Paddock Buzz: Kyle Kirkwood Counts Points, Limits Damage

Kyle Kirkwood entered Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach leading Alex Palou by two points in the standings.

He leaves trailing by 17 after a fourth-place finish in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda for Andretti Global.

That’s because Palou earned his 22nd NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and his first on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit along the Pacific Ocean.

Palou has four top-two finishes in five races this season, including three victories. Kirkwood has finished in the top five in all five, including a victory in the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington on March 15, keeping him within striking distance.

Kirkwood said qualifying fourth limited his chances in the 90-lap race today.

“Quite honestly, everyone was super scared of the reds (Firestone alternate tire) wearing too fast, and Felix (Rosenqvist) kind of started that early,” Kirkwood said. “He went really slow, saving a ton of fuel.”

Rosenqvist led the first 31 laps. Kirkwood, who won two of the last three Long Beach races from the pole entering this year, followed suit and took care of his tires while riding in fourth.

“We had a super-fast car,” Kirkwood said. “If we qualified up front, we would have been blasting the field. I think we would have been on pace with what Palou did and just take off.”

Instead, Kirkwood ran fourth most of the day. Palou moved to second early and beat Felix Rosenqvist off pit road for the lead during the Lap 59 stop.

Kirkwood cycled out behind Palou, Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon.

Dixon was on the softer Firestone Firehawk alternate tire, giving him early speed in the final stint but quicker wear. Kirkwood closed in but weighed the risk.

“I was trying to figure out how many points I’d get if I got to third,” Kirkwood said. “I didn’t think I was going to pass Felix, but I hoped Dixon would burn off his tires. That didn’t happen. So, I was thinking about the risk versus reward for third.”

Kirkwood ultimately settled for fourth.

“Two years ago, if I got fourth here, I would have been super happy,” he said. “I can’t complain too much.”

Dixon Climbs From Sixth to Third

Dixon started sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and ran there most of the race.

The lone caution for debris on Lap 57 brought the field to pit road on Lap 59. Dixon’s crew gained him three spots, and he held third over the final 29 green-flag laps.

Six-time series champion Dixon held off Kirkwood for his 156th career podium result and fourth consecutive top-eight finish this season.

“Huge weekend for the Ganassi cars,” Dixon said. “One of our best qualifying efforts across the board. It was nice to have a clean weekend with no issues or mistakes.

“The race was a bit blah for us. We stayed in the same spot and tried to go long. Fuel mileage was strong, which Honda does a great job with. Everybody is catching up there.

“The balance had a lot of understeer, so it was tough to carry speed and save fuel. The last stop worked out. Others had traffic, and we had a clean out lap. That paid off.”

Dixon climbed from 10th to eighth in the standings.

Hauger Charges to 11th

Dennis Hauger grew up watching the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Last year, he attended as a rookie in INDY NXT by Firestone with Andretti Global. This year, he returned as an NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver.

Hauger (photo, above) charged from 19th to 11th in the No. 19 Ault Blockchain Honda for Dale Coyne Racing.

“I was actually thinking while driving, ‘Man, I love INDYCAR,’” Hauger said. “It’s so cool. There’s so much going on, and you never know what will happen. Suddenly everyone is pitting at the same time. I hadn’t experienced that before.”

Hauger, whose best finish entering the weekend was 10th in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, said the result exceeded expectations, especially with a late engineering change. His lead engineer Michael Cannon was absent due to a personal matter, with Mike Colliver stepping in.

“Not easy to mix things up like that,” Hauger said. “It’s never going to be optimal, but we did the best we could. The Mikes, Cicciarelli and Colliver, worked really well together and kept building me up through the weekend. I don’t think we could have asked for much more.”

Odds and Ends

• Tré Cool (photo, above, left), drummer for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame punk rock band Green Day, visited the Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian pits and rode in the Fastest Seat in Sports. Rosenqvist’s No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda carried a special livery this weekend saluting Green Day’s new channel on SiriusXM.

• Sunday was Al Unser Jr.’s 63rd birthday. He is a two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion with 34 career wins, including two in the Indianapolis 500. He also is the “King of the Beach,” holding a Grand Prix of Long Beach record with six victories.

• For the third time in four years, Honda swept the Long Beach podium.

• Ryan Marzec, outside rear tire changer for Caio Collet’s No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, was struck on pit lane by Will Power’s No. 26 TWG AI Honda during the Lap 59 final pit stops. Marzec was treated and released from the medical unit with no broken bones. He returned to the team transporter after the race and traveled back to Indianapolis on the team charter.

• Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc, attended Sunday’s race. A Ferrari development driver in Europe, he came to support former teammate Hauger. The two were teammates with PREMA Racing in FIA Formula 3 in 2021, when Hauger won the championship. This marked Leclerc’s first INDYCAR SERIES race weekend, and he expressed interest in a future drive in the series or the Indianapolis 500.

• Palou has won 11 of the last 22 races dating to the start of last season, a 50 percent strike rate.

• Power’s biggest fan, legendary rapper Flavor Flav (photo, above), was in the Andretti pits Sunday cheering him on.

• Pato O’Ward will throw out the ceremonial first pitch Thursday at Wrigley Field before the Philadelphia Phillies-Chicago Cubs His teammate Nolan Siegel will throw out the first pitch for Indy 500 Night at the Indianapolis Indians game Saturday, April 25.

• Luis Landaverde, the INDYCAR SERIES transportation and staff catering/hospitality tent coordinator, was nominated for a ROSE Award. Landaverde lives in New Orleans and travels to Indianapolis to drive transporters to each race while supporting race operations. The ROSE (Recognition of Service Excellence) Award honors hospitality workers who help make every Indianapolis visitor feel special.