Seeing Kirkwood hitting his stride is no surprise to Bryan Herta

Kyle Kirkwood destroyed the Indy NXT field in 2021 with Andretti Global, spent his rookie season with the AJ Foyt Racing team in 2022, returned to Andretti in 2023, and has made statement after statement with the team across 2.5 seasons in the No. 27 Honda.

The Floridian came close to matching young Andretti veteran Colton Herta on his debut, earning 11th in the championship to the Californian’s 10th, and in 2024, a separation occurred where Herta was on a mission, finishing second in the drivers’ standings while Kirkwood improved to seventh in the championship. Kirkwood was good, but Herta’s elevated consistency with top finishes is where the gap emerged. It was Herta’s team when Kirkwood arrived and remained that way, based on results.

The roles have reversed so far in 2025 where Kirkwood has been as high as second in the standings after winning the 50th anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in April and holds third after recording a victory at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

Herta’s been dealt some bad hands this year, which is why he’s down in ninth place, but a pole and run to third at Detroit was a welcome return to normalcy. The third member of the Andretti trio, Marcus Ericsson, has endured misery at six straight events; he’s 19th.

In looking at the collective output since Kirkwood arrived, it’s here where another aspect of Andretti Global’s internecine contest for dominance stands out: Six IndyCar wins have been produced since he joined the team in 2023, and four of those belong to the 26-year-old. Andretti’s race-by-race success or failure no longer rests on the shoulders of Herta, which is a great development for the team, and for Kirkwood, who continues to assert himself as its second leader.

“Kyle's been great. He's having a really strong season. He's had great results on a number of different types of tracks,” his race strategist Bryan Herta – Colton’s father – told RACER. “I think we saw a lot of that starting to manifest in second half of last year. The (oval) pole at Nashville, and some things where he was showing a lot of excellence in areas that we hadn't seen from him yet. I think that's just a great indication of his continued growth and improvement. You know, he hasn't been in IndyCar that long, but he's obviously formidable, and he's becoming formidable on all types of tracks.

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“I think a big part of that is the interplay between the three of them is really outstanding. Even though Marcus has been on the wrong end of so many things this last two years, I think they all deserve some credit for each other's successes, because they're pushing the team forward. They're making the cars better. The energy in the team has never been better from the engineering room and how the three groups are working together. Kyle's obviously contributing to that but also benefiting a lot from that. And that's fun. It's fun to go to the racetrack with the three of those guys right now.”

Herta is continually impressed by his driver’s work ethic and immense focus. Kirkwood keeps his life simple away from the track, lives in a modest apartment-size house, and spends as much time in or on the water as possible. A fishing boat is his lone extravagance, and when he isn’t out in nature between events, Kirkwood’s the racing version of a gym rat, getting to the track early – often while his rivals are asleep – to put in mental reps with his engineers and mechanics on the No. 27 Honda.

“You know, Kyle is still the guy that when the engineers get to the track in the morning, he’s standing outside the engineering trailer, waiting for them to open it up,” Herta said. “He was that kid, and still is that guy. He just goes about it without a lot of fanfare, and he works really hard at it. He doesn't need to tell you how hard he's working. He doesn't need a lot of adulation because the work he's putting in, he knows that's how the results come, and we all recognize that. When you see a guy working that hard at his craft, it motivates everybody around him to try and match that energy. I think that's been a real positive on the 27 car.”

Kirkwood's consistency has him in his stronmgest points position yet, but Herta says the focus is still race-to-race. Aaron Skillman/IMS Photo

In the midst of their strongest championship run to date, Herta’s hardcore practicality is the guiding light for Kirkwood’s program. They need 13 points to pass Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward for second in the standings, which is more than possible, and 103 points to overtake championship leader Alex Palou from Chip Ganassi Racing, which isn’t going to be easy. Those stats hold no meaning to the group, however.

“It sounds so cliche to say it, but it's really just one race at a time,” Herta said. “We don't talk about points, we don't talk about championship, we don't talk about any of those things right now, because they're not in our universe. We’re just trying to execute each day, focus on maximizing our opportunities and trying to get better at all the little things. It's not a magic formula. We really don't talk about any of that stuff. Never have. We're only talking about right now. We're talking about the next race (at World Wide Technology Raceway) and what we did last year and what we would do this year to get better.

“We’re really trying to qualify well there because we know track position matters, but hopefully with the with the race time being later, it might open up some passing lanes. Those two-day weekends (like WWTR) are tough. You don't have a lot of time. You basically unload, practice, qualify, warm up, and then be ready to go. So right now, we just finished our Detroit post-race debrief with the team, and now that Detroit's over, it’s 100-percent focus on the next race.”