Street savant Kirkwood secures second IndyCar win in Nashville

Kyle Kirkwood drove a masterful race and Bryan Herta delivered a perfect strategy to beat Nashville pole-winner Scott McLaughlin and points leader Alex Palou to the checkered flag after a late-race restart. The young Floridian, who scored his first …

Kyle Kirkwood drove a masterful race and Bryan Herta delivered a perfect strategy to beat Nashville pole-winner Scott McLaughlin and points leader Alex Palou to the checkered flag after a late-race restart.

The young Floridian, who scored his first win at Long Beach this year, spent 34 laps in the lead of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, and was able to keep McLaughlin at bay following the red flag in a largely crash-free event. Palou, on an alternate strategy to those around him, was saved by a yellow, meaning he didn’t have to make a third pitstop and cede his third place to his closest championship pursuer, Josef Newgarden, who came home fourth, just ahead of 2022 Nashville winner Scott Dixon.

Team Penske Chevrolet’s Will Power had a panicked pre-race moment as he discovered he was missing his earbuds on the grid so was late getting away from pitlane. He was allowed to resume his seventh place on the grid, second of the drivers – behind Romain Grosjean – to start the race on Firestone’s primaries.

As in the Indy NXT race in the morning, the original start was waved off as the 27-car field was packed up, but next time by, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin made a good start to stave off Pato O’Ward, while Colton Herta understeering at the first turn forced Alex Palou to back off a little, allowing David Malukas into fourth for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda.

On lap 3, Kirkwood passed Power for seventh, while Newgarden – like Power and Kirkwood, running on primaries – couldn’t prevent Lundgaard passing him for ninth at Turn 8.

By lap 6 of 80, McLaughlin held a 1.8s lead over O’Ward who had pulled 2s on Herta, who was 1s ahead of the Malukas-Palou-Grosjean-Kirkwood battle, which saw Palou slip ahead of the Coyne driver on lap 7.

Alexander Rossi pitted from 11th on lap 10, switching from alternates to primaries, the same lap on which Grosjean passed Malukas for fifth, signaling the primaries coming into their sweet spot. Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren) stopped next time by, while Malukas lost a further spot to Kirkwood before pitting.

McLaughlin had a 2.7s lead over O’Ward who had pulled 5s on Herta before the first caution flew. Malukas’ rear wing collapsed and gearbox seized shortly after leaving the pits.

When the pits opened, Palou came in to swap his alternates for primaries, but his principal rivals did not. When the field went back to green on lap 15, McLaughlin retained his advantage over O’Ward who had nudged him under yellow, but Herta suffered, losing out to teammates Grosjean and Kirkwood, and also Power, before being ushered down an escape road by Dixon. Herta then pitted.

The highest runner who had already stopped was Rinus VeeKay, up to sixth place for Ed Carpenter Racing, splitting Power from Newgarden.

What was most alarming for the opposition was that leader McLaughlin had pulled 4s on O’Ward in just five laps since the restart, the No. 3 Penske proving exceptionally kind on its alternate tires. O’Ward, by contrast, was working hard to hold off Grosjean and Kirkwood, and he lost out to both of them on lap 22 after a huge lock-up as he came off the bridge. After Power and VeeKay got him, O’Ward got the hint and made his first stop.

McLaughlin’s lead was ebbing away when he stopped on lap 25 as Grosjean and Kirkwood were charging on their primary tires. Grosjean and Kirkwood ran 1s apart, 5s clear of Power, VeeKay (stopped already), Newgarden, Dixon and Marcus Ericsson.

On lap 28, Grosjean and Power pitted from first and third, and then it was time for Kirkwood, Newgarden and Dixon to stop. Grosjean came out ahead of McLaughlin, while Power lost out to VeeKay, Newgarden and Dixon, yet was ahead of O’Ward.

