ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kyle Kirkwood keeps taking it to the streets in IndyCar, and this time he won a new race to take over the series lead.
Kirkwood made an aggressive pass below four-time series champion Alex Palou with 15 laps to go, stayed in front the rest of the way and took the checkered flag for the Grand Prix of Arlington under caution Sunday. It was his sixth career win, the fifth on a street course.
On a day when Andretti Global had some pit issues, including a long stop for Kirkwood, all three of its Hondas finished in the top four while combining to lead 47 of the race’s 70 laps. Will Power was third for a podium finish while Marcus Ericsson, who started on the pole for the first time in his 171 series starts, led 15 laps and was fourth.
The winning pass by Kirkwood, a 27-year-old from Jupiter, Florida, came on the last of 14 turns on the temporary 2.73-mile circuit that ran between the home stadiums of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.
Palou, who finished second, described the pass by Kirkwood as awesome.
While matching Kirkwood and Power for a race-high 16 laps led, Palou wasn’t able to regain the series points lead. The three-time defending champion had been on top of the IndyCar standings since June 2024 before not finishing in Phoenix last weekend after early contact. But he did move up from fifth to second behind new leader Kirkwood.
After making up a more than five-second deficit to take the lead, Kirkwood was in front by more than five seconds until two late cautions tightened up the field.
A final sprint for the checkered flag never materialized because of a collision in the back of the field on the restart as Kirkwood and Palou were beginning the final lap. That crash in the tight 14th turn brought out a full-course caution, and safety crews were still on the track when they got back around nearly two minutes later to cross the finish line.
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