No caution came, and when it was over, Kyle Kirkwood pulled out a victory that was unthinkable for about the first 75% of the race. Kirkwood had a good car, but for most of this race, Chevrolet was in control. However, a late caution for David Malukas brushing the barrier had the entire field caught a lap down to Scott Dixon, who spent much of the race outside the top ten but was the last to pit during that cycle.
This set up Dixon to lead but also be in a position to possibly stretch his fuel like he famously can. Kirkwood was in third, behind Patricio O'Ward, and with the lapped car of Nolan Siegel between Dixon and the rest of the leaders, Kirkwood was able to use Siegel as a pick on Siegel's own teammate in O'Ward. Kirkwood stepped in to second and he knew a final stop was coming. The question was whether Dixon could do something incredible.
Leaders started peeling off to get that final stop out of the way. Kirkwood came with 28 laps to go. Unexpectedly, Dixon came five laps later, forgoing the conservation run and committing to going all out. At that point, it was a matter of could the likes of Callum Ilott and Felix Rosenqvist stretch their fuel over 55 laps as they came late during the caution period for Malukas' incident, or could someone catch a timely caution and leapfrog to the lead.
That caution never came. Kirkwood was able to jump ahead of Dixon by stopping five laps early. Everyone else feel in behind Kirkwood as they made their final stops. Ilott took the lead, then Rosneqvist took the lead. Rosenqvist's team couldn't make it. Ilott's team was optimistic, but the fuel ran out on the fairy tale with three laps to go.
It played perfectly for Kirkwood, and through eight races, we still have only two winners in the 2025 season. Álex Palou's five victories have been well covered. Kirkwood won a staring contest with Palou at Long Beach. Two weeks ago at Detroit, Kirkwood had to work some moves to pass three cars or caught a timely caution to pull out a victory when he was the best car. Tonight, Kirkwood was good, but not as great as some. With how this race fell, Kirkwood took advantage of opportunities and like Palou, Kirkwood made the most out of a day when he wasn't the man to beat.
We are watching the second breakout season of Kirkwood. Two years ago, he won two races, but he wasn't a complete driver. Last year, Kirkwood was outstandingly consistent with his finishes, but he didn't have the speed to win races. This year, he has put both together. There are nine races left after this race. The championship is still a bit of a pipe dream because Palou continues to be sensational, but Kirkwood can make it a fight. No one else has stepped up to the table. At the moment, this is Kirkwood's opportunity to cement himself as one of IndyCar's best.
2. This was a night race and I don't want to be writing a midnight. We are going to cover the rest of the top ten, a few other key guys and then we can come back to the rest later in the week.
On that restart, it crossed my mind that Nolan Siegel might have cost his Arrow McLaren teammate a victory. Patricio O'Ward was thinking the same thing in his post-race interview.
With one pit stop to go, it might not have mattered. O'Ward might have remained ahead of Kirkwood if Siegel had a better restart or just got out of the way for his teammate, but this race came down to when everyone stopped and what traffic they came out in. O'Ward stopped with 22 laps to go, four laps after Kirkwood. Kirkwood might have been still in position to jump ahead in the pit cycle, but on a night when O'Ward had a victory in sight, his lapped down teammate did him no favors.
With all the issues front-runners had, this was looking to line up for O'Ward, and the one driver he likely thought was the most on his side ended up being a stumbling block on his way to finishing second.
3. Christian Rasmussen was on fire tonight! His car was not filled with fuel on his first stop and that knocked him off strategy all night. Then Louis Foster spins into the path of Josef Newgarden and it looks like Rasmussen caught a break and would not need to stop 15 laps before everyone. Nope! Rasmussen had to stop for emergency service, so instead of holding onto a top five position, he still went to the back.
But this crazy night shook into Rasmussen's favor, especially when the Malukas caution came. Rasmussen had a car that was hooked up and could make moves all over the track. This was by far his best night and he pushed O'Ward for second but had to settle for third. Third is still incredible and a right result for Rasmussen.
4. I thought Dixon was going to pull this out. He stopped with 58 laps to go. It looked like everyone was getting about 50 laps. Considering the race didn't go green until 54 laps to go, I thought Dixon could save enough to make up those few laps. Dixon didn't even try, which was likely the right strategy.
Rosenqvist and Ilott both tried and they ended up 16th and 18th. Dixon spent most of this race outside the top ten. Stopped with 23 laps to go was the right call. It didn't turn into a victory, but it was a fourth-place finish on a night when none of the Chip Ganassi Racing cars were that competitive and this turned out to be a better night for CGR than most teams.
Dixon's magic didn't end up in victory, but it did earn him a better finish than expected.
5. Santino Ferrucci was aggressive and it got him a fifth-place finish. He never caught broke into the leading pack. He led late during the pit cycle hoping for a late caution to do for him what the previous one did for Dixon. That didn't happen. The difference is Ferrucci was in the top ten for the entire night.
If nothing has bit Ferrucci yet, I don't know if it will. He bumped Colton Herta through all of turn one and two. He had a few other close calls on the pit lane, and yet he ended up fifth. He has been doing this regularly since 2019. This hasn't been luck.
6. For a brief moment, it looked like this was going to be Conor Daly's night. Daly was leading and he was daring others to beat him. Well, they beat him on pit lane and Daly fell from the lead to second to third and then out of the top five.
When it comes to oval victories in particular, the pit crew plays a greater role in winning a race. It doesn't matter that you are leading laps 154-190 when you still need to make three more pit stops. If you are going to lose at least one if not two positions each pit cycle, it is going to be very difficult to win any race. Daly and Juncos Hollinger Racing can produce a good car, but investment must be made on the pit crew, and that will cost a healthy penny.
