Kyle Kirkwood sees season-ending pole, performance as showcase of his potential

Kyle Kirkwood may have ended his 2024 IndyCar Series season with a goose egg in the win column, but he still displayed still plenty of growth and promise over the entire year.

The 25-year-old native of Jupiter, Florida, wrapped up his third season — second behind the wheel of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda — with one podium, five top fives, 13 tops 10s and one pole. Additionally, he had the seventh-most laps led on the year by all drivers with 121. 

While Kirkwood has quickly established his presence on street circuits, with both of his victories last year taking place at Long Beach and the temporary course in downtown Nashville, there has been an emphasis put on his improving on ovals. And this year saw an uptick in exactly that, which vaulted him to a career-best seventh in the championship standings.

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global Honda, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet lead at the start

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Kirkwood steadily progressed on ovals, capturing seventh in the Indianapolis 500 before seventh at Iowa Speedway (Race 1) and eighth in IndyCar’s return to The Milwaukee Mile (Race 2). The showcase of his growth, though, came in the season finale switch to Nashville Superspeedway, where he earned his first pole on an oval with “a rocket ship” that led 67 laps and finished fourth — his best result on the track discipline. 

“You know, I tell you this is potentially the biggest thing I take from this season is this race right here (in Nashville),” Kirkwood told Motorsport.com. 

“Everybody knows I’ve been good at street courses, everybody knows I’ve been decent at road courses; where people question my abilities have been at ovals — maybe not the (Indy) 500 because I think I’ve done a pretty good job there recently — but short ovals.” 

And he noted how the 1.33-mile oval in Nashville is reminiscent of Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile track the series last raced at in 2023.

“Like Texas, for instance, I think people tend to not really check me off as one of the competitors there,” said Kirkwood, the 2021 Indy NXT champion. 

“This place is much like Texas and obviously, this was a really good pace for us and the No. 27 guys. So, huge takeaway for us to end the season with this. It’s just going to build confidence for myself on ovals.”