The yellow flag waved, and if Kyle Kirkwood was nervous, he didn’t show it. The Florida native continued to show his street course prowess by holding off Alex Palou on the last lap restart after a crash that involved Nolan Siegal and Romain Grosjean for his first win of the season and the third different winner in three different races.
Marcus Ericsson, who earned his first NTT IndyCar pole, led the first 15 laps of the race before Will Power and Felix Rosenqvist took brief leads during pit stop exchanges. Despite struggles from Andretti Global on pit stops, the speed from Power and Kirkwood continued to keep them in the conversation. Ericsson had a slower pitstop, which allowed Palou to move in front of him, but it was Will Power who pulled out in front.
Will Power pitted on lap 23, which allowed Palou to take the lead, and at first, it felt like the Alex Palou show once again as he slowly started to pull away. On lap 28, Kirkwood pitted and had some issues on pit road, as did Ericsson, but once again, pure speed allowed Kirkwood to continue to hang around.
Speed Vs Pit Crews
After another cycle of lead changes, Will Power retook the lead on lap 35 with Alex Palou in hot pursuit. Will Power seemed to be trying to do it in a two-stop race while Palou and many others were shooting for three. Despite several slow pits from Andretti Global, including a slow pit stop on lap 50 for Kyle Kirkwood, the speed on the laps continues to impress from both Power and Kirkwood, and they continue to catch up to Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, and several others.
Palou was able to pull away from Kirkwood fairly easily as they both pitted on that lap 50, but Kirkwood started chipping away immediately, and by lap 54 was on his rear. On lap 55, Kirkwood caught him and tried a couple of times before making a successful pass. That was all he needed as Kyle took off. The street course master pulled away and led by as much as 8.5 seconds on lap 67 when caution came out because of a stalled car, when Christian Rasmussen ran into issues in turn 2.
On the restart, Kirkwood got a good jump, but it appeared that a few drivers jumped the restart, and Nolan Siegel got caught up in that restart as he got hit from Kyffin Simpson, sending him into the back of Romain Grosjean. This ended the race under caution. Felix Rosenqvist was later sent to the rear of the field for jumping the restart. He would drop from 6th to 20th.
Running Order For Top 10
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Alex Palou
- Will Power
- Marcus Ericsson
- Pato O’Ward
- David Malukas
- Christian Lundgaard
- Scott Dixon
- Alexander Rossi
- Marcus Armstrong
Incidents
Kyffin Simpson received a drive-through penalty on lap 25 for an issue where he hit equipment on pit lane. Mick Schumacher received a penalty for unavoidable contact with Christian Lundgaard. Josef Newgarden was spun after David Malukas made contact with him. No penalty was issued. Felix Rosenqvist was issued a penalty for jumping the restart on lap 70.
Winners and Losers
Winners:
Andretti Global: Three out of the top four spots were secured by Andretti Global, who dominated this weekend. They looked good from top to finish, and given the struggles coming into the weekend, they needed a successful race in Arlington.
Scott McLaughlin: After struggling with a crash in qualifying, Scottie Mac came storming back with an 11th-place finish. He currently sits 5th overall in the point standings.
Scott Dixon: Scott has started off the season fairly rough and did NOT look very good at all in practice or at qualifying yesterday. Whether Father Time is catching up with the New Zealander or the car was just not good, Scott still managed to grab a top ten courtesy of fuel saving and decent tire strategy. He had the fastest lap of the race, a 104.564 mph (93.9902 sec) on lap 66.
(Honorable Mention)
BIG Winners are Arlington: Other than the Catering crew, who found themselves on the track during practice, it was a great environment, the drivers raved about the track, and the track was a sellout. A great weekend overall with over 151 passes.
Losers
The rookies: The rookies had one of their rougher races of the early part of this season. Caio Collet was the highest finisher (12th place), Dennis Hauger struggled (19th), and Mick Schumacher (22nd) got spun and was forced to serve a penalty.
Felix Rosenqvist: After having a fairly good weekend, the Swede jumped the restart on lap 70 and got penalized, dropping from 6th to 20th. He is currently 14th in the points.
Nolan Siegel: Got caught up in a jump from Kyffin Simpson and was involved in a wreck on the last lap with Romain Grosjean. Arrow McLaren Team Principal Tony Kanaan was on record at the beginning of the season saying that Siegel needed to be in the top ten in the point standings to have a chance of keeping his seat. He currently sits 24th.
Current Championship Standings
1. Kyle Kirkwood
2. Alex Palou
3. Josef Newgarden
4. Pato O’Ward
5. Scott McLaughlin
6. David Malukas
7. Christian Lundgaard
8. Marcus Ericsson
9. Marcus Armstrong
10. Alex Rossi
NEXT UP
IndyCar heads to Barber Motor Speedway on March 29th.
Image Credit: Joe Skibinski/ Penske Entertainment
