Andretti star Kyle Kirkwood sends message about team's potential after matching championship-caliber Penske pace

Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood was one of the standout performers at the 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (P5). He was fighting with the very best in the 100-lap race, and after showing his pace against the mighty Penske cars, he took the time to dwell on the same in the post-race interviews.

Moreover, he felt that he could have secured a podium finish had he and his team played their cards right in Sunday's race. In line with this and being on par with Team Penske in terms of pace, he added:

"I don't know if we had Ganassi pace, but we definitely had Penske pace today. So, we were really strong, I think we could have gotten a podium out of that if we had played our cards perfectly right. Ultimately, what solidified our position was pitting a couple of laps earlier than Palou; he obviously saved some more fuel than us and we got a really good stint there to kind of cycle to the front two times in a row," Kirkwood added.

Kyle Kirkwood was Andretti Global's highest finisher in the 100-lap race, with Marcus Ericsson ending his exploits in P6 and Colton Herta (2024 runner-up) in P16.

---

"I'll take a top five any day of the week" - Kyle Kirkwood

While Kyle Kirkwood felt a bit was left on the table in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in terms of positions, he also asserted that he was pretty pleased with a top-five finish in the 2025 season opener.

In relation to this, he had the following to add:

"I'll take a top-five any day of the week. It's good to finish in the top-five, up points on the board, coming out of street course races is important to get points on the board so, it's my best finish today, first top-five here" Kirkwood via the aforementioned source.

The Andretti challengers had decent pace in the St. Petersburg race. Moreover, Kirkwood especially came away with a decent hall of points (30). Marcus Ericsson managed 28, whereas Colton Herta was able to put on board 15 points.

From Kirkwood's perspective, it will be extremely important to further build on his new-found momentum at the second event of the 2025 season. Round two of the ongoing 17-race campaign will take place in California with the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old ended the 2024 season of the 'fastest racing on earth' in seventh in the drivers' championship. He was able to amass 420 points along with a solitary pole position, five top-fives, and 13 top-ten finishes.

Keeping all this in view, Kyle Kirkwood will be determined to put in solid results in every race weekend and end this year's campaign with a better overall finish than P7.