Kyle Kirkwood could have ended his 2024 IndyCar Sequence season with a goose egg within the win column, however he nonetheless displayed nonetheless loads of development and promise over all the 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 high 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 going down at Lengthy Seashore and the momentary 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, Workforce Penske Chevrolet lead initially
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 development, 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 consequence on the monitor self-discipline.
“You understand, I let you know that is doubtlessly the largest factor I take from this season is that this race proper right here (in Nashville),” Kirkwood instructed Motorsport.com.
“Everyone is aware of I’ve been good at avenue programs, all people is aware of I’ve been respectable at street programs; the place individuals query my talents have been at ovals — perhaps not the (Indy) 500 as a result of I believe I’ve executed a fairly 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, for example, I believe individuals are likely to probably not test me off as one of many rivals there,” stated Kirkwood, the 2021 Indy NXT champion.
“This place is very like Texas and clearly, this was a very 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.”