With everyone having stopped at least once, early stoppers Ericsson and Rossi were out front, and Palou, who had stopped under caution, was third. Third became first, when Ericsson and Rossi stopped on lap 33. Points leader Palou now held a 1.6s lead over Kirkwood, with Meyer Shank Racing’s IndyCar debutant Linus Lundqvist in third (he also stopped under the caution) until Grosjean and McLaughlin passed him.

In sixth ran rookie Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing and Jack Harvey (both also lap 14 stoppers), although the Argentine pitted on lap 37.

Kirkwood (alternates), Grosjean and McLaughlin were pressing Palou hard at half distance in this 80-lap race, but Palou didn’t need to stop until the end of lap 44 and he rejoined in 17th.

The Andretti Autosport driver was now able to eke out a small gap over teammate Grosjean who was watching his mirrors for his old foe McLaughlin. Three seconds covered the next six — Newgarden, Dixon, Ericsson, VeeKay, Rossi, Power and O’Ward, but it was Grosjean who felt the pressure first, running wide under braking for Turn 9 and McLaughlin was up into second. Dixon, meanwhile, chose that same lap to stop, and the following lap Newgarden stopped, while Rossi and VeeKay sideswiped on the run to Turn 9, and Power got around the pair of them. Race control would blame VeeKay for the collision and penalize him.

Kirkwood reported his tires were done, and pitted on lap 51, leaving McLaughlin out front. When the Andretti Autosport driver emerged from the pitlane, it was ahead of Palou. When McLaughlin stopped on lap 52, he came out behind Kirkwood but he, too, was ahead of Palou. Grosjean and Power stopped on lap 53, leaving Kirkwood out front, 2.5s ahead of polesitter McLaughlin. Palou in third was needing to run slow or hope for cautions to get to the end of the race. Newgarden was still just ahead of Dixon. Ericsson, Grosjean, O’Ward, Lundgaard and Harvey completed the top 10 ahead of Power and Helio Castroneves. Grosjean slipped ahead of O’Ward on lap 56, and the following lap the front-row starter also fell victim to Lundgaard.

Power passed Harvey for 10th on lap 59 and started homing in on O’Ward, while nearer the front, teammate McLaughlin remained 2.5s adrift of Kirkwood with 20 laps to go. With a dozen laps to go, that gap was out to 3.5s, but the desperately fuel-saving Palou had fallen some 18s down before being informed he should give up trying to run in economy mode – a third stop would be necessary. Or would it?

Out came the second caution on lap 70; debutant Lundqvist had struck the wall terminally. This was a blessing for Harvey who had lost his front wing on a wall and was able to pit under caution.

The restart on lap 74 between Turns 9 and 10 saw Kirkwood get a good jump on McLaughlin, but toward the back there was a collision between Rosenqvist, Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen of AJ Foyt Racing who all ran long at Turn 11.

With 75 laps complete, the race was red-flagged, the drivers boiling in their cockpits in hot and humid conditions, and they readily welcomed the fans and water bottles from their teams.

With one warmup lap before the restart, the drivers had four racing laps remaining, potentially. Grosjean was sent around Ericsson for sixth under yellow, race control’s response to Ericsson blocking the Frenchman on the previous restart. Grosjean was the only driver on alternates for the restart, but they were worn.

At the green flag, Kirkwood immediately pulled away from McLaughlin to the tune of 1.4s, the polesitter having to keep his eye on Palou. Further back, Castroneves demoted his former teammate Power for 10th. Next time by, O’Ward demoted Lundgaard, and Power regained 10th.

Kirkwood got his lead out to 2s, but McLaughlin pegged it back next time by while being chased hard by the revitalized Palou. The Long Beach winner held firm to win by 0.7633s, with Palou easily holding off his closest championship pursuer Newgarden to claim third. Dixon was fifth, untroubled by Grosjean, Ericsson, O’Ward, Lundgaard and Power.

Having not scored a top five this year besides his Long Beach win, Kirkwood is now a two-time victor, while Palou’s lead over Newgarden is out to 84 points with four races to go.

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