Select Page

INDYCAR RACE REPORT: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Mar 1, 2026

No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda

P4

Started P15
Standings 4th (32 points)
  • After not advancing to the second round of yesterday’s qualifying session, Kyle Kirkwood took the green in the eighth row on the starting grid. 
  • Maintaining his starting position under the caution period in the first lap of the race, Kirkwood remained committed to his strategy, making his first stop on Lap 31 and leaning on his street course expertise to advance the No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda into the top five by the halfway point of the race.
  • Pitting for the final time on Lap 65, Kirkwood continued to work himself up the field and found himself inside the top two in the last 23 laps of the race. Although to conserve enough fuel to cross the finish line, Kirkwood was forced to drop back, giving up two positions and securing his 13th INDYCAR career top-five finish and best INDYCAR finish on this track. The Florida native also set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 68.

“We had an amazing strategy today. Definitely not the long run play, but the short run play to get us a better track position, and that’s what got us that fourth place. Of course, we wanted to hang on for second or third, but honestly, after starting from 15th, you can’t really ask for much more than finishing inside the top five. This is my best finish here from one of the worst positions that I’ve started in. I’m really happy with this day. Andretti gave me a rocket ship, and strategy played out beautifully. It’s also my best finish here by one position. I like battling against these guys at the front. I’ve raced a lot against Scott [McLaughlin], Christian [Lundgaard] and Alex [Palou], but I just need to start a little bit further up to really challenge them. Good day overall for the No. 27 team. We had one of our biggest hard-charging moments that we’ve seen here at St. Petersburg, and that was just pure pace. So, hats off to the crew and props to Bryan [Herta] for recognizing the pace and the undercut availability, because that’s where we really made the big bucks today.”