Kyle Kirkwood's victory dented Alex Palou’s almost flawless streak of the 2025 NTT IndyCar Championship as the latter's run came to an abrupt end on Sunday in Detroit. Despite clinching his second victory, Kirkwood is not too hopeful of winning the championship.
In the extremely eventful race, David Malukas made contact with Palou, heading into Turn 1 during a restart. The incident sent Palou’s #10 Honda into the tire barrier, ending his race on Lap 72 of the 100-lap event. While Palou wasn’t in strong contention for a podium at the time, he was still positioned to collect valuable championship points.
With Palou out, Kyle Kirkwood, who had been the only other driver to win a race this season at the Long Beach Grand Prix, recognized the rare opportunity to gain ground in the standings. However, despite the success, Kirkwood sounded off about clinching the IndyCar championship.
“We’re not really still in the hunt, I wouldn’t say. I could imagine. I don’t know what the points actually are, but it at least gives you a taste of, ‘oh, maybe we can claw back at this,’ which is pretty cool. I don’t know where we end up in the championship now. I know we were, I think, fifth coming into this weekend and now we’re second," said Kirkwood (via Pitdebrief).
Kyle Kirkwood is now third in the championship at 209 points, 102 points behind championship leader Alex Palou.
Kyle Kirkwood gets emotional after finally clinching the win post a rough couple of weeks

Kyle Kirkwood bounced back in a big way at the Detroit Grand Prix, putting a turbulent week behind him with an impressive victory. Just days earlier, his strong run at the Indianapolis 500 had unraveled. What initially looked like a seventh-place finish was wiped out when his car failed post-race technical inspection, relegating him to 32nd.
Tensions flared again during Detroit's practice sessions, including a heated on-track moment with Will Power that saw the two make contact. Despite the drama, Kirkwood kept his focus and delivered a strong qualifying performance, earning a spot on the second row in third and ultimately converting it into his second win of the season.
"I’ve gotten every emotion that I've ever had in motorsport, we had a phenomenal 500, and I got every emotion in the 500 alone. ... Obviously, drama through the week and then coming into this weekend, where we knew we'd be fast," said Kirkwood (via FOX Sports).
"We were extremely fast, I kind of threw it away a little bit in qualifying, but then got some of that positivity back, or all of it I should say, back here today and put an exclamation point on everything that has happened," he added.
Kirkwood summarised motor racing as a sport filled with intense emotions, soaring highs, and challenging lows where drivers chase the thrill of victory, but even the setbacks have value. In hindsight, the difficult moments make the triumphs feel even more rewarding.
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