Starting from 7th place Car 27 Kyle Kirkwood won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES 2026 Java House Grand Prix of Arlington for 6th Series win. This is his 1st win & 3rd Top 5 of 2026. 2nd Place Car 10 Alex Palou, started from 2nd place posted his 2nd Top 5 of 2026. 3rd Place Car 26 Will Power, started from 4th place posted his 1st Top 5 of 2026.
4th Place Car 28 Marcus Ericsson, started from pole followed by 5th place Car 5 Pato O’Ward, started from 3rd place. 6th Place Car 12 David Malukas, started from 9th place followed by 7th place Car 7 Christian Lundgaard, started from 18th place. 8th Place Car 9 Scott Dixon, started from 20th place followed by 9th place Car 20 Alexander Rossi, started from 10th place. Lastly in the Top 10 was Car 66 Marcus Armstrong, Marcus, in 10th place, started from 6th place.
The race had 2 Cautions for 2 Laps. 1st Caution on lap 68 for Contact: Car 21 in Turn 2. 2nd Caution on lap 70 for Contact: Cars 6 and 18 in Turn 2.
The race had 8 Lead Changes among 5 drivers: Lead Change Summary: On Lap Car Leader 1 28 Ericsson, Marcus. 16 26 Power, Will. 19 60 Rosenqvist, Felix. 20 26 Power, Will. 22 10 Palou, Alex. 29 60 Rosenqvist, Felix. 35 26 Power, Will. 46 10 Palou, Alex. 55 27 Kirkwood, Kyle. Leader Summary. Car Driver Laps Led: 27 Kirkwood, Kyle 16, 10 Palou, Alex 16, 26 Power, Will 16, 28 Ericsson, Marcus 15, 60 Rosenqvist, Felix 7.
Photo Courtesy of INDYCAR
INDYCAR Statement:
Kirkwood Outduels Champ Palou To Win Arlington, Take Series Lead
ARLINGTON, Texas (Sunday, March 15, 2026) – It’s been a long time since a rival driver made Alex Palou blink, but Kyle Kirkwood achieved that rare feat to win the inaugural Java House Grand Prix at Arlington on Sunday.
Kirkwood took the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship lead and earned his first victory of the season despite a sluggish final pit stop by his Andretti Global crew, driving his No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda to victory under caution over the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of four-time series champion Palou, who has won the title the last three seasons.
“That was so incredible,” Kirkwood said. “Man, did we have some pace. This JM Bullion Honda, Andretti, all these guys right here, they gave me the tools today. It’s because of this race car we won today, because of teamwork.
“One-three-four (finish) for Andretti; we’re just so stacked here. I’m so stoked.”
Andretti Global placed three drivers into the top four at the finish of the 70-lap street-circuit race around AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, and Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. Will Power placed third in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda for his first podium finish at his new team after 16 full-time seasons at Team Penske. Marcus Ericsson, who earned his first career pole Saturday, finished fourth in the No. 28 InPwr Honda.
Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five finishers in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, the highest-placing Chevrolet-powered driver on the 14-turn, 2.73-mile circuit.
“This Andretti Honda camp is fricking strong on street courses,” O’Ward said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to start winning races on outright pace against them.”
Pure pace helped Kirkwood, who started seventh and overcome a tepid final pit stop to overhaul Palou down the stretch.
Palou and Kirkwood were running first and second, respectively, when both made their final stops on the preferred three-stop strategy on Lap 49. The Chip Ganassi Racing crew completed Palou’s stop in 7.7 seconds, while Kirkwood’s service took 9.5 seconds due to a slow change of the right rear wheel.
When both drivers returned to full steam on their out lap, Palou led Kirkwood by 2.2 seconds. But Kirkwood used the speed that helped him lead the pre-qualifying practice Saturday, pulling to within .323 of a second of Palou at the start of Lap 55, with both drivers on the more durable Firestone Firehawk tires in a straight-up duel for the win.
Kirkwood didn’t waste any time flexing muscle, diving under Palou from a long distance in Turn 13 near the end of Lap 55 and making the daring pass stick for the lead.
