Arlington, Texas — INDYCAR is 3-for-3 this year. Three races. Three winners.
And we’re not talking just about three different winners on the racetrack. We’re talking about three races with great atmospheres — a traditional street race festival in St. Petersburg, the return of INDYCAR to the 1-mile Phoenix oval as part of a doubleheader with NASCAR and then Sunday at the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.
Winner Kyle Kirkwood (middle), second place Alex Palou (left) and third place Will Power (right) celebrate on the podium after the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
[RACE HIGHLIGHTS: How Arlington Race Unfolded]
The winner wasn’t too much of a surprise — Kyle Kirkwood is arguably the best street-course racer in the series and despite a hiccup in qualifying where he ended up seventh, many viewed him as the driver to beat. He gave Andretti Global its first win of the year, joining Alex Palou (Ganassi) and Josef Newgarden (Penske) with trophies already this season.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Kirkwood Masterful
Kirkwood passed Palou on the final turn of Lap 55 of the 70-lap race with a daring move on the inside of the turn. He appeared impatient even though it was clear he had the speed to make the pass.
But Kirkwood explained why he felt the urgency, and it made sense, considering Palou is masterful in his own way, a way that has led to three consecutive series titles (and four overall).
Kyle Kirkwood earned the sixth INDYCAR win of his career on Sunday.
“Palou is a smart person, smart driver — and if he knew that I got that close to him on that lap, and then I waited for the next lap to attack him, he would have defended,” Kirkwood said in his postrace news conference. “We were in a dire straits situation. This is probably the only place I can pass him. This is the only time I can surprise him.”
Kirkwood now leads the points for the first time in his career, having a 26-point edge on Palou.
2. Andretti Awesome
Andretti, which is known for its recent street-course prowess, placed three of its drivers in the first four spots with Will Power in third and Marcus Ericsson in fourth.
Ericsson started from the pole.
“The team has done a fantastic job — three cars in the top four. That’s an amazing result,” Ericsson told me and other reporters after the race. “It’s just frustrating to be the one out finishing fourth. I wish I was up there on the [top-three] podium with other guys.”
Marcus Ericsson was hoping for more than a fourth-place finish after starting from the pole.
3. Palou Second-Best
Alex Palou settled for second, and he knew that it would take a break to beat Kirkwood. He didn’t have anything for him.
When INDYCAR decided to try to have a 1-lap green-flag dash to the finish after a late caution, Palou didn’t have much hope.
“Honestly, I don’t think I had the pace to try and go for Kyle,” Palou said in his postrace news conference. “I was more worried about the 26 [of Power] than the 27 [of Kirkwood].”
4. About That Decision
Kirkwood would have been furious if he lost the race on that final restart. Christian Rasmussen stalled on the track with less than three laps remaining. Typically, that wouldn’t be enough time to get the race restarted.
But INDYCAR knew Rasmussen was near an opening he could be pushed into and be safely out of the racing groove. It told Kirkwood to slow significantly on the track so they could do just one slow full lap under caution and then go green with one lap remaining.
The inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington was a spectacle around the stadiums of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers.
The 2023 Indy 500 ended in controversy when officials red-flagged the race for a 1-lap shootout. It is a regular topic of conversation in INDYCAR circles — they feel the race should be run only to its scheduled distance but when the caution comes out late, there is debate on how to handle it to try to give fans the green-flag finish they deserve.
With a sold-out inaugural race at Arlington, it seemed like a no-brainer to at least try to give the fans a green-flag finish, which eventually didn’t happen because of a crash at the rear of the field on the restart. Most of the drivers were good with the decision, but Kirkwood understandably had the most to lose.
“I thought we weren’t going to do that, quite honestly, after the 500 a few years ago,” Kirkwood said. “I get it. Their first and foremost thing is to get a green-flag finish. Whatever it might take to get that done, I get it.
“Of course, when you see a 5-and-a-half-second lead that you stretched and worked very hard to stretch go down to zero for one lap, it can get very frustrating inside the car.”
4 ½. What’s Next
A weekend off. Kind of. At least some of the drivers will be competing in the 12 Hours of Sebring next weekend.
The next INDYCAR race will be at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks.
It presents a little bit of a regroup for the teams with just two races and an Indy 500 test over the next seven weeks before a May-August schedule that has just four weekends off in a 17-weekend stretch.
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