Championship Cars Pave the Way for Tomorrow’s Racing Strokes!
With an impressive win on the streets of Arlington, Kirkwood is now sitting atop the points standings
Motorsport photo Three races into the 2026 IndyCar season, and there have been three different points leaders: Alex Palou , Josef Newgarden , and now Kyle Kirkwood -- all three winners early in the new year. Kirkwood passed Palou with 15 laps to go in the Grand Prix of Arlington and never looked back, earning his sixth career win. He now leads the four-time and defending IndyCar champion by 26 points in the standings, putting Andretti on top.
Newgarden, who entered this race with the lead, has fallen to third in the standings, 33 points back. He is tied with Pato O'Ward , who opened the year with a trio of top five finishes. Read Also: Official race results: 2026 IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington 2026 IndyCar points after Arlington (Race 3 of 18) Pos.
Driver Points 1 Kyle Kirkwood 126 2 Alex Palou 100 3 Josef Newgarden 93 4 Pato O'Ward 93 5 Scott McLaughlin 85 6 David Malukas 84 7 Christian Lundgaard 80 8 Marcus Ericsson 77 9 Marcus Armstrong 70 10 Alexander Rossi 64 11 Will Power 59 12 Scott Dixon 59 13 Dennis Hauger (R) 50 14 Felix Rosenqvist 47 15 Rinus VeeKay 46 16 Graham Rahal 46 17 Kyffin Simpson 46 18 Caio Collet (R) 42 19 Louis Foster 41 20 Santino Ferrucci 38 21 Romain Grosjean 36 22 Christian Rasmussen 33 23 Sting Ray Robb 27 24 Nolan Siegel 26 25 Mick Schumacher 25 To read more Motorsport. com articles visit our website .