“He did an awesome pass; hats off to him,” Palou said. “It was super clean, and it was pretty impressive. We’ll get them in a couple weeks.”
Kirkwood then started to pull away, building a five-second lead by Lap 66. Then that margin evaporated when ECR driver Christian Rasmussen nosed his No. 21 Java House Chevrolet into the tire barrier at pit exit on Lap 68, triggering the first full-course yellow of the race.
That bunched the field for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag. Kirkwood pulled away on the restart and was able to exhale early in the final lap when the second and final full-course yellow flew due to a collision between the No. 18 BMax Honda of Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean and the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Nolan Siegel deep in the field.
“Not today,” Palou said when asked if he thought he could have caught Kirkwood on the final lap. “I was pushing really hard on the first and second stint, and I could see that the 27 (Kirkwood) and the 12 (Power) were a little bit faster than us. I was like, ‘Oh, man, it’s going to be quite hard.’”
Kirkwood then cruised around the circuit one last time under yellow to cheers from the capacity crowd at this event, a joint venture between Penske Entertainment, the Dallas Cowboys and REV Entertainment, the official events partner of the Texas Rangers. He leads the standings by 26 points over second-place Palou after three of 18 races.
“It’s only race number three, so I’m not looking at the championship,” Kirkwood said. “But it is nice to say it’s the first time I’ve ever led the championship in the INDYCAR SERIES.”
The taut nature of the race, with its varying strategies about how often to stop for tires, resulted in terrific parity up front. Kirkwood, Palou and Power each led 16 laps to tie for the race high, with Ericsson fourth with 15 laps led.
Caio Collet was the top-finishing rookie, 12th in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet fielded by AJ Foyt Racing.
Phoenix winner Josef Newgarden, who entered this event in the series lead, fell to third after finishing 15th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.
After three consecutive race weekends to open the season, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will get a short break before resuming with the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on March 27-29 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
2026 Java House Grand Prix of Arlington Race Results
Streets of Arlington (temporary street course) March 15, 2026 Round 3
Position Starting Position Car Driver Lap Status
1. 7. Car 27 Kirkwood, Kyle D/H/F 70 Running
2. 2. Car 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 70 Running
3. 4. Car 26 Power, Will D/H/F 70 Running
4. 1. Car 28 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 70 Running
5. 3. Car 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 70 Running
6. 9. Car 12 Malukas, David D/C/F 70 Running
7. 18. Car 7 Lundgaard, Christian D/C/F 70 Running
8. 20. Car 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 70 Running
9. 10. Car 20 Rossi, Alexander D/C/F 70 Running
10. 6. Car 66 Armstrong, Marcus D/H/F 70 Running
11. 25. Car 3 McLaughlin, Scott D/C/F 70 Running
12. 16. Car 4 Collet, Caio (R) D/C/F 70 Running
13. 13. Car 45 Foster, Louis D/H/F 70 Running
14. 21. Car 76 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 70 Running
15. 11. Car 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 70 Running
16. 19. Car 19 Hauger, Dennis (R) D/H/F 70 Running
17. 12. Car 14 Ferrucci, Santino D/C/F 70 Running
18. 24. Car 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 70 Running
19. 14. Car 8 Simpson, Kyffin D/H/F 70 Running
20. 5. Car 60 Rosenqvist, Felix D/H/F 70 Running
21. 23. Car 77 Robb, Sting Ray D/C/F 69 Running
22. 17. Car 47 Schumacher, Mick (R) D/H/F 69 Running
23. 15. Car 18 Grosjean, Romain D/H/F 68 Contact
24. 22. Car 6 Siegel, Nolan D/C/F 68 Contact
25. 8. Car 21 Rasmussen, Christian D/C/F 66 Off Course
Stats:
Time of Race: 01:55:43.0642
Avg Speed: 99.086
Fastest Lap: 104.564 mph ( 93.9902 sec) on lap 66 by 9 – Scott Dixon
Fastest Leader Lap: 104.539 mph ( 94.0129 sec) on lap 62 by 27 – Kyle Kirkwood
Lead Changes: 8
Caution Laps: 2
Next Event: Sunday, March 29 Barber Motorsports Park FOX 1 p.m.
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