IndyCar Nashville: Kirkwood wins by 0.7s after late red flag

Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood took his second IndyCar victory of the season on the streets of Nashville as series leader Alex Palou extended his advantage over Josef Newgarden with third.

Kirkwood finished 0.7633s ahead of Team Penske’s polewinner Scott McLaughlin and series dominator Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing). The race was red-flagged in the closing stages for a multi-car pileup, but Kirkwood kept his cool for his second win of the season after breaking his duck at Long Beach.

Following an aborted start, McLaughlin led the field to green from Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport), as an aggressive David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing) briefly grabbed fourth from a tentative Palou. Romain Grosjean (Andretti) was the leading car that started on the harder primary tyre in sixth.

Kirkwood, who started eighth, made a bold move on fellow primary starter Will Power (Penske) for seventh, while Penske’s Newgarden – who also started on the primary – dropped back to 10^th behind Toronto winner Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

McLaughlin pulled 2.7s clear of O’Ward, as Herta fell back into the clutches of Palou. After also being passed by Grosjean and Kirkwood, Malukas pitted for primaries on lap 12 but caused the race’s first yellow a lap later when his rear wing collapsed on the run to Turn 4, following a sudden release of heat from underneath the engine cover.

Surprisingly, Palou was the only one of the leaders to pit under yellow, rejoining 22^nd, but didn’t get as much fuel in the tank as the team had planned.

The race went green again on lap 16, with O’Ward getting into the back of McLaughlin in a messy restart in which Herta got shuffled wide into the wall. Herta tumbled to sixth, having been hit by Kirkwood and Power, then pitted for new primaries, reporting damage over the radio. He rejoined in 25^th.

McLaughlin pulled clear at the front by 4s, as O’Ward fought a rearguard action with Grosjean and Kirkwood on his tail. Power ran fifth, ahead of early pitter Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing).

Now struggling hugely with his tyres, O’Ward ran wide at Turn 9, allowing Grosjean and then Kirkwood past. Power and VeeKay also passed the Mexican before he pitted on lap 24.

Source: Autosport