
The Team Penske driver stuck his nose into the back of the Andretti Global entry and picked the rear wheels off the ground.
Power drove the length of the chute between two turns before Kirkwood was able to ground himself.
“That’s insanely dangerous,” remarked commentator James Hinchcliffe.
“He just forced him by [David] Malukas and then nearly stuffs him in the wall.”
“You can’t do that. That’s unbelievable.
“I would be shocked if he’s not called to the principal’s office at this session for that.
“I don’t know what rules you try to get him for but at the very least have a talk to him.”
While Hinchcliffe tore shreds off Power, co-commentator Townsend Bell couldn’t help but laugh at the silliness of it all.
Speaking about the incident, Power made light of the incident.
“Well, I came around and he slowed up in the middle and made contact. So I thought, well, I might as well get a gap now, so I pushed him past the car in front,” he explained.
“Just moved him out of the way and got a really nice gap. If I hadn’t touched him already I was like, ‘Oh well, I’m already touching him, I might as well just keep pushing him’.
“Got a good gap and finished the run nicely.”
Kirkwood topped practice ahead of the Team Penske trio of Scott McLaughlin, Power, and Josef Newgarden.
Despite the incident, Kirkwood wasn’t too perturbed. He blamed the tight confines of the downtown Detroit course for the situation.
“I don’t know. Everyone is going slow around here,” he said.
“The track is not big enough to fit all the cars and he got frustrated. Whatever I guess.
“Does it give him the right to push my car through a couple of corners and almost cause a wreck? I don’t think so.
“Right here, Malukas is right in front of me, and I can’t really do much. He’s just shoving me along. Everyone stopped.
“I’m not upset. I don’t care. We’re P1. But at the same time, I expect IndyCar to do the right thing with that. I’m sure that they’ll do something. Who knows what. I’ve never seen that before.”
Results: IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Detroit, Practice 1
Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Lap | Diff | Gap | Laps |
1 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti Global | 1:01.7509 | 18 | ||
2 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 1:02.0301 | 0.2792 | 0.2792 | 26 |
3 | 12 | Will Power | Team Penske | 1:02.3862 | 0.6353 | 0.3561 | 26 |
4 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 1:02.4819 | 0.731 | 0.0957 | 18 |
5 | 7 | Christian Lundgaard | Arrow McLaren | 1:02.6047 | 0.8538 | 0.1228 | 20 |
6 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti Global | 1:02.6140 | 0.8631 | 0.0093 | 26 |
7 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | 1:02.6331 | 0.8822 | 0.0191 | 23 |
8 | 45 | Louis Foster | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:02.6481 | 0.8972 | 0.015 | 27 |
9 | 18 | Rinus VeeKay | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:02.7143 | 0.9634 | 0.0662 | 24 |
10 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:02.8002 | 1.0493 | 0.0859 | 26 |
11 | 4 | David Malukas | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1:02.8105 | 1.0596 | 0.0103 | 24 |
12 | 28 | Marcus Ericsson | Andretti Global | 1:02.8288 | 1.0779 | 0.0183 | 18 |
13 | 21 | Christian Rasmussen | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:02.8582 | 1.1073 | 0.0294 | 24 |
14 | 66 | Marcus Armstrong | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:02.9324 | 1.1815 | 0.0742 | 26 |
15 | 10 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:03.0381 | 1.2872 | 0.1057 | 21 |
16 | 60 | Felix Rosenqvist | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:03.0640 | 1.3131 | 0.0259 | 22 |
17 | 90 | Callum Ilott | PREMA Racing | 1:03.0827 | 1.3318 | 0.0187 | 30 |
18 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:03.0985 | 1.3476 | 0.0158 | 25 |
19 | 83 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:03.2055 | 1.4546 | 0.107 | 35 |
20 | 8 | Kyffin Simpson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:03.3057 | 1.5548 | 0.1002 | 27 |
21 | 20 | Alexander Rossi | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:03.3239 | 1.573 | 0.0182 | 26 |
22 | 30 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1:03.4822 | 1.7313 | 0.1583 | 22 |
23 | 77 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:03.6742 | 1.9233 | 0.192 | 23 |
24 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1:03.7366 | 1.9857 | 0.0374 | 24 |
25 | 51 | Jacob Abel | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:03.8402 | 2.0893 | 0.1036 | 26 |
26 | 6 | Nolan Siegel | Arrow McLaren | 1:03.8816 | 2.1307 | 0.0414 | 25 |
27 | 76 | Conor Daly | Juncos Hollinger Racing | 1:03.9785 | 2.2276 | 0.0969 | 25 |
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