Kyle Kirkwood might have ended his 2024 IndyCar Collection season with a goose egg within the win column, however he nonetheless displayed nonetheless loads of progress and promise over your entire 12 months.
The 25-year-old native of Jupiter, Florida, wrapped up his third season — second behind the wheel of the No. 27 Andretti World Honda — with one podium, 5 prime fives, 13 tops 10s and one pole. Moreover, he had the seventh-most laps led on the 12 months by all drivers with 121.
Whereas Kirkwood has rapidly established his presence on avenue circuits, with each of his victories final 12 months happening at Lengthy Seaside and the short-term course in downtown Nashville, there was an emphasis placed on his bettering on ovals. And this 12 months noticed an uptick in precisely that, which vaulted him to a career-best seventh within the championship standings.
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti World Honda, Josef Newgarden, Staff Penske Chevrolet lead at the beginning
Picture by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Photos
Kirkwood steadily progressed on ovals, capturing seventh within the Indianapolis 500 earlier than seventh at Iowa Speedway (Race 1) and eighth in IndyCar’s return to The Milwaukee Mile (Race 2). The showcase of his progress, although, got here within the season finale swap to Nashville Superspeedway, the place he earned his first pole on an oval with “a rocket ship” that led 67 laps and completed fourth — his greatest end result on the monitor self-discipline.
“, I let you know that is probably the most important factor I take from this season is that this race proper right here (in Nashville),” Kirkwood informed Motorsport.com.
“All people is aware of I’ve been good at avenue programs, all people is aware of I’ve been respectable at highway programs; the place folks query my skills have been at ovals — possibly not the (Indy) 500 as a result of I feel I’ve carried out a reasonably good job there just lately — however brief ovals.”
And he famous how the 1.33-mile oval in Nashville is harking back to Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile monitor the sequence final raced at in 2023.
“Like Texas, as an illustration, I feel folks are inclined to not likely test me off as one of many rivals there,” mentioned Kirkwood, the 2021 Indy NXT champion.
“This place is very similar to Texas and clearly, this was a extremely good tempo for us and the No. 27 guys. So, enormous takeaway for us to finish the season with this. It’s simply going to construct confidence for myself on ovals.”
