Kyle Kirkwood celebrates after winning the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday. Photo by Joe Skibinski

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood says a tight-and-bumpy street-course like Downtown Detroit is a “very hard drive” in an open-wheel car.

Kyle Kirkwood – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley

“That’s the nature of street-courses,” Kirkwood said after posting his second NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season Sunday afternoon. “The track is very difficult to drive. It’s obviously very bumpy. It brings out the worst in you, and it brought out the worst in me (Saturday) in qualifying. It’s pretty rare for me to make mistakes and hit the wall anywhere else other than street-courses.

“Yeah, that was a tough one. But I actually appreciate it in that sense. It brings out…it allows you to capitalize when you take more risk or it’s a tougher track to drive, and there’s a lot more reward for the risk that you take.”

Kyle Kirkwood – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Kirkwood survived a damaged left front wing to pull away on a late restart and win the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. It was Kirkwood’s first win in the shadow of General Motors’ Renaissance Center and his fourth career series victory. Kirkwood also won the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13 _ another temporary street-circuit. Seven races into the season, Kirkwood is the only driver not named Alex Palou to win an event in 2025.

“Massive. I mean, huge day in general for Andretti Global and the No. 27 car,” said Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. “This is an exclamation point on everything that we’ve done. Andretti is phenomenal at street-courses and it’s so good to capitalize on it. I felt pretty robbed of a couple wins here the past couple years where I felt like we definitely should have won and we had pace on everyone, and finally this year we were able to get it done, not from lack of challenge, either.

Colton Herta, Santino Ferrucci and Kyle Kirkwood – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

“I had to pass some cars out there. I found myself in the fourth, fifth position, I think, a couple times and had to claw my way back, so fortunately we had pace to do so and fortunately I made it stick. It was some low-percentage moves, I’m not going to lie, that I made. But you have to at street-courses. Any move you make is low-percentage, so fortunately they stuck, and we were able to come home with the win.”

Kirkwood, who started third in the 27-car field, crossed the finish line 3.5931-seconds ahead of the No. 14 Sexton Properties/A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Santino Ferrucci. It was a career-best finish for Ferrucci and the best road- or street-course result for the team owned by legendary four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt Jr. since Takuma Sato of Japan also finished second in 2015 at this event when it took place on Belle Isle.

Colton Herta – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Aaron Skillman

Pole-sitter Colton Herta finished a season-best third in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda as Andretti Global landed two drivers on the podium for the first time since Herta and Kirkwood went 1-2, respectively, last July on the Streets of Toronto.

For the record, the Detroit podium produced a rare, all-American photo. “Yeah. I mean, we have one of the most diverse series in the world, I think, and it’s good to have the U.S. back on top,” Kirkwood said. “I’m not going to lie _ that’s pretty cool, actually. I’m stoked with that.

“Hats off to Santino. That was crazy. They played their cards right. They got up-front. They ultimately didn’t have the pace, but they were able to keep themselves (error-free). I respect him a lot for what they did. But yeah, all three young guys and Americans _ pretty cool stuff.”

Will Power – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley

Two-time series champion Will Power of Australia finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, while Kyffin Simpson of the Cayman Islands completed the top-five with a career-best finish in the No. 8 Ridgeline Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

“Epic pit stops. Epic strategy. We were definitely the fastest,” said Kirkwood, a 26-year-old native and resident of Jupiter, Fla. “Yeah, the (damaged) front wing, I clipped the back of Kyffin. I don’t know if it was the bumps that made him slightly move over. I was too close to him, though, to be honest. I was just popping a little bit too tight to him and either the bumps pushed me into him or him into me. I’m not sure exactly what happened. It wasn’t his fault at all.

“But yeah, broke the front main plane or the left front main plane. It really didn’t affect the car at all, though. I think our performance was still really good. I might have picked up a little bit of understeer from it and probably lost some downforce, but it wasn’t really enough to affect the car.”

The 100-lap/170-mile race on the notoriously nasty 1.645-mile/nine-turn circuit came down to strategy and survival.

Kyle Kirkwood – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

The field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, including Andretti aces Herta and Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.

That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.

Kirkwood first drove to the front on Lap 39 when native New Zealander Scott Dixon _defending event-winner and six-time series champ who started on the primary tire _ made his first pit stop in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Kirkwood stayed in the lead until the end of Lap 50, when he made his second stop.

Callum Ilott – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Aaron Skillman

The race’s complexion changed on Lap 67 when Callum Ilott of Great Britain crashed into the barrier in Turn 1 in the No. 90 Prema Racing Chevrolet.

Ferrucci and Simpson were among the drivers who started on primary tires and had just pitted for the third time at the end of Lap 65. Kirkwood, Power, Herta, championship leader Palou and No. 2 qualifier David Malukas of A.J. Foyt Racing all pitted under caution at the end of Lap 70, dropping them down the field while Ferrucci assumed the lead after starting 21st.

David Malukas – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley

The restart at the end of Lap 72 also turned the race _ and perhaps the championship fight _ on its head when Palou’s No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda made hard contact with the barrier in Turn 1 after being tapped in the rear by the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of Malukas, who received a penalty for avoidable contact.

