ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) \u2014 Kyle Kirkwood keeps taking it to the streets in IndyCar, and this time he won a new race to take over the series lead.<\/p>\n
Kirkwood made an aggressive pass below four-time series champion Alex Palou with 15 laps to go, stayed in front the rest of the way and took the checkered flag for the Grand Prix of Arlington<\/a> under caution Sunday. It was his sixth career win, the fifth on a street course.<\/p>\n On a day when Andretti Global had some pit issues, including a long stop for Kirkwood, all three of its Hondas finished in the top four while combining to lead 47 of the race’s 70 laps. Will Power was third for a podium finish while Marcus Ericsson, who started on the pole for the first time in his 171 series starts, led 15 laps and was fourth.<\/p>\n The winning pass<\/a> by Kirkwood, a 27-year-old from Jupiter, Florida, came on the last of 14 turns on the temporary 2.73-mile circuit that ran between the home stadiums of the NFL\u2019s Dallas Cowboys and Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n Palou, who finished second, described the pass by Kirkwood as awesome.<\/p>\n While matching Kirkwood and Power for a race-high 16 laps led, Palou wasn’t able to regain the series points lead. The three-time defending champion had been on top of the IndyCar standings since June 2024 before not finishing in Phoenix<\/a> last weekend after early contact. But he did move up from fifth to second behind new leader Kirkwood.<\/p>\n After making up a more than five-second deficit to take the lead, Kirkwood was in front by more than five seconds until two late cautions tightened up the field.<\/p>\n A final sprint for the checkered flag never materialized because of a collision in the back of the field on the restart as Kirkwood and Palou were beginning the final lap. That crash in the tight 14th turn brought out a full-course caution, and safety crews were still on the track when they got back around nearly two minutes later to cross the finish line.<\/p>\n