Kirkwood Runs Away With Win At Detroit; Palou Crashes Out

DETROIT — The question in the race following the Indianapolis 500 every year is how the winner will follow up his historic victory.

For Alex Palou, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix would be the worst finish for an Indy 500 champion in the next race in the last decade as he crashed following a restart late in the race. The result snapping his hot streak of having won five of the first six races.

The only other driver to win a race this season is Kyle Kirkwood at Long Beach, and Kirkwood delivered for Andretti Global again on Sunday. Kirkwood, who was fast all weekend long despite some bad luck in qualifying, enacted a textbook strategy to bring home his second win of the 2025 season on the streets of downtown Detroit.

“We had the car to win today,” Kirkwood said. “The car was phenomenal. So glad to bring it home for Andretti today! A great team result. It moves us up in the points!”

Kirkwood’s teammate Colton Herta started on pole, a fortunate break for him. Herta has had a string of bad luck this season, whether it be in qualifying or in race action. Herta would lead most of the first stint for him and the other driver who started on the softer compound tires.

It was a race ot tire strategy above all on Sunday as the soft alternates tended to fall off rather quickly, much quicker than the harder primaries. Herta, Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, and Palou were among the top drivers in the early going.

Trying an alternate strategy was Christian Rasmussen, who led a handful of laps midway through the race. He started on the primary tires, which put him in a good positon. But, some untimely cautions early put a pin in that strategy, which would eventually cycle drivers like Scott McLaughlin into a winning position. However, the good fortune for McLaughlin would be short-lived. He ran into the rear of Nolan Siegel, causing another caution.

McLaughlin was assessed a drive-through penalty, ultimately killing his day.

With McLaughlin dispensed with, the race fell back into the hands of Rasmussen. He continued to show moxey up front, but had to eventually pit which cycled him back into the field.

The pitstop battle heated up between Herta, Kirkwood, and Palou, along with Will Power entering the mix.

All four were battling for position when Callum Ilott brought out another caution. It was at a fortuitous time as the caution fell right into their pit strategy. All four pitted and came out in the same order, but this leapfrogged Santino Ferrucci to the lead on a third alternate strategy that had him good to go to the end. But, on older tires, it would be a challenge to keep the likes of Kirkwood behind him.

The restart brought out the most dramatic moment of the race, which was the aforementioned wreck of Palou. The DNF would have him finishing 25th, which is his worst finish since finishing 27th at Road America in 2022.

On the subsequent restart, Kirkwood made quick work of Ferrucci, despite damaging his front wing on an overtake of Kyffin Simpson.

Even through another bad wreck involving Louis Foster and Felix Rosenqvist that brought out a red flag, Kirkwood was never daunted and ran away from Ferrucci and Herta for the win.

“The wing was damaged, but it didn’t cause that much of an issue,” Kirkwood said. “There were challenges out there, we had to pass our way through a handful of times! Hats off to the boys, great pit stops, great strategy. Unfortunate ending for Palou, but that actually helps us!”

The podium of Kirkwood, Ferrucci, and Herta is the first time since 2020 that three Americans occupied all three spots on the podium.

The result for Kirkwood also shaved a significant number of points off of Alex Palou’s lead in the championship, placing Kirkwood third in the points. Pato O’Ward, who finished seventh, is now second, still 91-points back of Palou. This means the championship is far from secure for Palou as the series will return to oval racing in two weeks at the Bommarito 500 outside St. Louis.