Kirkwood "currently the biggest threat" to Palou's title reign after Arlington win

The Floridian ran down the defending and four-time IndyCar champion on Sunday

Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Palou have found themselves in a few battles over the last few seasons, with the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington the latest in their budding rivalry.

This latest one presented something different, though.

Unlike last year on the streets of Long Beach when Kirkwood fended off the Spaniard to win, this one required the Florida native to cut down a sizable gap and pass Palou - a rare feat since Palou joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.

Kirkwood already had an uphill climb to start the day after a mental lapse in qualifying left him starting seventh, but it was compounded when his pit crew made repeated errors on each of their three pit stops throughout the race. Undeterred, though, he displayed unrelenting pace in the #27 Andretti Global Honda to overcome the gaffes and a 7s deficit, pulling off a late lunge on Palou into Turn 14 with 16 laps to go. He built up a 5s advantage before a pair of late cautions - including one on a final lap restart - slightly delayed his run to victory.

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“It's a statement on how good we are on street courses,” said Kirkwood, 27.

“We're able to do this at a few street courses. It's incredible to see that we're able to do it at another one. We're adding street courses to our calendar.

“A lot of it's due to this guy (pointing to Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports and major investor/owner in Andretti Global), the engineers, and the group that he's been able to rally together to give us this performance. It's not just me out there driving one of these cars. It's all the hard work that goes into one of these street courses is why we have the performance we have. It's the reason why we had the pole, finished 1, 3 (Will Power) and 4 (Marcus Ericsson). Palou is always there.”

It marks the sixth victory of Kirkwood’s career, and he also gives Ron Ruzeweski his first win as team principal. Additionally, the win vaulted Kirkwood to the championship lead for the first time in his career. He holds a 26-points lead over Palou (126-100).

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

When asked by Motorsport.com if he feels like the biggest threat to Palou this season, Kirkwood remained confident but also mindful with his answer.

“I would hope so,” Kirkwood said. “We're three races in. I don't want to focus too much on the championship. I want to focus on the next race in front of us, maximizing our performance.

“Of course, we're good at street courses. We've figured out short ovals now. We're going to a road course next. That's where we need to thrive.

“There's a lot of work to do. We want to be the biggest threat. Every driver does. We're currently the biggest threat to him and the entire rest of the field. But we need to continue that because we got a lot of races to go.”