Kyle Kirkwood celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race on the streets of Long Beach. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
Kyle Kirkwood sealed the deal on Sunday.
Kirkwood earned his first NTT IndyCar Series victory Sunday by winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from the pole in the No. 27 Honda. The win came in Kirkwood’s 20th career start and third with Andretti Autosport, which he joined after driving for A.J. Foyt Racing as a rookie in 2022.
“This is amazing, man,” Kirkwood said. “What a day. The calmest day I’ve had in two years, and it was a win.
“I was so happy with just the pole yesterday, but I’m over the moon right now. This is incredible for the whole team. We had a stellar day for the whole team with Andretti Autosport.”
Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean finished second, .9907 of a second behind Kirkwood. It was the first 1-2 finish for Andretti Autosport since Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay swept all three podium spots at the second race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in September 2020.
Marcus Ericsson rounded out the podium finishers and took the championship lead by 15 points over Pato O’Ward, who finished 17th.
Herta finished fourth at his home race to help Andretti Autosport take first, second and fourth as its resurgence continues early this season. Alex Palou placed fifth, as he and Ericsson drove Chip Ganassi Racing to two of the top five spots. There were 253 on-track passes, the most at Long Beach since IndyCar started tracking passes at the famed street circuit in 2009.
Florida native Kirkwood entered the series last season in the tire tracks of becoming the first driver to sweep titles in USF2000, USF Pro 2000 and INDY NXT by Firestone in successive seasons. But he had an incident-filled rookie season with the Foyt team and ended up 24th in the championship, the second-lowest full-time driver in the standings.
The first two races of this season also were rocky for the 24-year-old. He finished 15th in the season-opening race at St. Petersburg and was eliminated by a mechanical problem at Texas Motor Speedway in 27th place.
But Kirkwood put everything together this weekend on the sun-splashed streets of the 11-turn, 1.968-mile temporary circuit, finally fulfilling the huge promise he showed throughout the junior categories. The win helped him jump from 20th to fifth in the championship standings.
“I just had a moment of relaxation (after crossing the finish line), to be honest,” Kirkwood said. “I felt like I needed this win, and we got it today. A moment of relief, no doubt.”
“He’s the real deal,” said team owner Michael Andretti. “We knew it a long time ago when he won the championship for us in the INDY NXT series. We knew he was something special.”
Kirkwood led 53 of 85 laps and took the lead for good on lap 56.
Defending race winner Josef Newgarden had pitted from the lead under green on lap 52, with Grosjean entering the pits for the final time from second on lap 53. Kirkwood followed suit on lap 54 and was able to exit the pits comfortably on front of Newgarden and Grosjean.
When Palou made his final stop on lap 55, Kirkwood cycled back to the lead. Grosjean kept his teammate honest over the closing 30 laps, lingering within about a second for most of the time. But Grosjean had to conserve fuel due to stopping a lap earlier than Kirkwood and couldn’t use his available, but fuel-gulping, push-to-pass until the final lap. By then, it was too late.
“It’s awesome for Kyle; I’m happy for him,” Grosjean said. “I wish I was in his position right now, but he drove a hell of a race, like a champ, the whole weekend. He deserved that. We tried everything we could on our end, but it was a fuel situation, so we couldn’t really attack.”
Still, like Kirkwood, the podium finish was a needed shot of redemption for Grosjean. He finished 18th and 14th in the first two races, eliminated in accidents in both.
Newgarden led 27 laps after starting eighth but also had to conserve fuel down the stretch and faded to ninth place at the finish.
The next event will be on Sunday, April 30 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
NTT IndyCar Series
Streets of Long Beach – Long Beach, CA
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – April 16, 2023
1. Kyle Kirkwood
2. Romain Grosjean
3. Marcus Ericsson
4. Colton Herta
5. Alex Palou
6. Will Power
7. Felix Rosenqvist
8. Marcus Armstrong
9. Josef Newgarden
10. Scott McLaughlin
11. Santino Ferrucci
12. Graham Rahal
13. Jack Harvey
14. Christian Lundgaard
15. Simon Pagenaud
16. Devlin DeFrancesco
17. Pato O’Ward
18. Sting Ray Robb
19. Callum Ilott
20. David Malukas
21. Helio Castroneves
22. Alexander Rossi
23. Conor Daly
24. Benjamin Pedersen
25. Agustin Canapino
26. Rinus VeeKay
27. Scott Dixon
Winner’s Average Speed: 97.171 mph
Time of Race: 1:43:17.3748 Margin of Victory: 0.9907 seconds
Cautions: 6 for 7 laps
Lead Changes: 26 among 8 drivers
Lap Leaders: Kirkwood, Kyle 1-21; Newgarden, Josef 22; Canapino, Agustin 23-25; Newgarden, Josef 26-51; Kirkwood, Kyle 52-53; Palou, Alex 54-55; Kirkwood, Kyle 56-85.
Point Standings: (Top 10) 1. Marcus Ericsson – 110; 2. Pato O’Ward – 95; 3. Alex Palou – 91; 4. Josef Newgarden 89; 5. Kyle Kirkwood – 74; 6. Scott Dixon – 72; 7. Romain Grosjean – 71; 8. Colton Herta – 69; 9. Will Power – 68; 10. Scott McLaughlin – 68.
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