Red-Hot Kyle Kirkwood Can Round Out Resume at Road America

Fox Sports

19-06-2025

INDYCAR
Kyle Kirkwood checked a major personal box last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway by earning his first victory on an oval in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. An opportunity to check another box comes Sunday at Road America.
To be considered an all-around standout in the series presenting the most diverse set of venue challenges, a driver should excel on street circuits, road courses and oval tracks. Kirkwood has won races at the first two; only a road course win has eluded him – so far.
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Kirkwood is one of 14 drivers scheduled to compete in this weekend's XPEL Grand Prix at Road America Presented by AMR that have won races in this series. Ten of those have won races on all three types of circuits, with series points leader Alex Palou the most recent to join the club with his oval victory in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
Hitting for INDYCAR's cycle is important to Kirkwood, who prior to conquering WWTR had only won on street circuits (four times).
'(Last weekend's victory) puts a stamp down a little bit more like, 'Hey, this kid might actually be able to contend for a championship and do things,'' the Andretti Global driver said at WWTR. '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.'
The other active drivers with series wins on all three types of circuits are Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, Pato O'Ward, Palou, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Alexander Rossi. McLaughlin and Herta joined the group last year with oval victories.
Kirkwood's pursuit of the INDYCAR Triple Crown is just one of the many storylines to watch in this weekend's race (Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Can Palou Get Back on Track?
Palou salvaged an eighth-place finish in last weekend's Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline to somewhat mitigate the points damage created by Kirkwood and O'Ward – his two closest challengers for the season title – finishing first and second, respectively.
While Palou's finishes of 25th and eighth in races held this month have allowed some slippage in his points lead, he is still in a commanding position. He leads O'Ward by 73 points and Kirkwood by 75 points, both amounts more than the equivalent of a single race. Nine races remain.
Palou should feel confident in his ability to bounce back. The next two races are on road courses where he has combined to win three times and earn a pole (last year at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course). His wins in 2023 at Road America and Mid-Ohio were part of a three-race winning streak.
Palou Among Six Road America Winners
Unlike last week when there were only three active drivers had won races at WWTR, twice as many drivers will roll into Road America as past winners.
Power (2014, 2024), Dixon (2017, 2020), Newgarden (2018, 2022) and Palou (2021, 2023) lead the way with two wins each at the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. Rossi (2019) and Felix Rosenqvist (2020) each have one win on the circuit.
INDY NXT by Firestone has been racing at the facility since 2016. Among the current INDYCAR SERIES drivers who won races in that series at Road America are Herta (2018), Rinus VeeKay (2019), Kirkwood (2021), David Malukas (2021), Christian Rasmussen (2022) and Nolan Siegel (2023).
So, yeah, a lot of drivers know where victory lane is located.
Team Penske Swept Last Year's Competitive Race
Last year, Roger Penske's three drivers became the first trio in four years to occupy all three steps on the same podium when Power, Newgarden and McLaughlin did so at Road America. Prior to that, Andretti Global went 1-2-3 at Mid-Ohio in 2020 with Herta, Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
While Team Penske walked away with top honors a year ago, the 55-lap race was statistically one of the track's most balanced. Seven drivers exchanged the lead 13 times, both records for the event.
Power's victory pushed him to the series lead, which now is noteworthy. No one other than Palou has led the standings after the races since then.
Teams Relatively Even With Hybrid Wins
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is soon to celebrate the one-year anniversary of using hybrid technology, and there has been team parity aplenty in that span.
Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global each have won five times in the 17 races in the hybrid has been used. Arrow McLaren has won twice.
As with most categories over the past year, Palou leads all drivers in hybrid wins with five, Kirkwood has three such wins. Four drivers have won twice (McLaughlin, Power, O'Ward and Herta). Newgarden has won one.
Hybrid technology made its debut last July at Mid-Ohio. O'Ward won that race.
Road America's Schedule
After a two-day show at WWTR, INDYCAR's traditional three-day weekend is back in play at Road America.
Friday's practice at 4:30 p.m. ET will be live on FS2, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Saturday, the televised action shifts to FS1 with the second practice at 11 a.m. ET followed by qualifying for the NTT P1 Award at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Ahead of Sunday's race on FOX and FOX Deportes is the morning warmup at 10 a.m. on FS1.
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