{"id":56768,"date":"2026-03-15T16:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=56768"},"modified":"2026-03-15T16:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:42:18","slug":"kirkwood-pounces-late-wins-wild-inaugural-java-house-grand-prix-of-arlington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/kirkwood-pounces-late-wins-wild-inaugural-java-house-grand-prix-of-arlington\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirkwood pounces late, wins wild inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood (27), Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou (10) and Andretti Global driver Will Power (26) celebrate after the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

ARLINGTON, Texas \u2013 Kyle Kirkwood waited patiently all afternoon for his chance. When it came, he didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Floridian made a bold move underneath four-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou with 15 laps remaining and drove away to win the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Photo gallery: click here<\/a>.   <\/strong>Race results: click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Race winner Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood (27) answers questions from the press after the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

The 70-lap race took place on a 2.73-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit winding through Arlington\u2019s sports district around AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Driving the No. 27 JM Bullion\/Gold.com Honda for Andretti Global, Kirkwood started seventh and surged to the front on Lap 55. The victory marked his fifth career win on a road or street course and capped a dominant day for Andretti\u2019s Honda-powered lineup.<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood (27) drives during the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThat was so incredible,\u201d Kirkwood said. \u201cAll of these guys behind me gave me the tools to win this race. It was one, three and four for Andretti which is absolutely incredible. We are just so stacked here and so stoked. The car suits me and I suit the car. What an incredible day. We need a lot more like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The race\u2019s dramatic conclusion came after a late caution with three laps remaining bunched the field and set up a restart on Lap 70, giving Palou one final shot in the No. 10 DHL Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. But the anticipated sprint to the finish never happened.<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou (10) drives during the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

When Kirkwood launched cleanly from Turn 14 to begin the final lap, a collision occurred that involved Nolan Siegel and Romain Grosjean at the back of the field which brought out another caution before the leaders reached the start\/finish line. The race ended under yellow, securing Kirkwood\u2019s victory with a winning average speed of 99.086 mph.<\/p>\n

Palou finished second, earning his 59th career top-five finish and 46th podium in just 101 starts. Despite coming up just short, the reigning four-time champion praised Kirkwood\u2019s decisive move for the lead.<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou (10) answers questions from the press after the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI tried really hard,\u201d Palou said. \u201cI was pushing him like the first and second stint. I could see the 27 and the 12 were literally faster than us. I was like man it\u2019s going to be quite hard. I am happy today to get that No. 10 DHL car up there. I am happy that we got a sweep here with Honda at the first time here in Arlington. Pretty good. He (Kirkwood) gave me an awesome pass and hats off to him. He was super clean and super impressive. We\u2019ll get them in a couple of weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Power finished third in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda for Andretti Global, scoring the 143rd top-five result of his career. The veteran Australian was the only driver in the field to complete the race on a two-stop strategy.<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Andretti Global driver Will Power (26) drives during the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey asked me around lap 15 or 16 when I saw Palou and Ericsson pull off and I said no they are fine,\u201d Power said. \u201cI think I can keep going at this pace. It just wasn\u2019t the quickest way to do the race. It was good. A very good car. Great fuel mileage from Honda. Congratulations to Kyle. He was going to be hard to beat no matter what because he was so fast. He didn\u2019t get it right in qualifying but I knew in the race he would be mega. Great for Andretti. One, three and four is a big deal. We are coming, I will tell you. We have a pretty good team. That\u2019s my first full race on a road or street course completely with Honda and it was very user friendly and easy to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Andretti Global driver Marcus Ericsson (28) drives during the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

Pole sitter Marcus Ericsson led the field to green in the No. 28 InPwr Honda for Andretti Global and paced 15 laps before finishing fourth. The pole marked Ericsson\u2019s first in 117 INDYCAR starts.<\/p>\n

Pato O\u2019Ward rounded out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, earning the 51st top-five finish of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was all we had, I think,\u201d O\u2019Ward said. \u201cWe executed really well in qualifying but this Andretti camp is freaking strong on these street courses. We got a lot of work to do if we want to start winning races. It\u2019s an outright race against them. But all in all we are going to be stronger some weekends and they are going to be stronger on others. This just so happens to be one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mar 15, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Team Penske driver David Malukas (12) drives in front of Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden (2) during the inaugural 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

The race featured eight lead changes among five drivers and 151 on-track passes. Kirkwood, Palou and Power each led 16 laps during the event, while Andretti Global drivers controlled much of the race, with their Hondas finishing first, third and fourth and leading a combined 47 of the 70 laps.<\/p>\n

David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi and Marcus Armstrong completed the top 10. Armstrong moved into the top 10 after Felix Rosenqvist, who had finished sixth on track, was penalized by INDYCAR for jumping a late restart and dropped to 21st in the final order.<\/p>\n

With the victory, Kirkwood moves into the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points lead. Palou trails by 24 points, followed by O\u2019Ward, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, with just 42 points separating the top five drivers after three races.<\/p>\n

The win also continued the parity early in the 2026 season. Through three races, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES now has three different winners \u2014 Palou at St. Petersburg, Josef Newgarden at Phoenix and Kirkwood in Arlington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio ARLINGTON, Texas \u2013 Kyle Kirkwood waited patiently all afternoon for his chance. When it came, he didn\u2019t hesitate. The 27-year-old Floridian made a bold move underneath four-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou with 15 laps remaining and drove away to win the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,1144,1002,672],"class_list":["post-56768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-indycar","tag-java-house-grand-prix-of-arlington","tag-kyle-kirkwood","tag-ntt-indycar-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AM1I1566a-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eLC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56768"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56860,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56768\/revisions\/56860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}