Kyle Kirkwood Delivers And Takes The Win In The Inaugural Java House Grand Prix Of Arlington

Kyle Kirkwood during qualifying for the Arlington Grand Prix (Photo by: Kylar Boggs/RacingClipsAndPics)

The NTT Indycar series kicked off the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, and it was a hectic start. Andretti driver Marcus Ericsson lead the opening laps and towards the back of the grid, trouble ensued.

Mick Schumacher made contact with Christian Lundgaard and caused the Arrow McLaren driver to go around. Lundgaard continued without any damage, but Schumacher recieved a drive through penalty for avoidable contact with Lundgaard.

In addition, Nolan Siegal also spun around but was able to continue on as well. Later on, when pit stops began, leaders Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou came into the pit lane at the same time. However, Ericsson had problems on his stop with trouble on the right front, and ended up losing multiple seconds to Palou leaving the pit lane.

Just after that, Kyffin Simpson had recieved a drive through penalty for hitting his pit equipment into the pit box of Scott Dixon just ahead of him. The trouble didn't stop there as Josef Newgarden spun in turn 3 due to contact with teammate David Malukas. Malukas got ahead of Newgarden as he was going by him on the pit exit and the two collided into turn 3.

Will Power, who started in the top 5, went on a long tire stint, into the race committing a two stop strategy to go to the end compared to everyone else who were on a three stop strategy. After the final pit stops cycled through, it was Kyle Kirkwood chasing down Alex Palou for the win.

As the laps were winding down, Kirkwood was significantly cutting the gap down to Palou and with less than 20 laps to go, Kirkwood made a brave move going into turn 14 on Alex Palou and got the lead and drove off into the distance.

With four laps to go, the caution flag came out for Christian Rasmussen as he stalled in turn 1. The race goes back to green flag conditions with 1 lap to go, but that didn't last long as in the back of the field, Nolan Siegal makes contact with Romain Grosjean and both of them crash out of the race and the race ends under yellow.

Coming to the checkered flag, Kyle Kirkwood picks up the victory ahead of Alex Palou, and teammate Will Power. Power gets his first podium with Andretti after starting fourth. Winner, Kyle Kirkwood stated "It was one of the more physical races for sure. Lap 40 I was taking my hands off the steering wheel down the straight and pulling my fingers away from each other."

After starting in the back of the field, Scott Dixon finishes 8th, and Scott McLaughlin finishes 11, both having good finishes after the troubles in qualifying yesterday for the both of them. Just three races in, Kyle Kirkwood is now the new championship leader, but there is still a long way to go until the end of the season.