“I just screwed-up, honestly,” said Malukas, one week after finishing a revised second in the 109^th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. “Really just made a big mistake, but we recovered for P14. So sorry to Clarience Technologies, A.J. Foyt, everybody on the team, and obviously to the No. 10 crew. We’ll bounce back.”

Alex Palou – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Chris Owens

Palou was done, credited with 25^th-place, his first result outside of the top-three this season and worst since he finished 27th in 2022 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Palou, the three-time/reigning series champion from Spain, entered the race with five victories in six starts this season, including the Indy 500 last Sunday. Palou’s early exit trimmed his point-lead to 90 over second-place Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren.

On the restart at the end of Lap 76, Kirkwood started fourth but dove under native New Zealander Marcus Armstrong in the No. 66 SiriusXM/Root Insurance Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian in Turn 3 for third on Lap 77. One lap later, Kirkwood passed Simpson for second on the back straightaway, but he slightly misjudged the maneuver, with his left front wing clipping the right rear wheel of Simpson’s car and damaging the wing.

Santino Ferrucci – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Aaron Skillman

On Lap 79, Kirkwood drove under Ferrucci in his favorite passing spot _ Turn 3 at the end of the back straight _ for a lead he would not relinquish.

Still, the last 21 laps were drama-filled. On Lap 84, a frightening crash involving Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian and rookie Louis Foster of Great Britain in the No. 45 Mi-Jack Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing triggered the last of five caution periods and a red flag for barrier repair that lasted 12 minutes, 25 seconds.

“The car was flawless, and on restarts, man, the car just came alive,” Kirkwood said. “I was actually super-comfortable after that red flag came out. I was like, ‘This is going to work out in our favor here.’^”

Kirkwood got a superb jump on the restart at the end of Lap 89 and was never threatened. Ferrucci dove under Power in Turn 3 on Lap 91 and then parried Herta’s attempts to pass for second numerous times over the last eight laps.

Santino Ferrucci – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Paul Hurley

“First-off _ huge, huge shout-out to this whole team,” said Ferrucci, the Dallas resident who turned 26 on Saturday amid a disappointing qualifying effort. “We were struggling in qualifying. I struggled and I made a lot of mistakes. I was hard on myself (Saturday) because it was all on me. Pit stops (Sunday) were phenomenal. The stand was amazing with perfect strategy.

“I just got lucky with that yellow and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a red flag. I was really struggling. I don’t know what I did with the tires, but I couldn’t get them to come back to life (before the red flag). Kyle was so fast today. Congratulations to him and his team. I’m just happy to bring Chevy to the podium. Foyt back on the podium on the Streets of Detroit!”

Team President Larry Foyt accepted congratulations from father “Super-Tex” over the phone, and added, “I really thought we had a shot at it, but I think the tires were just a little overheated and Kyle was able to get him. Santino did a great job on the restart to get back to second. This racing is so tough, and starting back from where we were, the guys did an amazing job in the pits. We caught a yellow at the right time, which is what you need to cycle to the front. And it worked out.

“So, I think we’re really hitting a groove. Things are coming together. David was fast all weekend. I hate that he got the penalty in the race because he would have been right up there. But just really happy for Santino and the whole team because this was a whole team effort.”

Pato O’Ward – Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Chris Owens

Meanwhile, O’Ward offered a blunt assessment of his seventh-place finish in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. “This was maybe the worst performance weekend I’ve probably had in the NTT IndyCar Series,” said O’Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “We legit qualified 18th just on pure pace. We’ve had other times where we’ve been back there, but it’s always been because there was an issue or I made a mistake. This one, that’s where we deserved to be.

“It’s been a very frustrating weekend and it’s been very challenging here. I’m glad we had a good points weekend, and we can move on from this place.”

Team Principal Tony Kanaan added, “At the end of the day, you’re rolling the dice with the strategy at this place. I think Pato drove a good race and he ended up benefitting from their strategy call. There’s really not a lot else to say, other than we gained some points in the championship to Palou.”

The race featured 261 on-track passes, a record for this downtown circuit and second-highest total in the history of the event, including races on Belle Isle.

Series teams can look forward to a well-deserved weekend off before heading to Madison, Ill., just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race on Sunday, June 15, will be broadcast by FOX Sports in primetime starting at 8 p.m. (EDT).

Dennis Hauger – INDY NXT By Firestone Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Aaron Skillman

Rookie sensation Dennis Hauger quickly figured out the best way to avoid potential-and-real chaos Sunday in the INDY NXT by Firestone Detroit Grand Prix _ just stay out-front.

Pole-sitter Hauger led all 45 laps on the Streets of Downtown Motown in the No. 28 Rental Group car for his fourth victory in five races this season in INDYCAR’s developmental series. Hauger held off the No. 76 HMD Motorsports car of 2024 series Rookie of the Year Caio Collet of Brazil by 1.0460-seconds in a one-lap dash for the checkered flag after a restart at the end of Lap 44.

