Maybe it was for the best that Kyle Kirkwood miscalculated his laps in qualifying for Sunday’s inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington. Otherwise, he might have driven away from the field sooner in the 70-lap race.

The mistake in qualifying forced Kirkwood to start from the seventh position, third among Andretti Global’s three NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers. It was soon clear Sunday he was on a heater, driving through the field on a challenging circuit.

Yes, it took Kirkwood 55 laps to get the lead, but once there he was gone. Oh, a late-race caution created some degree of drama, but four-time series champion Alex Palou, the driver Kirkwood passed for the lead with 16 laps to go, wasn’t disillusioned. He knew second place was the best he could do against this opponent on this day.

“I tried hard, man,” Palou said of trying to keep Kirkwood at bay. “He was really fast. I could see already on second and third stint that I was pushing as much as I could, using (the overtake) to try to get gaps. He was closing three-, four-tenths (of a second per lap) on me. I was like, ‘Oh, man, it's going to be tough.’”

It certainly was, and Kirkwood’s car was so strong he surely didn’t need to make the pass for the lead look as bold as it was.

The combination of Kirkwood and his No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda was the class of the field on this windy day, and it wasn’t close. No one should have been surprised. Kirkwood, who was quick all weekend, has become the street circuit king, winning five of the past 14 races. (Alex Palou has won three of those races, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon two each.) And lately, Andretti Global has been just as good on such courses as he has been.

Kyle Kirkwood

Sunday, first-year Andretti Global driver Will Power joined Kirkwood (photo, above) on the podium with a third-place finish, and teammate Marcus Ericsson was a step behind him. That’s three of the top four finishers, with the trio nearly equally combining to lead two-thirds of the laps.

Kirkwood’s car was trimmed out more than Palou’s, giving him a sleeker machine for the long straightaway on the 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary circuit in an event that drew rave reviews. But Kirkwood also drove with the confidence that came from winning on the streets of Long Beach (twice), Nashville and Detroit in the past three seasons. He also finished second to then-teammate Colton Herta in Toronto in 2024.

Kirkwood even won Sunday’s race despite a late bobble by his crew on the final pit stop.

“I came out further behind (Palou) than I anticipated,” he said of the brief time he lost on pit road. “But we ran him down in two or three laps. I was like, ‘Man, we have the pace to make it happen right now.’”

That’s why Kirkwood made the late lunge into Turn 14 to get the lead when he did.

“I (didn’t) know if we were going to have the pace to make it happen in (another) 10 laps,” he said. “That was part of some of the urgency. I wasn't quite sure I had the confidence or not.

“Once I did the first few laps, it was very showing that we had a lot of pace.”

Kirkwood led Palou by more than five seconds when a late caution arrived. With Kirkwood laying down fast laps and Palou conceding victory, it’s likely the official margin would have been higher without the yellow that bunched up the field.

Still, a win is a win, and Kirkwood seems to be collecting them with great regularity. He nabbed three last year despite having a poor second half of the season. He already has his first win this season, and he has the points lead as a bonus – a first for his career. He has finished fourth, second and first in three starts to the 2026 season.

“We're (only) three races in, (so) I don't want to focus too much on the championship,” the 27-year-old Floridian said. “I want to focus on the next race in front of us, maximizing our performance.

“Of course, we're good at street courses. We've figured out short ovals now. We're going to a road course next. That's where we need to thrive.”

Next up is one of those road courses. The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix is Sunday, March 29 at Barber Motorsports Park (1 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).