IndyCar: Kirkwood secures victory after late red flag stop in Nashville

Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood benefitted from cautions, red flags and a winning strategy to secure his second Indy Car victory of the season in Nashville. 

How the race unfolded…

There was drama straight away for Will Power just before the command was given by the grand marshal, Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records. The defending IndyCar champion seemed to lose his kit and was seen in a scramble to obtain it. Fortunately, Power was able to get his lost earbuds and quickly mounted into his Dallara IndyCar to join the rest of the field out on track.

The race attempted to get underway after two laps but race control abandoned the start as they were not happy with the group’s first attempt to run in formation. It was finally green-flagged a lap later to get the race underway. 

On the start, it was a fairly well-behaved start from the field as they filtered through the opening corners without issue. However, it wasn’t long before the drivers with the alternate Firestone tyres pitted as Rinus Veekay was the first to pit for fresh primary Firestone’s. 

The first caution was flown on lap 13 as David Malukas was seen stopped out on track with a mechanical failure. The Dale Coyne Racing driver’s rear wing fell off the rear of his IndyCar machinery and the American driver quickly pulled off the circuit at the ninth corner, after the bridge.

Only Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, Meyer Shank Racing’s Linus Lundqvist and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Jack Harvey pitted from the race under caution. 

On the restart, two laps later, McLaughlin remained alert to maintain the race lead ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in second. However, Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta had a poor restart and fell back from third to sixth – behind Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean, Kyle Kirkwood and Power, respectively.

The race quickly became a race of strategy as the race leaders chopped and changed throughout the course of the grand prix as McLaughlin, Grosjean, Kirkwood and Palou took their turns in the lead.

On lap 49, Grosjean made a mistake in turn nine after the Frenchman endured a number of laps under pressure by McLaughlin as the two battled for second. The mistake opened the door for McLaughlin to move past Grosjean on the exit of turn nine to take second. Kirkwood remained in the lead after the series of pit stops. 

However, this changed once more as the final stops were conducted. McLaughlin led as Kirkwood pitted then Grosjean led as the #3 Andretti peeled into the pit lane. Due to slow lap times, after his mistake, Grosjean pitted from the race lead and fell down to eighth place, on the alternate tyres. 

The race was returned to a full course yellow after Lundqvist understeered into the barrier on the exit of the final corner. This brought out the caution to allow track marshals to remove the Meyer Shank car. Harvey also had his own incident at turn six which dislodged his front wing from his car but the Rahal driver was able to bring his car back to the pit lane for repairs. 

When the restart commenced, there was another caution as three cars piled into each other into the final corner which consisted of Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren), Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Racing) and Benjamin Pedersen (A.J. Foyt Enterprises). This crash resulted in a red flag with only five laps to go. 

Once the race restarted, Kirkwood managed to edge out his lead over McLaughlin up to a second and a half. Despite his late charge, McLaughlin could not find room to make a pass on Kirkwood for the lead as the latter took the chequered flag to win. 

Aided by the red flag, the championship leader, Palou was able to retain his third-place finish at the final restart.

That’s all for the article; IndyCar: Kirkwood secures victory after late red flag stop in Nashville!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.