Kyle Kirkwood

The Jupiter, Florida-born Kyle Kirkwood made his debut in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2022 with A.J. Foyt Racing, and was regarded as one of the greatest talents American motorsport had produced in recent years. Ahead of his debut in the top open-wheel class in the United States, Kirkwood had already secured an impressive 58 wins, spread across multiple racing categories since 2015. He had convincingly won the title in every step on the road to IndyCar.

Dominant start in U.S. F2000 and Pro Mazda

The American began his journey towards the fastest cars in America in 2018 in the U.S. F2000 National Championship, where Kirkwood dominantly claimed the championship with twelve wins out of fourteen races. A year later, the American had to work a bit harder in the Pro Mazda Championship, but the talent once again made a strong impression by securing the title with nine wins out of sixteen races.

Challenges due to the pandemic in 2020

In 2020, Kirkwood was set to compete in the Indy Lights Championship, the final step before the NTT IndyCar Series, but just before the season started, those plans were derailed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the cancellation of the entire Indy Lights season. However, that year, Kyle Kirkwood did participate in two races for Vasser Sullivan in the GTD class within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Additionally, he raced four times for Forty7 Motorsports in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, where Kirkwood secured one race win.

Success in Indy Lights and IndyCar debut

In 2021, the talented driver competed in the Indy Lights Championship for Andretti Autosport. Kirkwood won half of the races on the schedule, securing the Road to Indy title with conviction. Multiple IndyCar teams were already keeping an eye on the young talent before Kyle Kirkwood officially claimed the title, but in the end, it was the legendary A.J. Foyt team that signed Kirkwood for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season. That season, Kirkwood occasionally showed a lot of speed but also crashed too frequently.

Move to Andretti Autosport in 2023

Despite a challenging debut season, Andretti Autosport saw enough potential to bring him on board for 2023. That year, Kirkwood claimed his first win in just his third race (Long Beach), followed by a second victory in Nashville. However, due to a lack of consistency, he finished eleventh in the championship standings.

For 2024, Kirkwood set a goal to perform more consistently, and he fully succeeded in that. The Jupiter, Florida native may not have won any races that year, but he did finish in the top ten in fourteen out of seventeen races. This allowed him to improve his championship result compared to his first year with Andretti Global, finishing seventh overall.