It was overcast and humid when the green flag dropped on the Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, not exactly ideal conditions for an afternoon drive along the beach. But by the time the sun came out, Kyle Kirkwood had made the race his own, steering his Honda to an easy victory in the 50th running of the iconic IndyCar race.
“This was a flawless weekend for myself, for the team, for the crew, for everyone involved,” Kirkwood said. “And when you have flawless weekends like this, you tend to win.”
It was the second victory in three years at Long Beach for the Andretti Global driver and his third IndyCar win overall. And it wasn’t really close, with Kirkwood leading for 46 of the 90 laps around the Long Beach Convention Center. All three of Kirkwood’s IndyCar Series wins have come on street courses.
“For some reason, I’m really good at street courses,” said Kirkwood, who averaged 100.395 mph over the temporary 177-mile Long Beach circuit. “I wish that translated everywhere else, but it doesn’t. This place suits me, and I couldn’t tell you why. But everyone has their tracks.”
The three days of racing in Long Beach, which was capped by Sunday’s race, drew an estimated 200,000 fans.
“This is a historic race and I don’t think it’s set in yet for me, but I know how special it is,” Kirkwood said. “To win the 50th anniversary of this is huge. And to be a multi-time winner here is absolutely massive. It’s turning into a shorter and shorter list for me that I put my name on.”
Spanish driver Alex Palou, who won the first two IndyCar events this season for Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second in the clean, caution-free race, giving Honda the top two spots on the podium.
“You never feel amazing when you finish second, but honestly, the 27 car and Kyle, they were amazing all weekend,” Palou said. “Super fast.”
Christian Lundgaard of Denmark, who started 12th after crashing in qualifying, led for 26 laps and finished third, charging through the field to pass Felix Rosenqvist with five laps remaining. Rosenqvist finished fourth while Will Power, a two-time Long Beach champion, finished fifth.
Kirkwood, who won at Long Beach two years ago after qualifying first, started on the pole again Sunday, lining up next to teammate Colton Herta of Santa Clarita. But that’s not the perk it would seem since Kirkwood is the only driver to win from the pole at Long Beach since 2019.
At 177 miles, Sunday’s race was five laps and 10 miles longer than year’s, which made both fuel conservation and tire strategy important. IndyCar rules require teams to use two different tire compounds for at least two laps per race, so 21 cars in the 27-car field started the race with the softer alternate green tire, which provides grip but wears down quickly.
Kirkwood and Palou were among the 21 and both pitted in the first seven laps to put on the more durable black-sidewall tires, preserving the stickier soft tires for later in the race. Before either pitted again it was clear they had the two fastest cars on track. However the race may have been won on the final series of pit stops, with Palou coming in for tires at the end of lap 64 and Kirkwood doing the same a lap later.
That allowed Kyffin Simpson to briefly go to the front but when he pitted with 21 laps to go, Kirkwood took a lead he would never give back. That was the ninth lead change among seven drivers, most for an IndyCar race at Long Beach since 2012.
“We had a lot of control and that was due to having pace in the car, having the right strategy, not killing our soft tires early on in the race, and having a little bit of life left in them,” Kirkwood said. “That was very important. The only thing that I was really focused on was Alex. He was the one that was really giving us a run for our money. But ultimately we had pace on them, and we were able to cover them from kind of every angle.”
With Sunday’s win Kirkwood, who finished sixth in the IndyCar Series driver standings last year, jumped to second, 38 points back of Palou after three races.
“We want to be right there in the fight the entire time, if not leading,” he said. “So this is a big one for us. This is a step in the right direction. But we need more of these.“
Herta faded from second to finish seventh, one place ahead of defending champion Scott Dixon. It was Herta’s second top-10 finish of the season, leaving him seventh in the standings.