Kyle Kirkwood gives crystal clear verdict on Chip Ganassi Racing's edge over Andretti Global in IndyCar title fight

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood has highlighted the clear edge that reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou has over him this season. He explained how the Chip Ganassi Racing cars are better than Andretti Global's on road courses.

Palou and CGR are having an exceptional season. The team has earned seven wins in ten races, with the Spaniard winning six of those, and his teammate Scott Dixon being the sole other victory at the recently concluded Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 6.

Kyle Kirkwood has been the only other driver to win a race in 2025. His No. 27 Honda and Andretti's cars, in general, have been the top dog on street courses, where he got his first two wins, the streets of Long Beach and the Detroit GP, respectively. Moreover, the 26-year-old also showed his prowess on ovals by winning the race at the WWT Raceway, where Palou finished further down in P9.

Ahead of IndyCar's upcoming race weekend at Iowa, Kirkwood spoke about the championship battle and the strengths of the teams' cars on different circuits.

"We're missing just a little bit on the road courses compared to the Ganassi cars, if I'm being honest. We're the best of the rest when it comes to those, I think. They have something that we just don't have for road courses at the moment," he said via FrontStretch. [1:05 onwards].

Kirkwood then painted a complete picture of the 2025 IndyCar title fight by acknowledging Andretti Global's strengths.

"And that's the same thing for us on street courses, right? We've got something that other people don't have. We'll work on it, see how we can get better, but ultimately, we're just missing a couple of tenths here and there. When we get that, we'll take the fight to the other guys on the rest of the road courses."

At Mid-Ohio last weekend, Alex Palou finished the race in second, while Kyle Kirkwood could do no better than P8. This increased the CGR driver's lead in the championship to 113 points with seven races remaining on the calendar.

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Kyle Kirkwood counts on consistency from Andretti Global to beat Alex Palou at Iowa

Kyle Kirkwood believes he can beat Alex Palou at IndyCar's double-header race weekend at Iowa from July 11 to 13 if Andretti Global can sustain its form on ovals. On paper, the Iowa Speedway should be Team Penske's playground, but the Roger Penske-led team has had a string of bad luck this season.

Contrarily, Andretti has been consistent, with Kirkwood emerging as the lead driver. Ahead of the race weekend, when asked about what are the chances for his No. 27 squad to overcome Palou's threat, he said (via FrontStretch):

"Pretty solid. (We were) Clearly pretty good at the other ovals this season, especially the short one. If it stays like that, stays consistent to that, we'll have a really good shot at beating them."

Kyle Kirkwood won the race at the WWT Raceway short oval in June, even after starting 10th on the grid. He also secured a good P6 result at the biggest oval at the Indy 500 before being disqualified for his No. 27 Andretti Global car having a technical infraction.