Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood yearning for wins after unsatisfying Top 5 finish at St. Petersburg

Andretti drivers had a mediocre outing at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, but Kyle Kirkwood bagged in another top-five finish in his stint with the Indianapolis-based team. Despite the positive result, the 26-year-old was unsatisfied and asserted how he wanted to get back to winning ways.

After a pitstop issue for Colton Herta early in the race, the 24-year-old fell out of contention for the top spots. This left his teammates Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson to take the fight to the front.

While both drivers started outside of the top five, they began making their way to the front and registered a 5-6 finish. Meanwhile, Herta finished the race almost a minute down from lead, in 16th.

Kyle Kirkwood appeared as the lead driver, and when asked about the impressive result, the Andretti Global driver revealed that every good result makes him yearn more for the glorious victory, and said:

"I'm happy with it. It's a good finish for me, I have been working to get top fives, but every top five that I get now is making me more eager to win. So, it's not the best feeling in the world, but it's a better feeling that I have come out of this event with so we will take that as a positive. But at the same time, racing here, you are never satisfied unless you are winning."

The Andretti Global trio started on the alternate tires and switched over to the primary set after the lap 1 caution.

---

Kyle Kirkwood reveals that he had faith in Andretti's strategy gamble

AUTO: MAY 20 INDYCAR Series The 107th Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

The alternate tires provided immense grip but came with a huge cost of increased degradation. Moreover, 11 drivers started on the primary tires, thinking about a long run plan, but Kyle Kirkwood decided to gamble on an early caution.

The gamble paid off as Will Power collided with Nolan Seigel on the opening lap, which led to a brief caution period. Reflecting on the choice to start on the green-walled alternate tires, Kyle Kirkwood said:

"I knew exactly as soon as that first yellow came out that we are on the right strategy, and it didn't matter what any other strategy was going on. Obviously, Scott [McLaughlin] had the benefit of being out front in the beginning... so that got him back in the realm. And he got us on th least stop, and that was just the nature [of the strategy]."

Kirkwood last won a race at the Nashville street circuit in 2023. He has been on a 22-race winless streak and would like to change this statistic at the next race in Thermal Club on March 23.