With only two winning drivers in the NTT INDYCAR series in the first seven races, there was a strong possibility of a different winner on the short oval at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, MO. In fact, there could have been a first-time winner if David Malukas (led the most laps with 67) or Conor Daly (led 36 laps) could have maintained their lead.
But at the only night race, under the lights, Kyle Kirkwood earned his third victory of the season, on the fast-paced, 1.25-mile circuit, in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
Kirkwood led only eight laps, with his car coming alive as the temperature dropped. The Floridian denied Chevy once again, giving Honda its eight consecutive victory to start the year. Most importantly, Kirkwood gained a significant number of points (51) in the title fight against leader Alex Palou, who finished eighth (24 points).
“I understood the strategy pretty well as some of those guys there at the end were trying to make the fuel work,” explained Kirkwood, driving for Andretti Autosport. “If they got a caution, they would have. We didn’t start with an amazing race car but finished with one. That was just due to the work that the crew and Honda did. As the conditions cooled, we picked up some power. We were making changes at almost every stop (five) to get ourselves into a good window. That played a huge factor in today’s win because, in the beginning stages, it felt like we didn’t have anything.
“Last year, I was too timid on the restarts and kept getting passed,” continued Kirkwood, who navigated traffic to hold off Pato O’Ward. “Tonight, I had to be pretty aggressive and take more risks than I would have liked to, but it worked out. Nobody would have guessed that the pace was going to be that high. I was doing qualifying pace on full fuel. It made it physical and mentally straining because you just feel like you’re on a qualifying lap for 260 laps. I loved every second of it.”
Kirkwood was caught behind the lapped car of Nolan Siegel, as Siegel’s Arrow McLaren teammate O’Ward tried to challenge for the lead in the final laps. Unbeknownst to O’Ward, Siegel served a drive-through penalty for blocking earlier in the race. O’Ward finished second, followed by Christian Rasmussen, who put on quite a daring high-line show, driving for Ed Carpenter Racing.
“It was a fantastic race,” said O’Ward, earning his fourth podium of the season. “Hopefully everybody that was watching was well entertained. I was very happy with my car. We positioned ourselves well to have that shot to win. In the last restart, good old Nolan was sleeping a little bit and that gave Kirkwood the opportunity (to win).”
Sophomore driver Rasmussen made 62 passes on his way to earning his first series podium.
“We really struggled in practice as well as qualifying,” stated Rasmussen. “We knew what we needed out of the car and hit on some good changes for the race. As soon as I found out how well my car worked on the high side, it was just game on. I was able to pass cars. We even got hosed one time with having to take emergency service because we were out of fuel (Lap 134 under caution). I had to restart at the tail end, having to drive through most of the field again.”
Team Penske captured the front row during two-lap average qualifying on the egg-shaped oval, which has 11 degrees of banking at the tight end (Turns 1 – 2) and nine degrees at the wider end. The first turn is similar to a road course, where drivers downshift and brake, while the third turn is similar to the Indianapolis oval. This was Penske’s 700th pole, as Will Power earned his record 71st, with Scott McLaughlin starting alongside.
The last time Team Penske won a race was with Power, last August at Portland. Power suffered a right-front tire failure on Lap 47, ending his day with contact in Turn 4. McLaughlin led 51 laps but suffered a mechanical issue involving the left-rear suspension.
The scariest caution came out for Louis Foster, spinning out of Turn 4 on Lap 130, having been caught on the marbles; Foster slid across the front straightaway in the path of leader Josef Newgarden. Fortunately, the aeroscreen once again protected both drivers as Newgarden T-boned the rookie and became airborne, landing upside-down on the wall separating the track from pit lane.
There were 20 lead changes and a record-tying 254 on-track passes for position over the hard-fought 325 miles (522.6 km) that included 47 total laps from four caution periods. The race took 2:23:27 to complete, with an average speed of 135.939 mph. In comparison, Power’s pole two-lap average was 180.329 mph, the only driver to exceed 180 mph.
Toronto’s Devlin DeFrancesco qualified 17th in his third start at WWTR. But he brought out the first yellow on Lap 4, when he spun entering the narrow and tricky Turn One, knocking his rear wing loose. The team quickly repaired his car and he resumed the race, gaining as many places (points for the championship) as possible to retire in 23rd, having completed 217 of the 260-lap race.
“A lot was learned at IMS in general about our oval package,” revealed DeFrancesco, who out-qualified his two Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates. “There are definitely things that carry over to WWTR. We made a good step from practice to qualifying and I’m generally happy with our car. I still don’t know what happened on the start. Ashley (his race engineer) reviewed it and said the rear just went on me. I didn’t have rear grip all weekend, a big issue of ours. We’ll move on to Road America next week.”
As INDYCAR hits mid-season, with nine races remaining, Palou has a 75-point lead in pursuit of a fourth title. Can he be beat?
“Palou has been on a run (335 points),” said O’Ward, who is trailing in second, with 262 points. “He has five wins and I’ve got zero. I’ve just got a handful of podiums. We need to start racking up some wins, and that’ll make that points count come down a lot faster than what you’re seeing now.”
“It’s one (championship) point,” explained Power, after capturing his 71st pole (surpassing Mario Andretti’s former record of 67 poles). “I’ve done this for a long time. I know the craft very well. We’ve been quick all year. It just takes a couple of bad races (for Palou) and a couple good ones for us and we’ll be back in striking distance.”
“We’re going to go to Road America next week and Palou is going to put on a show there,” warned Kirkwood, who’s third in points, with 260. “We’ll have to do everything in our power to keep him from looking shiny once again on road courses.
“Everybody knows you’ve got to be diverse in this series,” continued Kirkwood, who finally won his first oval event. “You’ve got to win at multiple circuits, whether it’s a short oval, long oval, street course, or road course. You’ve got to win at all of them.”
Next up is Road America on Sunday, June 22.
