Kyle Kirkwood proud of progression as he blossoms into IndyCar title contender

If it wasn't for Alex Palou having the most dominant IndyCar campaign since A.J. Foyt in 1964, Kyle Kirkwood would be in the midst of a dogfight for the 2025 IndyCar championship. 

That would especially be the case if not for finishes of 26th and 18th, respectively, during the doubleheader weekend at Iowa Speedway that may have been the death knell for Kirkwood's 2025 championship hopes. 

But there are still plenty of positives for the 26-year-old from Jupiter, Florida to think about with five races remaining in the 2025 IndyCar season. 

Kirkwood is on pace for his best championship finish in his fourth IndyCar season. He's already set a career-best mark in wins, and the No. 27 team has gone from a consistent top-10 threat to a championship contender. 

Kirkwood is no longer in Palou's shadow in the championship as he was before Iowa, but he's still proven himself to be a championship-caliber driver. 

"I'm just proud that this team has had a lot of progression over the years that I've been with the team," Kirkwood said on Wednesday. "First year, we got our first two wins, but ultimately, it wasn't that great of a year. Second year, we didn't get any wins, but it was a much better championship run. This year, it was looking a lot better. We've fallen back now, but I wouldn't say those were races where we should've fallen back.

"As long as we have progression, we keep moving forward, we keep winning races, we keep fighting (for) a championship, we're still in the conversation of things this late in the season — that's a huge positive," Kirkwood said. "If we don't come up with a great result in the championship this season, hopefully we'll take this momentum that we've had through the first 12 races and carry that into next season." 

For the time being, Kirkwood is still mathematically in the championship hunt, and Sunday's race on the streets of Toronto (noon ET, FOX) offers him an excellent opportunity to make up some ground. Kirkwood has been unofficially crowed as IndyCar's new street course king, collecting wins on the streets of Long Beach and Detroit in 2025. 

That street course success inevitably puts a target on Kirkwood's back as he and his team prepare for the 13th race of the season, especially considering he was the runner-up to teammate Colton Herta in Toronto a year ago. 

"Whoever wins at certain races, there's going to be a target on their back," Kirkwood said. "They're going to be looking to them for information and trying to catch up to them from the start of the weekend. That will likely be us, Colton and Marcus (Ericsson) for this weekend.

"We will be a focal point of a lot of teams, but not in a bad way," Kirkwood continued. "That's a good thing that you are a focal point for people. It means that they're trying to catch up.

"Yes, there's a target — but it's not a negative in any way."