Kyle Kirkwood Crowned First Victor of the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington
ARLINGTON – Kyle Kirkwood becomes the third new winner in the triple header that opened up the 2026 IndyCar season.
Despite an error made in qualifying yesterday and a couple of mistakes today made in the pit lane, the driver of the No. 27 JM Bullion Andretti Global machine managed to drive away as the first-ever winner of the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
“I made mistakes yesterday, you know? We had the pace [today] to overcome it,” Kirkwood said of the issues with the No. 27 and this achievement. “We need to look back and see exactly what is happening on the rear right. This was an issue with the tire coming off and going on. I don’t know if the hub was messed up or what it might have been. I suspect there was an issue on the car.
We’ve been one of the fastest on pit lane. I think we were one of the fastest in Phoenix. I have a lot of confidence in [my team]. It was not a good day on pit lane. We’ll have it fixed in the next weeks.”
With the new regulations that each team must run two sets of the red, alternate tires on street courses, there was a more pressing need to optimize pit strategy. You could either run that softer tire for as long as the quickly degrading rubber would allow, or you could pit quickly to satisfy the rule and switch to the more durable black, primary tire.
For the No. 27, the team opted to start on the less durable alternate tires, which allowed them to push at the end on the harder tire.
To take the lead of the race, Kirkwood had to overtake four-time IndyCar Champion, Alex Palou, on the inside of turn 12.
The GUTSY pass that sealed the deal 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/3wGruH4sMR
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) March 15, 2026
“He just passed me incredibly. It was a very awesome overtake. Should have obviously defended a little bit better,” said Palou after the race. “I defended in turn 10. They were a little bit more trimmed than us. We knew that. They were catching us a lot on the straights. That was a decision we took. That’s the best we knew.
Then, out of turn 12, I went on the OT, on the hybrid as well. He was very close. I didn’t know if I had to defend or not. He just lunged. It was a clean pass.”
Both the overtaken Palou and Kirkwood’s Andretti Global teammate, Will Power, nearly had the chance to overtake for the win as a late-stage caution turned into a single-lap shootout for the victory.
“I thought it was good to try and get a green start again,” said Palou. “I was going to try it. Honestly, I don’t think I had the pace to try and go for Kyle. I was more worried about the 26 than the 27.”
“I was excited about the restart,” Power, who finished third, agreed. “I definitely wasn’t going to do anything risky. I was going to really try to finish where I was. Obviously, if Alex made a mistake or something, or Alex and Kirkwood got into it, I would have been very happy.”
Kirkwood, as the race leader at the time, had a different opinion from his other podium mates.
“I thought we weren’t going to do that, quite honestly, after the 500 a few years ago,” Kirkwood said. “I mean, I get it. Their first and foremost thing is to get a green-flag finish. Whatever it might take to get that done, I get it. Of course, when you see a five-and-a-half-second lead that you stretched and worked very hard to stretch go down to zero for one lap, it can get very frustrating inside the car.”
The race on the streets of Arlington concluded the three-race season opener, and IndyCar racing will resume on the first road course of the season. The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix will air live on FOX on Sunday, March 29th at 1:00 PM ET.