Kirkwood clinches Palou’s championship crown in an electric finale!

Motorsport photo have found themselves in a few battles over the last few seasons, with the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington the latest in their budding rivalry. This latest one presented something different, though. Unlike last year on the streets of Long Beach when Kirkwood fended off the Spaniard to win, this one required the Florida native to cut down a sizable gap and pass Palou - a rare feat since Palou joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.

Kirkwood already had an uphill climb to start the day after a mental lapse in qualifying left him starting seventh, but it was compounded when his pit crew made repeated errors on each of their three pit stops throughout the race. Undeterred, though, he displayed unrelenting pace in the #27 Andretti Global Honda to overcome the gaffes and a 7s deficit, pulling off a late lunge on Palou into Turn 14 with 16 laps to go. He built up a 5s advantage before a pair of late cautions - including one on a final lap restart - slightly delayed his run to victory.

Read Also: Complete IndyCar championship standings after Arlington “It's a statement on how good we are on street courses,” said Kirkwood, 27. “We're able to do this at a few street courses. It's incredible to see that we're able to do it at another one.

We're adding street courses to our calendar. “A lot of it's due to this guy (pointing to Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports and major investor/owner in Andretti Global), the engineers, and the group that he's been able to rally together to give us this performance. It's not just me out there driving one of these cars.