7. Rinus VeeKay wasn't noticed all night and he finished seventh. That sounds about right for VeeKay this season. It is a good bounce back after the last two races.
8. Álex Palou looked like he was in trouble all night. He was shuffled back, bumped and banged, he even had to take evasive action as Louis Foster's car spun in front of him. Despite all the turmoil, Palou was eighth. Yeah, the championship is his. Kirkwood and O'Ward did everything right and caught every break they could ask for and Palou still finished eighth! He lost ground but it will hardly be noticed. Palou will get it back at Road America. It is good to be the king.
9. Marcus Armstrong ran well all race and scored a ninth-place result. You looked up and Armstrong was still in the top ten. It is fine after starting sixth. Meyer Shank Racing still isn't used to running this well. It is a result to build on.
10. I have no clue how Robert Shwartzman pulled out tenth. Shwartzman was never in the discussion for the top ten. His final stop came with 15 laps to go, one lap prior to Ferrucci, and it led to Shwartzman scoring his and Prema's first top ten finish. At Gateway, the place we all predicted.
Ilott had good speed this weekend and was around 15th for much of this race, but at no point did I notice Shwartzman until he was one of the last cars to stop and he ended up tenth when the checkered flag waved. He deserves it. Prema deserves it.
11. I am going to recognize all the drivers who did close to nothing in this race here to save me time: Alexander Rossi (11th), Marcus Ericsson (13th), Christian Lundgaard (14th), Kyffin Simpson (15th), Colton Herta (17th), Nolan Siegel (19th), Sting Ray Robb (20th), Jacob Abel (21st).
If for any reason you deserve more attention, it will come later this week.
12. David Malukas was 12th and led the most laps. In the same vain as Daly and JHR, Malukas lost spots in the pit lane. He was lucky he didn't get more for his "improper lane usage" after one of his pit stops.
My problem with David Malukas is he is prone to mistakes, and he made another tonight, aggressively trying to pass Kirkwood during a pit cycle and getting into the marbles. This sent him up the track and he was fortunate the brush with the wall was not worse.
At the moment, Malukas is a good driver if you want to succeed at three tracks. The problem is the IndyCar schedule is more than Gateway, Milwaukee and Iowa. The performances must step up at Detroit, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Toronto and so on. Even at the places where he thrives, he is still his own worst enemy. The scatterbrain behavior cannot continue behind the wheel of the car.
13. I am going to cover Felix Rosenqvist and Callum Ilott both right here. They both took a gamble. It looked like it was going to work. It came up short. I was surprised more cars did not stop prior to that final restart with 54 laps to go. It appears the most anyone could get was 52 laps on a tank. They both went for it and they both led late. Rosenqvist had to overcome a questionable unsafe release penalty. Ilott had a good weekend and Prema had a shot at something spectacular. Both deserve a round of applause for taking the chance.
14. This was a night from hell for Team Penske. Will Power loses a right front tire while running second. Josef Newgarden was leading and had nowhere to go when Louis Foster spun in front of him after officials questionably held the yellow. Scott McLaughlin retired with damage while running in the top ten and after spending most of the race in the top five.
Penske finished 24th (McLaughlin), 25th (Newgarden) and 27th (Power). Three cars started in the top five and all three finished in the bottom four. Brutal!
And none of the drivers did anything wrong. None of them made a mistake. Power cannot control his tires being punctured or failing. Newgarden might have won this race if the caution comes out two seconds earlier. On the broadcast, it was said to be six seconds from the time Foster hit the wall to the time the caution came out. At that point, Foster was already perpendicular to traffic and Newgarden was inches from launching over the disabled #45 Dallara.
We aren't going to have time to cover all the officiating questions from this night, but 99 times out of 100, Foster hits the wall and the caution is out before we could even fathomable thinking about another car launching over a spinning car. I don't know how the officials were caught sleeping on this one. They were quick with that trigger when Malukas hit the wall.
15. Team Penske had the worst night. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was a close second. Devlin DeFrancesco spun basically immediately. The car was repaired but he was scraping for pennies on this night and wound up 23rd, 43 laps down.
Foster spun when he was just outside the top ten. A promising night was over and unfortunately what could have just been a rookie mistake will now be sizzle reel material for years, and that wasn't Foster's fault.
Graham Rahal was slow all night. It felt like he was three laps down within the first 80 laps of this race. Rahal ended up finishing 22nd, seven laps down. He has never had any speed at this track. RLLR's oval struggles have been well-documented. Gateway is its worst by far. I do not understand how RLLR didn't give Michael Cannon everything it could to sign him because they could use him everywhere, but ovals in particular.
16. Check list for a second impressions:
Race control on cautions and penalties.
I do want to touch upon Colton Herta being chewed out in this race.
Nolan Siegel's night could use some examination.
I might mention Christian Lundgaard's penalty. Let's see how interesting that is after sleeping on it.
Let's take the temperature on Gateway's prime time debut.
17. Real quick on Gateway, for a race that had its start time pushed back about six hours only six weeks ago, the crowd was as good as you could ask for. It looked like pretty much every other IndyCar crowd it has drawn since 2017. That is a good thing. I was worried people would be scared away with a late change and a Sunday night race. It didn't turn it into a ghost town. That is a minor victory.
The race was excellent as well. As the track has aged, it has become better to race on. There are two lines at both ends of the track. We didn't see that the first four or five years. I am glad with what we have seen the last few years, especially tonight. This was a positive night.
18. At least we got the race in before the rain. That was a close one.
19. Dry off. Road America is in less than a week.
