Kyle Kirkwood makes his feelings known after second Long Beach triumph: "It was all execution"

Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood won his first 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship race at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The driver of #27 Honda-powered Dallara credited the team's execution for the dominant weekend.

The 26-year-old aced the qualifying, bagging the pole position at the 50th edition of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. With the championship leader Alex Palou right behind him in third, Kirkwood had a mammoth task up ahead.

Kirkwood never lost sight of Palou in his rearview mirror. However, with the former's tire management skills and Andretti Global's race execution, the 26-year-old triumphed over the rest of the grid to give the team their first win of the season. Kyle Kirkwood admitted to the same post-race:

"What a great day. We controlled the race from, even from practice, right? We thought we were in control. Really good qualifying, amazing race, amazing strategy, but it was just execution all across the board that won us the race here today." (via Fox)

Acknowledging Spainard's threat and the fact that Palou had a decent chance to beat him, Kirkwood added:

"If Palou was in front, he would have beat us for sure. This was a track position race here today without any yellows. Hats off to Honda and Andretti guys...."

After the third round of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series Championship, Alex Palou still leads with 142 points, and Kyle Kirkwood is in second with 108 points.

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Along with execution, Kyle Kirkwood credited the Andretti Global leadership for the Long Beach GP win

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Andretti Global stars Colton Herta and Kyle Kirkwood were on the analysts' radar while predicting top contenders to challenge Alex Palou's dominance. While Herta is yet to stamp his superiority this season, Kirkwood's Long Beach GP win is a green signal to the team's developmental progress. The 26-year-old affirmed just that, applauding the team's leadership.

Kirkwood started 9th at the 2025 season opener in St. Petersburg and gained four positions in the race to finish P5. Next round at Thermal Club, the American started in eighth and finished in the same position.

In the third race weekend at Long Beach, the driver of #27 Honda began on a dominant foot and followed through with a race win. Considering its development and trajectory, Kirkwood credited the team for the victory:

"We don't see exactly what goes on in the development side. But clearly, three races in now, we seem better than we have been in the past couple years. That's due to his leadership and the investment that's going into the team." (via Fox sports)

He also attributed the win to the team and its members' will to win. He added,

"We have an influx of people, an influx of development. There's a big will to win. We got a win here, but we also had really good performances at the past two circuits."

The next race, the fourth round, of the NTT IndyCar Series Championship, will be the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, on May 5.