Analysis - Can KKirkwoodRacing become America's next truly great IndyCar driver? FollowAndretti MichaelAndretti AutoNation
It’s a heck of a burden to lay on a 24-year-old who’s just achieved his first ever IndyCar win. But in Kyle Kirkwood, the signs of latent greatness are there. David Malsher-Lopez reports.These days, team owner Michael Andretti is far more comfortable sitting in front of the media than he ever was as a driver, but still, it’s not his favorite activity. So it was a pleasant surprise to see him twice visit the Long Beach media center last weekend.
For those of us who believed in this kid who scored 31 wins from 50 races on the Road To Indy, plus 26 from 61 races across F1600, F4 US and Formula Regional Americas – a winning percentage across all junior formulas of 62 percent – it was a nervous period.
Kirkwood himself credited his latest strategist, Bryan Herta – who switched over from son Colton’s car at Texas – for reminding him how to keep his cool. You just know that Kirkwood took onboard lessons learned while trying to figure out a way to depose Newgarden from the lead at Long Beach.And after stating he also benefited from trailing the “so smart” Newgarden, learning how to drive defensively without using up tires and push-to-pass boost, Kirkwood went on to admit that Herta had been right: out in the lead was where he was most comfortable.
Milless’s next encounter with Kirkwood was when he rejoined the team after his rookie season with Foyt. Swiftly, he was impressed the 24-year-old from Jupiter, FL.Motorsport Images “Honestly, it’s hard to tell,” says Milless. “With 27 cars out there on a street course, it’s hard to get clear laps in practice. You look at your rolling lap times and your theoreticals, and we were always in the top three and top four. I feel we had a little time on our teammates in practice, so as long as he tied all his best sectors together, I think he’d have been right there.”
Before he arrived at Andretti in 2017, Milless was race engineer for a young Newgarden at Ed Carpenter Racing, and he comments that, “Kyle is more mature than Josef was at this stage. I’d say it took Josef three years to really be ready to start winning. Obviously now Josef’s great: he’s a rockstar.”“Kyle makes his lap time in the slower speed corners,” comes the reply. “He’s really good on the brakes, mid-corner and gets out pretty early.
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