the big crowd that came out for this impressive street course contest.
Once in the lead, Kirkwood began to pull away with 11 laps remaining, he led Palou by 2.753-seconds. With 10 to go, it was 2.7387 seconds.
With seven to go, Kirkwood was 4.497 seconds ahead and it and unless something dramatic was over, the kid from Jupiter, Florida had defeated Palou at his own game.
But with four laps left, Christian Rasmussen was into the wall at pit out for the only caution of the race. That negated Kirkwood’s impressive advantage and set up a one-lap shootout.
