Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood flat-out vetoes another IndyCar race at Thermal Club

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood has bluntly disapproved of IndyCar retaining the Thermal Club race on the calendar in 2026. The inaugural event on March 23 witnessed high tire degradation in the scorching California desert heat, forcing drivers to race considerably slower than usual. Alex Palou won his second consecutive race in 2025.

Conditions at the luxurious private track also varied substantially. The temperatures during the 65-lap race were over 30 degrees higher than what drivers experienced in the morning warmup or the practice and qualifying session on Saturday.

After the race, Kirkwood touched upon all these aspects, saying (via Frontstretch on YouTube):

"To be honest, because of how much deg and how slow the pace was because of the heat, it wasn't that physical. It was kind of light, greasy. It was just the heat that really did anything, to be honest. Anytime it's 90 (degrees) ambient, you know it's going to be 100, 110-plus inside the cockpit. An hour and 45 of grueling heat while you're constantly trying to turn around this place is not easy." [00:57]

When asked if IndyCar should host another points-paying race at the permanent 3.067-mile circuit, the No. 27 Honda driver replied:

"No."

Kirkwood had a decent outing at Sunday's Thermal Club GP. He started the race in eighth place and made up a few spots, but lost the gain in his last stint as high tire deg forced him to slow down. The Andretti Global driver finished where he started, in P8.

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Kyle Kirkwood is "very disappointed" with the change of fortunes at the end of the Thermal Club IndyCar GP

AUTO: MAR 02 - Kyle Kirkwood at INDYCAR Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Source: Getty

Kyle Kirkwood began the 2025 IndyCar season with a Top 5 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He aimed to rack up more such results on his way to podiums and wins, starting with the Thermal Club GP. However, an unexpected drop in tire performance cost him another Top 5.

After the race, the 26-year-old explained his plight in the above interview with Frontstretch, saying:

"We just got extreme tire deg. It was from a tire you wouldn't expect it to happen. So I'm very disappointed in that. There was no indicator in the previous three stints we ran... very good, very clean, very fast. Then the last stint, one of our tires decided to go off a cliff only six or seven laps into it." [00:08]

"But it's better than ending up in the wall because of something. So we'll take an eighth place," Kyle Kirkwood added. "Only lost four positions because of it, sucks."

Kirkwood was Andretti Global's second-best performer on Sunday. Colton Herta was the team's lead driver, finishing in P4, while Marcus Ericsson suffered two unfortunate spins during the race to go from P5 to P21.