Kyle Kirkwood says IndyCar title fight “not done” after Detroit runner-up finish

Kirkwood moved back to second in the standings after chasing Alex Palou in Detroit, but says the 62-point gap can still be closed

Kyle Kirkwood was left settling for second after a run of cautions hindered a chance at victory in Sunday’s chaotic IndyCar Series round on the streets of Detroit.

The final stint saw the Florida native equipped with a fresh set of the softer alternate tires, opposite of race leader Alex Palou. With a sense of urgency to take advantage of maximum grip on the compound, Kirkwood, running second, managed to erase a 2s gap in roughly three laps before a caution came on Lap 66 of 100.

It was rinse and repeat over the next several laps, with two more cautions coming on Lap 73 and 80, respectively. Each time, Palou executed the restarts flawlessly with his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, including the push to the end that began with 18 laps to go, with each lap further tipping away Kirkwood’s tire advantage.

Kirkwood, who started sixth in the #27 Andretti Global Honda, was left finishing 3.0584s behind Palou, the reigning and four-time series champion, making it his third podium and sixth top five finish in eight races this season.

“Yeah, it was a good race,” said Kirkwood, 27. “I wish we had another opportunity or two to be able to try and pass Palou there. I think the yellows kind of hindered that.

“Yeah, overall good day. You can't be very upset with starting sixth and finishing second. We did all the right things. Pit stops were great, strategy was great. I kind of made the decision to run primes when we did, which I think was probably the right call in hindsight. I don't know what we could have done better. All the stones were left unturned.”

Additionally, the result elevated Kirkwood back up to second in the standings, 62 points behind Palou (327-265).

The IndyCar championship heads into next Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway, where Kirkwood is the defending race winner.

Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Lumen via Getty Images

Considering the deficit to Palou, though, does Kirkwood feel it’s too big of a gap to make up without a run of bad luck to his title rival?

“Not really,” Kirkwood said. “Think about how much he's closed in on me or how fast he closed in on me in a few races. If we have the run that he's had in the middle part of the year here, it would be very possible for us to catch up. If we have a good weekend next weekend -- that was a track like Ganassi struggled at in recent years. Maybe they get better, I don't know. But there's a lot of good races on our schedule that I still think we can catch up.

“It's not done and lost by any means. He was about 50 points behind us I think at one point. It's very possible still.

“What are we, eight through, 10 to go? There's a crazy amount of races left.”