The 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach marks Round 3 of the current IndyCar season, with Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood speaking to Pit Debrief and other media oulets this Monday to preview it.
Kirkwood disappointed with the start to the year
Although Kyle Kirkwood has recored two top 10 finishes to start his 2025 IndyCar campaign, the Floridian cannot hide his disappointment at not getting better results.
Before the final round of stops, he was running in P4, just behind Alex Palou. However, through the pit sequence he lost a spot, with the Spaniard pulling off the perfect strategy to jump Dixon and Newgarden to win.
At Thermal Club, Kirkwood was running in 4th again but extraordinary tyre deg on the primaries at the end of the race saw the 26-year-old slump to 8th.
“I should be a lot more satisfied than I am, I would say, because if you look back at St. Pete, one of our better races, I pretty much followed Alex Palou the entire race and watched him win, which is disappointing.
“Then Thermal we were on for what seemed like a locked top-four finish, two top fives in a row, we had huge tyre deg with five laps to go, which ruined our race and we finished eighth.
“Of course, could be worse. As a driver, as a competitor, you always want better.
“Yeah, we’ll be excited to get back to Long Beach, at a place we all know very, very well, and is one of our top tracks at Andretti Global.”
The strength of Andretti Global on street circuits
In 2023, Kyle Kirkwood took out his first IndyCar win at Long Beach as he led home Romain Grosjean in an Andretti 1-2. He also won on the streets of Nashville later that year.
With Colton Herta winning from Kirkwood in Toronto last year, and the driver of car 26 also claiming pole at Detroit in 2024, it underlines the strength of Andretti on street circuits.
Kirkwood is excited to return to Long Beach this weekend to see if that form continues.
“Definitely [a big weekend]. I think if you look back at history in general, Long Beach has been one of the best tracks for Andretti Global.
“I think Toronto and Detroit are starting to grow on that. Street courses in general, really, really good. Long Beach has been a top one for the team.
“We’re always excited. That place just produces a lot of good energy with the amount of fans, et cetera, et cetera. Always a good place to get back to.”
Kirkwood a Long Beach specialist
Alongside his win in 2023, Kyle Kirkwood has previously finished P10 and P7 at Long Beach in 2022 and 2024 for AJ Foyt and Andretti respectively.
Kirkwood detailed why he likes the track, although he can’t fully explain his great form around it.
“I mean, some people like to say I’m kind of a street course merchant. That place is just an enjoyable place to drive.
“It’s very unique for a street course. It’s not just 90-degree corners, like most of them are. The constant change in asphalt makes you adapt very quickly to what the grip level is going to be in one corner versus the next. I enjoy that. I think it’s fun.
“I couldn’t tell you why I’m fast around there, because if that was the case I would take that to every single track I ever go to. I just find it really enjoyable to drive.”
A fourth IndyCar season for Kyle Kirkwood
Asked about his personal development and how he’s growing as an IndyCar driver, the 26-year-old feels good progress has been made. After two wins but a lot of inconsistency in 2023 in his first season at Andretti, Kirkwood finished inside the top 10 in 13 of the 17 points races.
He’s targeting Long Beach as a big opportunity for his first win in nearly 2 years.
“I mean, I feel like I’m chipping away at it.
“I’m disappointed that we haven’t gotten the wins we had in 2023. We’re also putting ourselves in positions to be a lot closer to a lot more wins. My goal coming of out of 2023 was to get more top fives as I mentioned after 2023.
“We have definitely done so, put ourselves in position to win a lot more recently, but we still haven’t gotten those wins. It’s a two-edged sword.
“I think this weekend coming into Long Beach is one of our best opportunities to do so. We’re obviously going to be looking for a win.
“Honestly, at this time we need wins to be able to win a championship here because Alex Palou is just walking away with it at the moment. We need to turn that ship around.”
Kyle Kirkwood says wins are needed urgently for Andretti
Heading into Long Beach on Sunday, Kyle Kirkwood sits 6th in points, 48 adrift of Alex Palou.
The defending champion and Spanish driver has had the perfect start to 2025, winning at St. Pete and Thermal. Sitting in 3rd at Thermal through most of the race, a devastating final stint saw him eat up the McLarens of Lundgaard and O’Ward to take a crushing win.
While there is 15 rounds remaining ahead of Sunday, a third consecutive win on Sunday afternoon could put the Spaniard over 50 points clear of the field if O’Ward, Dixon or Lundgaard do not finish 2nd. The Mexican is 39 behind the Spaniard at present.
Kirkwood says it is urgent to stop the Chip Gansssi racer in his tracks.
“We’ve got to do the same thing that they’re doing: we’ve got to win races. We can’t let them get a big head start.
“That is one thing that Palou has done in the past couple years, gets a huge head start, then everybody claws back at him at the end of the season. He’s kind of on cruise control at that point.
“We need to not let him get out front and hold him back a little bit. That comes with not letting him win at all these tracks, especially the ones that we’re strong at.
“Yeah, this is a very crucial weekend for us to turn things around in the championship hunt. Even though it’s still early in the season, a lot of people don’t look at points. They’re like, ‘well, it’s only two races in of the 17-race season.’ If the guy is 60 points ahead of you, you’ve got to kind of pay attention to that.
“There is a long way to go. You’re also falling behind very early, which is not something you want to do.”
Kyle Kirkwood hails Alex Palou for the job he’s doing
As things stand, Alex Palou looks to be in course for a fourth championship in five seasons, and it would be a third straight one, too.
Kirkwood says it’s up to the other drivers to match and surpass the performances of Palou as he is currently the benchmark in the IndyCar series.
“I mean, it’s not a surprise, if that’s what you’re asking.
“He’s been on it for the past few years, right? He’s given everything that you need to perform really, really well. He’s doing a good job. So hats off to him.
“It’s all the more reason for us to want to go out and beat him. Now it’s turning into a thing that when you beat Alex Palou, you’ve clearly had a really good day. He’s kind of the No. 1 guy that everyone is looking at at this moment.
“Like I mentioned before, we need to start getting ahead of him. That’s the only way that we’ll beat him. That comes with wins, podiums and top-five finishes because you can expect him to be up there.
“Yeah, that’s really all there is to it. He’s doing an amazing job. No one can take anything away from him.
“When you win two races in a row, that’s hard to do. When you kick off the season [with two wins], that is even a harder thing to do.
“When you win a couple championships in a row, that’s an even harder thing to do.
“He is kind of just nailing everything right now. We’ve got to stop him in his tracks. I think that’s what everyone is thinking in the series at this moment.”
