Kyle Kirkwood passes his audition en route to IndyCar stardom with Long Beach win

Long Beach, California is roughly 30 miles South of Hollywood, but a new star was born there Sunday afternoon.

A new IndyCar star, that is.

24-year-old Kyle Kirkwood put on a masterful performance in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, starting from the pole and leading 53 laps en route to his first career victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

The sophomore driver fought off challenges from two-time series champion Josef Newgarden and held off Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean in the closing laps to become victorious in IndyCar’s biggest race outside of the Indy 500.

While starting up front -- he won his first career pole Saturday -- greatly improved a driver’s chances of winning, Kirkwood is only the fifth driver in history to win the Long Beach event from the pole. The last driver to do so was Alexander Rossi, whom Kirkwood replaced in the No. 27 Andretti Honda this season.

Kirkwood joins an elite group of drivers to have scored their first IndyCar victory at Long Beach, including team owner Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, and Juan Pablo Montoya, among others.

“Talk about the significance of it? It's incredible,” Kirkwood said.”The next best race to win outside of this one, in my mind, is Indianapolis, right?

“It's so cool. Everything has been timed perfectly. I'm so thankful for the opportunity that they've given me.

“The car was amazing today. It was fantastic. The feeling I got at the end, I was trying to hold tears back in the car which is something I've never really felt before all through the ladder system.

“It almost feels like through my entire open-wheel ladder series career, I always wanted more. I'd win a bunch of races and I'd be like, 'Okay, I need to get to the next one, keep progressing.' Today was the first time I was able to actually soak it in and acknowledge I've done something incredible. So it's really cool.”

The win was a long time coming for Kirkwood, who already was anticipated as IndyCar’s next American star before he even joined the series.

Kirkwood is the only driver to win a championship in all levels in the Road to Indy ladder. In 2018, he won all but two races en route to his championship in USF2000. He won nine races in his Indy Pro 2000 championship season in 2019, and half of the 20 races he competed in during his Indy Lights (now called Indy NXT) program with Andrett in in 2021.

Last year, Kirkwood competed in his first IndyCar season, driving the iconic No. 14 entry for A.J. Foyt Racing. He scored a single top-10 finish that season (ironically at Long Beach). However, he regularly finished towards the back of the pack - not surprisingly though when considering the Foyt team is one of the most underfunded programs in the series.

However, Kirkwood’s car owner Michael Andretti says he believes Foyt was a perfect team for him to learn the ins and outs of IndyCar racing as a rookie.

“I think it was huge, to be honest with you,” Andretti said. "A rookie is definitely going to make mistakes and things like that, just because you're learning, right?

“By him having that year, coming to us, it worked out perfect for us. You see it right away, he's competitive. Hopefully, he can win a bunch of races.”

Andretti said he had been keeping an eye on Kirkwood for several years before the pairing in IndyCar even came to fruition.

“He showed up quite early, I think when he won his first championship in the [USF] 2000s I think it was,” Andretti said. “From then on, all eyes were on him. We followed him up through the ladder system.

"We were fortunate enough to get him in our car in Indy NXT. He went out and did what we thought he could do, won a ton of races and a championship. That's basically the history of it.”

Now with his first IndyCar win under his belt, Kirkwood also feels a weight of pressure has been lifted off of him.

“That's something that was always tough for me in my Road to Indy career,” Kirkwood said. “I'd always go a few races and struggle to get a win. My seasons would usually start off like, ‘Man, we're at a deficit here.’ Once I got my first win, we'd get some momentum and we'd start winning more races. Ultimately, I won a ton of races in the Road to Indy just because of that, just from having momentum.

“It's nice to get this one in because I feel like it's going to create momentum on my side as a driver and for the team, as well.”

Kirkwood’s win also brings him into the top five in the point standings, climbing 14 places upward. He will head to Indianapolis this week for testing for next month’s Indy 500. The NTT IndyCar Series returns to action on April 30 at Barber Motorsports Park.