Kirkwood beats Palou to Long Beach IndyCar win

It marked the second IndyCar win on the streets of Long Beach for Kirkwood after his 2023 breakthrough with the same team. It’s just Kirkwood’s third IndyCar career win.

The American headed Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who finished more than three seconds in arrears.

Kirkwood survived a late attack from Palou after the final round of pit stops. The #27 came upon traffic before his Lap 65 pit stop and was nearly undercut by the Spaniard in the #10 car.

“I tell you what, he didn’t make it easy on us,” said Kirkwood.

“What a great day. We controlled the race, even from practice. We felt like we were in control. Really good qualifying, amazing race, amazing strategy.

“It was just execution all across the board is what won us that race here today because if Palou was in front he would have beaten us for sure.

“This was a track position race here today without any yellows.”

Christian Lundgaard completed the podium in a storming drive from 12th on the grid, maximising the alternative strategy.

While most drivers elected to start on the soft compound tyre and run short on the first stint, Lundgaard began on the hard tyre and benefitted from the extended green-flag running.

The McLaren driver made a late pass on Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist at Turn 1 with just a handful of laps to go to take third place.

The race was incident-free with all 27 starters taking the chequered flag in a race heavy on tyre strategy.

Josef Newgarden looked as if he might threaten for the podium but had his charge undone by loose seatbelts.

The Team Penske driver was forced to pit and wound up two laps down.

Australia’s interest Will Power was fifth having started 13th, while teammate Scott McLaughlin held on to sixth place despite a late challenge from Colton Herta.

The Andretti Global driver began the race on the front row alongside his race-winning teammate Kirkwood. However, he lost out in the first round of pit stops and never recovered.

Scott Dixon finished eighth. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver matched Lundgaard’s strategy but had his efforts hurt by a slow pit stop that ultimately cost him too much time.

Sting Ray Robb was the surprise performer for AJ Foyt Racing from 19th on the grid. He finished ninth ahead of another impressive run by Kyffin Simpson, who began 17th.

Santino Ferrucci came up just shy of a top 10 finish in 11th with an incredible run from last.

Kirkwood’s win vaults him to second in the standings.

The series resumes at Barber Motorsports Park on May 5 for the Alabama Indy Grand Prix.

Results: IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Long Beach