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 complete yr.
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 high fives, 13 tops 10s and one pole. Moreover, he had the seventh-most laps led on the yr by all drivers with 121.
Whereas Kirkwood has shortly established his presence on road circuits, with each of his victories final yr going down at Lengthy Seashore and the non permanent course in downtown Nashville, there was an emphasis placed on his enhancing on ovals. And this yr 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, Workforce Penske Chevrolet lead at first
Picture by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Photographs
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 outcome on the monitor self-discipline.
“You realize, I inform you that is probably the largest factor I take from this season is that this race proper right here (in Nashville),” Kirkwood informed Motorsport.com.
“Everyone is aware of I’ve been good at road programs, everyone is aware of I’ve been respectable at street programs; the place individuals query my skills have been at ovals — perhaps not the (Indy) 500 as a result of I feel I’ve finished a reasonably good job there 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 collection final raced at in 2023.
“Like Texas, for example, I feel individuals are inclined to not likely test me off as one of many opponents 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, big takeaway for us to finish the season with this. It’s simply going to construct confidence for myself on ovals.”
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