SEE: Race Results

“The tires, they cool down really quickly, so that last lap was sketchy,” said Hauger, a 22-year-old native of Norway. “I think I heated up the tires nicely and we got a good gap after the back straight. Super- happy with that. We kept it clean, and we got a good win today.”

Dennis Hauger – INDY NXT By Firestone Detroit Grand Prix – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Hauger expanded his series lead to 38 points over fellow-rookie teammate Lochie Hughes. The 23-year-old Australian is the only other driver to win a race this season.

Rookie Juan Manuel Correa, who is of American-Ecuadorian descent, earned his career-best finish of third in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports car. His previous best result was 14th in the second race of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course doubleheader last month.

Series veteran Josh Pierson completed a solid day for HMD Motorsports, which fielded the cars that finished second, third and fourth, with a fourth-place result in the team’s No. 16 machine. Hughes rallied from a late pit stop due to a damaged front wing to complete the top-five in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car.

Only six of 20 entries finished on the lead-lap, as the tight confines of the 1.645-mile/nine-turn temporary street-circuit induced chaos nearly from the green flag. Hauger and Hughes raced side-by-side into the first turn, with Hauger clinging to P1. In Turn 4 on the same lap, the No. 99 Abel/Force Indy car of Myles Rowe was sent into a spin due to rear contact from the No. 17 car of teammate Callum Hedge of New Zealand.

That incident spawned a caution period due to a bottleneck that blocked the track and led to an accordion effect of collisions, with nine cars involved and many sustaining damage.

Hauger held steady on the restart on Lap 3 and gradually eased away from Hughes and Andretti Global teammate Salvador de Alba of Mexico in the No. 27 Grupo Indi machine. De Alba passed Hughes for second on Lap 5 and stayed within four-tenths of a second of Hauger by Lap 10.

But Hauger expanded his lead to 1.5-seconds by Lap 19 as de Alba, Hughes, Collet and Correa dueled _ often side-by-side _ for second through fifth. There was some contact, and the front wings on the cars of Hughes and de Alba were damaged. The wing damage, which also included rubbing a deep groove into his right front Firestone Firehawk tire, forced de Alba to pit from second on Lap 24. Hauger had all but checked-out by then, ahead by 6.5-seconds.

Hughes’ front-wing damage compromised his car’s performance, and Collet passed him for second on Lap 38. Hughes was forced to pit for a front wing change on Lap 39 from third place.

It looked like Hauger was going to canter to the checkered flag, as his lead had reached double digits by Lap 40. But Jordan Missig spun exiting Turn 2 on Lap 41 in the No. 48 Abel Motorsports car, triggering the second and final caution of the race and erasing Hauger’s comfortable lead.

The field lined up for a final restart and one-lap shootout at the end of Lap 44, but Hauger orchestrated a jump at the green and never was threatened by either Collet or Correa.

The series’ next race is Sunday, June 15, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., outside St. Louis. It’s the first of four INDY NXT oval races this season.

Results of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.645-mile/nine-turn Streets of Downtown Motown, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (3) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
   2. (21) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   3. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
   4. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   5. (19) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 100, Running
   6. (9) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
   7. (18) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   8. (4) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   9. (24) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   10. (15) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   11. (16) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
   12. (7) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   13. (12) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
   14. (2) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   15. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   16. (22) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   17. (25) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
   18. (20) Jacob Abel, Honda, 100, Running
   19. (27) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 98, Running
   20. (11) Graham Rahal, Honda, 97, Running
   21. (14) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 83, Contact
   22. (13) Louis Foster, Honda, 83, Contact
   23. (23) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 82, Mechanical
   24. (10) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 80, Mechanical
   25. (5) Alex Palou, Honda, 72, Contact
   26. (17) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 66, Contact
   27. (6) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 6, Mechanical

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 82.022 mph
Time of race: 02:00:20.0264
Margin of victory: 3.5931-seconds
Cautions: 5 for 19 laps
Lead changes: 12 among 10 drivers

Lap Leaders
Herta, Colton 1 – 11
McLaughlin, Scott 12 – 14
Rasmussen, Christian 15 – 35
Foster, Louis 36
Dixon, Scott 37 – 38
Kirkwood, Kyle 39 – 49
O’Ward, Pato 50 – 52
Rosenqvist, Felix 53 – 54
Kirkwood, Kyle 55 – 69
Power, Will 70
Ferrucci, Santino 71 – 78
Kirkwood, Kyle 79 – 100

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 311; 2, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 221; 3, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 209; 4, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 205; 5, Will Power, Team Penske, 175; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 175; 7, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 173; 8, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 164; 9, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 157; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 144;

11, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 131; 12, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 126; 13, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 126; 14, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 124; 15, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 115; 16, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 110; 17, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 102; 18, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 97; 19, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 96; 20, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 96;

21, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 93; 22, Robert Shwartzman, Prema Racing, 79; 23, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 78; 24, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 76; 25, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 71; 26, Callum Ilott, Prema Racing, 50; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 40; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;

31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.

FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif.  (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (FOX, 8 p.m.)

Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (FOX, 1:30 p.m.)

Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (FOX, 1 p.m.)

Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)

Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 1 p.m.)

Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, noon)

Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)

Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)

NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.