Respectful aggression is the mindset Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach polesitter Kyle Kirkwood and front-row teammate Colton Herta say they will adopt in the 90-lap race.
The Andretti Global lockout at a track where passing is often a challenge could be the key to reaching victory lane, and after Herta and Kirkwood fought over the win last year at Toronto where Herta led home a 1-2 finish, the same spirited effort is expected on Sunday. But without incident.
Herta had gone without a win for multiple seasons at that point, and with the roles reversed, Kirkwood is chasing his first triumph since 2023.
“I think it’s just going to be not the same as Toronto because we were in a position there where we needed to win a race, right? It had been a while,” Kirkwood said. “I think here, of course, you don’t take unnecessary risks, but you also race your teammates. That’s part of it.”
Herta appreciates the trust placed by Andretti Global in its drivers; the third member of the trio, Marcus Ericsson, starts fifth.
“I’m glad that Andretti lets us race, and I think me and Kyle have always been extremely fair with each other in how we go about racing each other,” he said. “I think Toronto was an example. Thermal last weekend, we raced the basically the whole race nose-to-tail.
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“We understand that if there’s an opportunity to pass, we’re going to pass each other, but without kind of unnecessary risks. I think Andretti does a good job, like they did in Toronto, where they set ourselves up where we can be in the position to win a race. Then I think we’re really good at trying to manage that kind of relationship aspect of it.”
Herta also praised the shifting culture within the team, which was regarded as among the most dysfunctional within the paddock not so long ago.
“Yeah, it’s really good,” he said. “It hasn’t always been this way at Andretti, so there’s really no selfishness or no egos in the building. That usually comes from drivers. Luckily, we don’t have that amongst ourselves. [Teammates are] easy to work with. They provide really good feedback, and most importantly, what you want in a teammate, selfishly, is you want them to be extremely fast because you want to be able to look at what they’re doing and make yourself better. I think I’ve got two of those with me.”
Kirkwood agrees.
“We got three guys that can get things done,” he said. “Proven track record; multiple wins under our belts. We have different views on things, but at the same time we kind of all reconvene in a way. So it’s kind of nice having different outlooks, different driving styles, but at the same time we’re all really quick, and we can all trust each other that we can reference each other, which is not always the case. Sometimes you have really fast drivers, but you can’t reference them. That’s not the case with us. We have a good camaraderie amongst us, driving style and friendship.”
