Kyle Kirkwood secured a hard-fought third place on Sunday in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, moving back up to second place in the championship standings.
Starting 10th in the #27 Andretti Global Honda, the 27-year-old Florida native worked his way through a gruelling, caution-free 90 laps on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent natural-terrain road course. High humidity and temperatures that peaked at 95 degrees Fahrenheit made the race an intense physical challenge, with drivers getting no breathers under yellow to escape the heat.
The performance marks Kirkwood’s fourth podium finish of the season. While it is also the 10th podium of his career, it is his very first on a conventional road course in IndyCar.
“Yeah, that was one of the most physically demanding days I’ve ever had in a race car,” Kirkwood said. “I am absolutely cooked right now. Running everything green here when it’s hot and this place is already so busy anyway, and it’s qualifying laps every lap. My shoulders are destroyed. That’s why I’m leaning forward. I’m definitely hydrated, just cooked.”
Kirkwood attributed his charge through the field to a combination of early overtakes and flawless execution in pit lane. Although he noted that the team missed its visual targets during Saturday’s qualifying session, the car’s race-day set-up and the strategy made the recovery to the front possible.
“We went from 10th to third,” Kirkwood said. “A lot of that was strategy and pit stops. We had a really good strategy that put us there in a podium position, and we also passed a few cars at the start of the race, so a bit of both.
“Overall, a really good day. It wasn’t where we should have qualified. We should have qualified up front, I think. I’m happy, I think, that we were able to bring ourselves back toward the front in the race.”
With seven rounds remaining in the season, Kirkwood has now climbed back to second in the standings. He now trails championship leader Alex Palou by 56 points (404-348), having steadily clawed back six points over the past three race weekends.
The breakthrough comes at a venue where Kirkwood was historically dominant during his rise through the junior categories (eight wins in nine starts in USF2000, USF Pro 2000 and Indy NXT), but where he had struggled since his promotion to IndyCar, with only a previous best finish of eighth (twice - 2024, 2025) in four starts at the circuit. He dismissed the idea that he had suddenly changed his driving style to unlock the track.
“Well, it wasn’t as if I suddenly figured it out,” Kirkwood said. “I didn’t drive (Sunday) any differently than I have at this place for the past four years. We had a really good test here two weeks ago and the car was really good. That pace was evident from free practice 1, free practice 2, through qualifying. Of course qualifying didn’t go great, and even in the warm-up we were P2. We just had a lot of pace.
“It wasn’t like I had just discovered something, per se.”
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Source: Motorsport