Kyle Kirkwood is returning to the scene of his first IndyCar win this weekend, and hopes to repeat that success on the streets of Long Beach.
One of the top motivations for a strong weekend is so that he can stay within shouting distance of the points leader Alex Palou, who has won the first two events of 2025.
Kirkwood has finished fifth and eighth in the two races this year, but still has had his own points total nearly doubled by the three-time title champion.
That is why, even so early in the season, the Florida-native finds it crucial that he uses his skills in Long Beach to begin shrinking the gap.
“We got to do the same thing that they’re [Palou’s team] doing: we’ve got to win races,” said Kirkwood.
“We can’t let them get a big head start. That is one thing that Palou has done in the past couple years, gets a huge head start, then everybody claws back at him at the end of the season. He’s kind of on cruise control at that point.
“We need to not let him get out front and hold him back a little bit. That comes with not letting him win at all these tracks, especially the ones that we’re strong at.
“Yeah, this is a very crucial weekend for us to turn things around in the championship hunt. Even though it’s still early in the season, a lot of people don’t look at points.
“They’re like, ‘Well, it’s only two races in of the 17-race season.’ If the guy is 60 points ahead of you, you got to kind of pay attention to that.
“There is a long way to go. You’re also falling behind very early, which is not something you want to do.”
The number one guy
Kirkwood has won two races in his IndyCar career, the first of which came in 2023 on the streets of Long Beach.
He followed that up with another win on the streets of Nashville later in the year, but has not been able to find victory lane again since.
The 26-year-old is not alone in wondering what he can do to catch Palou, after all the Spaniard has won three of the last four championships and is nearly always at the front of the field.
And in order to best him this weekend, Kirkwood is going to need a self-described ‘really good day.’
“He’s been on it for the past few years, right? He’s given everything that you need to perform really, really well,” Kirkwood continued, speaking about Palou.
“He’s doing a good job. So hats off to him. It’s all the more reason for us to want to go out and beat him.
“Now it’s turning into a thing that when you beat Alex Palou, you’ve clearly had a really good day. He’s kind of the number one guy that everyone is looking at at this moment.”
The 50th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long beach takes place this weekend, with the IMSA event scheduled for 5:00 PM eastern time on Saturday, April 12, and IndyCar’s race beginning Sunday afternoon at 4:30 PM eastern time.
