Acura GPLB: Kirkwood's First Victory a Testament to Realized Potential

Kyle Kirkwood spent Sunday afternoon stepping into the historical footsteps of Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr., and Paul Tracy by earning his first career victory on the historic streets of Long Beach.

Ticking off a spot on his NTT IndyCar Series bucket list, Kirkwood held off Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean and Chip Ganassi Racing driver Marcus Ericsson. Both are former Formula One drivers but were no match for Kirkwood in the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

In a turn of events that has to sting Grosjean, it turned out that Kirkwood beat the Frenchman to IndyCar's Victory Lane. Kirkwood, 24, is three races into his second season while Grosjean is in his third (and second with Andretti). Grosjean turns 36 on Monday. But the victory by Kirkwood is a testament to his potential. And, now, a testament to the reality that the rest of the series drivers will have to deal with.

Historically, the victory places Kirkwood in all kinds of rare air. In addition to Andretti, Unser, and Tracy, other drivers who recorded their first career victories at Long Beach were Takuma Sato (a two-time Indy 500 winner) and Mike Conway.

Kirkwood also joined an elite group of drivers to win Long Beach from the pole position, Mario Andretti (three times), Al Unser Jr. (twice), Helio Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais (twice), and Alexander Rossi (twice). Andretti, Unser and Bourdais won multiple championships; Castroneves won four Indy 500s, and Rossi one. There's reason to be excited that Kirkwood has proven himself so good so soon; if not for Colton Herta and Pato O'Ward, two other outstanding young drivers, we might be talking about the dawn of the Kyle Kirkwood era in IndyCar.

Kirkwood slogged through a rookie season last year on loan to AJ Foyt Racing, where his best finish was 10th at Long Beach on his way to finishing 22nd in the championship. Going into this weekend, Kirkwood was 20th in the series after finishing 15th at St. Petersburg and 27th at Texas (because of a crash). He was shocked when told his victory moved him to fifth in the series, 36 points behind Ericsson.

"I got everything I needed out of last year," Kirkwood said of his learning experience at Foyt. "I learned a ton. I feel like I'm now in a position that (shows) ... I can go out, prove I'm fast, execute, do all the right things in the race. I thank Michael and the entire team for taking a chance on me. It means a lot. I'm glad I can show my stuff here in IndyCar."

Kirkwood excelled in the Road to Indy feeder series. He won championships in USF2000 in 2018, where he first caught the eye of team owner Michael Andretti, USF Pro 2000 in 2019, and Indy NXT in 2021.

"We knew he was something special and he's really doing us proud," said Micheal Andretti, whose first and last among his 42 victories as a driver were at Long Beach.

The only race Kirkwood wants to win more than Long Beach is the Indianapolis 500, so the victory Sunday, with strategist Bryan Herta on the radio, was special.

Herta, who switched from son Colton Herta's car to Kirkwood's after the season-opening race at St. Pete, provided one of the most meaningful moments of the event. After Kirkwood crossed the finish line, he told the young driver to soak in the moment. "It nearly put me in tears," Kirkwood said, noting it tops the list of things he will remember most from this event.

"Kyle Kirkwood did a great job," said Bryan Herta, himself a four-time race winner who, in retirement, has called strategy on two Indy 500-winning cars. "To me, it's really satisfying. I got to be part of a young driver's first pole yesterday here, and now part of his first win. I think it's safe to say it won't be the last time we see Kyle Kirkwood in victory circle. It's fun to be part of the first one. Despite his relative inexperience, he's got, probably, the most successful junior career of any American driver ever. He's a pretty seasoned guy. What I told him before the race is that 'you've won so many races, you know how to win, this is no different.' And he just executed. He got fuel numbers when we needed fuel numbers, he opened gaps when we needed open gaps, he did everything we asked him to do, and Victory Lane was the result.

"Kyle's a great driver. I like being with Colton, he's always first in my heart, but this has been fun and I'm really proud of what Kyle did today."

Under his dad's guidance, Colton Herta has won seven races in four full seasons under the Andretti banner. He has been so fast, so good, that it's believed he will be one of the drivers for Andretti if he is able to secure a Formula One team. When asked if the victory Sunday placed Kirkwood in position to go to Formula One, Andretti wryly answered "no comment."

Colton Herta finished fourth, ahead of Ganassi's Alex Palou, to give Honda the top five positions. Team Penske's Will Power led the Chevrolet brigade with a sixth-place finish after starting 13th. The rest of the top 10 included Arrow McLaren's Felix Rosenqvist (Chevy), Ganassi rookie Marcus Armstrong (Honda), and Penske's Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin (Chevy).

"The calmest day I've had in two years, and it was a win," Kirkwood said. "We got a little unlucky in some traffic and fell back, but we kept our heads, made awesome pit stops -- I was the only one who made a mistake in the pits, to be honest, and came home with a win at Long Beach. Wow!

"I was so happy with just the pole yesterday, but this is just -- I'm over over the moon right now."

Kirkwood led the first 21 laps before things began getting dicey.

O'Ward made a late move on six-time champion Scott Dixon and put him into the Turn 8 wall on Lap 20. Even before the incident, Dixon had registered his displeasure with the start that O'Ward got from the outside of Row 3; Dixon started from the inside, and claimed that the popular Mexican driver jumped the start. Dixon finished last in the 27-car field and fell to sixth in the championship

Kirkwood led Newgarden out of the pits during the caution period but was behind Juncos Hollinger driver Agustin Canapino, who was on a different strategy, and Helio Castroneves, who was a lap down because of a first-lap crash. On the restart, a Juncos Hollinger car driven by Callum Ilott emerged from the pits in front of Canapino, dropping Kirkwood to fourth in the line. O'Ward, who was behind Newgarden and Ericsson, dive-bombed Kirkwood and made contact in Turn 8, for which he paid the price. O'Ward spun, Kirkwood survived but fell behind Newgarden. Ericsson, who clipped O'Ward with his left front, was tapped in his right rear by Grosjean and fell back several positions. Unlike the move on Dixon, O'Ward took responsibility for that mess.

O'Ward, who led the championship with two second-place finishes to open the season, ended the day 17th. He fell to second in the championship, 15 points behind Ericsson.

Newgarden led the race until the next round of pit stops on Lap 51. Grosjean pitted the next lap, and the time that Kirkwood made up with low fuel and clean air allowed him to emerge from the pits ahead of Newgarden and Grosjean as they were charging down Shoreline Drive to Turn 1.

The early pit by Newgarden forced him to save fuel in the last stint and he suffered, eventually falling to ninth. Grosjean had twice as much push-to-pass as Kirkwood, but not enough fuel to use it and finish the race. And that allowed Kirkwood to take the checkered flag by 0.99 of a second over Grosjean and 2.05 over Ericsson.

"Ultimately, we just stayed calm," Kirkwood said. "Bryan kept me calm. 'This is going to work out in our favor, you're doing everything you need to do, keep doing what you're doing, keep saving fuel, blah, blah, blah.'"

Judging by his performance, and the realization that his unrealized potential is starting to pay off, there could be a lot more blah, blah, blah in Kirkwood's future.