Kirkwood Wins Third Race Of Season At Gateway

MADISON, Ill. — Kyle Kirkwood was not a name that was being widely discussed to come away with a win late Sunday night on the outskirts of St. Louis.

Yet, somehow and some way, he and his Andretti Global crew found a way to get the job done as Kirkwood would take the checkered flag for the third time this season in the Bommarito 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“The starts and the restarts were big,” “We were not to happy with the car (during qualifying). I really didn’t think we had it, but as it got dark and cooled down, we really had something!”

The night would be a quick one for pole sitter Will Power. Accruing his 71st career pole position, Power looked poised to be dominant for Team Penske. But, that would not be the case as David Malukas, who many are rumoring to be a Penske heir-apparent, wasted little time in making his play for the front spot.

As this was happening, Conor Daly gained 11 spots in the first 25 laps, going from fifteenth to fourth, and staying in the top ten all night long.

Malukas would lead into the second caution of the night, which would involve Power getting into the wall and terminally damaging his car’s suspension.

The subsequent pitstops opened the door for Scott McLaughlin to claim the lead, beating Malukas out of the pits. McLaughlin comfortably led the next several laps. Behind him, though, his teammate Josef Newgarden was making moves of his own. Newgarden moved around Malukas to get into the second spot.

Not long after that, Newgarden pitted early as McLaughlin was getting held up by lapped traffic. Newgarden would successfully undercut his teammate on the subsequent pit stops and grabbed the lead.

The night seemed to be Newgarden’s to lose from that point as he drove away from the other leaders and weaved his way seamlessly through lapped traffic. That is, un til the halfway point of the race. Newgarden became the unfortunate recipient of some extremely bad luck.

Louis Foster, running tenth nearly a lap down, got high in Turn Four and then lost control heading down the front straight. He would collide with Newgarden who was coming hot and fast. The collision sent Newgarden into the air and upside down onto the safer barrier of the inner wall. Both drivers walked away from the crash.

The caution that followed would become a massive flexion point of the race. McLaughlin would re-inherit the lead with Malukas in tow heading into the pits. Both McLaughlin and Malukas exited the pits in a heated battle for the lead. Maybe a little too heated. Both drivers would be penalized for “improper lane usage” for going directly into the ‘fast lane’ of pit road from their pit stalls.

Both were given three-place grid penalties, placing Pato O’Ward and Conor Daly in the top two spots. The subsequent restart saw Daly ferociously attack O’Ward for the lead, and Daly would seize it on Lap 160.

Still, there was plenty of racing left to go yet, and one driver quietly sat in the top ten all night and did not make his presence fully known until right before another caution on Lap 197. Kyle Kirkwood had a fabulous pit stop on Lap 195, so much so that he had gained a few spots. Malukas would brush the wall that brought out the caution, and after the field reset, it was O’Ward and Kirkwood in second and third on the next restart.

The car in the lead happened to be Scott Dixon, who cycled to the lead having not pitted before the caution. His massive fuel saved early put him in a winning position. But, he’d need to keep saving to the end, with cars not needing to save behind him.

Kirkwood, taking advantage of a poor restart by O’Ward, took the second position with 55 laps left. He’d stalk Dixon until Lap 26 when he made his final pit stop in an attempt to undercut Dixon. Dixon would pit one lap later and was unable to defend. Kirkwood took the lead as Dixons stop was simply too slow.

It was not a done deal for Kirkwood with 10 laps to go. Felix Rosenqvist and Callum Ilott enacted a strategy that had them in a position to win, but the math did not work for them on fuel as both had to dive to the pits late to make it to the end, Kirkwood would cycle back into the lead and despite an effort by O’Ward, Kirkwood would hold on to take his third win of the season.

“My first oval win,” “I wanted an oval win way more than a street course. I wanted people to know me more than just a street course guy. This is a huge win. Massive!”

Pato O’Ward took home a second-place result. The big surprise of the night was Christian Rasmussen, who overcame a fire on pit road and several other setbacks to make 71 on-track passes to a third-place finish.

Points leader Alex Palou had a mediocre night, salvaging an eighth place finish. The result allowed O’Ward and Kirkwood to close the points gap even more. Heading into the next race at Road America, Palou will have a 77-point lead, which was once over 100-points.