Kyle Kirkwood points out his 3 'nightmare' races that profited Pato O'Ward in the 2025 IndyCar season

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood has opened up on what went wrong in the 2025 IndyCar season that prevented him from finishing runner-up to Alex Palou in the championship. Kirkwood got a blazing start to the season with three Top 10 finishes, including a race win at the iconic Long Beach Grand Prix.

In the first eight races of the season, only two drivers emerged victorious - reigning champion Palou won five races, while Kirkwood won three. For both drivers, it was their best starts to an IndyCar season, making them the two championship contenders. Though Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward earned one pole position and four podiums in the first half, he lagged behind the duo.

While Alex Palou carried the momentum into each race weekend, winning three more times and securing five separate podiums, Kyle Kirkwood hit unexpected hurdles. He got disqualified from the Indy 500 after his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda failed technical inspection.

Three more unfortunate instances stood out for Kirkwood, which he spoke about in a recent interview with IndyCar VP Communications Dave Furst.

"Laguna was a nightmare, Iowa was a nightmare. Portland was an even bigger nightmare than all those. We just kind of can't put our finger on where the pace went. That's ultimately what held us back from fighting for second in the championship," the 26-year-old said via IndyCar on YouTube. [7:19 onwards]

Kyle Kirkwood suffered a DNF at Laguna Seca after a crash with Rinus Veekay. Kirkwood blamed Veekay for braking too early before Turn 3, and the duo clashed on social media later. Kirkwood's Iowa DNF was unusual, arising from an unexpected right front tire failure, which led him to crash into the barriers and prematurely end his race.

As for the Grand Prix of Portland, the No. 27 Honda driver had no incident that caused a DNF. Instead, it was just an unexpected lack of pace at the 1.967-mile road circuit that troubled him. Kirkwood started in P19 and finished one position lower in P20.

Eventually, Pato O'Ward overtook him for P2 in the championship, and the Mexican driver held onto that position until the season ended. Meanwhile, Kyle Kirkwood slid down to P4 in the standings. It was a career-best year for both drivers.

Why a career-best IndyCar finish was bittersweet for Kyle Kirkwood

Kyle Kirkwood in the pits at the NTT INDYCAR Series Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 - Source: Getty

Despite securing a career-best standings finish in the 2025 IndyCar season, Kyle Kirkwood was a "bit disappointed" with how the season went down. The Andretti Global driver recorded a few firsts this year - first season with three race wins, first oval win (Gateway), and the first season as the team's best finisher in the championship standings.

However, the downturn in results after the Gateway victory left him with a bittersweet feeling about the season. In the aforementioned interview, Kirkwood said:

"I felt like we weren't gonna give up second place after how good of a mid portion of the season we had. But it kind of trickled away from us. I'm happy with the performance we had, I'm happy that we finished fourth, I'm happy with the wins, but I'm a little bit disappointed in that because we did really have a good run going."

In 2025, the team dynamic at Andretti Global will change with the arrival of two-time IndyCar champion Will Power. Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson will have one of the most experienced drivers on the grid as their teammate as the team chases success in the post-Michael Andretti era.