Kyle Kirkwood's Indy 500 Pole Position Fantasy Crashes After Mental Breakdown

Motorsport photo Kyle Kirkwood took responsibility for a mental mistake that dashed a shot to claim pole for the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington. The Florida native showcased his street prowess in Saturday morning’s practice session, pulling off the fastest lap of the weekend with a 1m33. 1409s flyer around the 14-turn, 2.

73-mile temporary circuit. And that had many marking him as the favorite to capture the top spot in qualifying. After setting the initial fast time on a set of Firestone’s harder primary (black sidewall) tires of 1m34.

5205s during the Round of 12 portion of qualifying, there was a moment of concern as the lap also saw Kirkwood make slight contact with the wall with the left-rear of his #27 Andretti Global Honda. Upon pitting so his crew could survey the significance of the damage, momentarily, he was sent back out on a set of softer alternate rubber and improved his time with a quick lap of 1m33. 8868s.

However, it proved to not be enough as he fell to seventh, one spot short of the transfer spot into the Fast Six by 0. 0415s to his teammate Marcus Ericsson, who went on to take his first career IndyCar pole. Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian “That was a brush on prime tires and it had no damage to the car,” Kirkwood said, when asked by FOX Sports if the incident caused damage.