Kyle Kirkwood won his second career IndyCar Series race — and second this season — by holding off polesitter Scott McLaughlin on Sunday to capture the Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.
Kirkwood, who started eighth, battled McLaughlin after a three-car crash on Lap 75 and a restart on Lap 77 of the 80-lap race to win in his Honda by 0.7633 of a second.
Driving for Andretti Autosport, Kirkwood also won another street-circuit event at Long Beach, Calif., in April. The native of Jupiter, Fla., is the first American to win the Nashville race, which was run on a temporary, 11-turn, 2.1-mile street course.
“I’ve got to give up to the 27 crew, AutoNation, Andretti, Honda,” Kirkwood said. “They played everything in my favor, to be honest. They gave me all the tools I needed. They cycled me to the front on strategy, and we just made really smart decisions and hit all of our marks. Just a solid day.”
McLaughlin, in a Team Penske Chevrolet, was second, followed by series leader Alex Palou, who expanded his points lead to 84 on fourth-place Josef Newgarden with four races left on the schedule.
A Nashville resident, Newgarden had his best career finish in the race driving a Team Penske Chevrolet. He was sixth in 2022 and 10th in 2021.
Scott Dixon, who won the race in 2022 and is a six-time series champion, finished fifth in a Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
The 80-lap race lasted about two hours and featured nine lead changes and eight caution laps.
Kirkwood took his first lead on Lap 28 while passing Romain Grosjean, and did the same to leader Palou on Lap 45. Kirkwood grabbed the lead from Will Power on Lap 54 and stayed in front the rest of the way for a race-high total of 34 laps led.
McLaughlin led for 25 laps, Palou for 12, Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson for four apiece and Power one.
The IndyCar Series continues Saturday with the Gallagher Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
–Field Level Media
