The most convincing, most complete driver we’ve seen in US open-wheel’s junior series over the past dozen years will begin his IndyCar career in 2022 with AJ Foyt Racing, the full-time team that has struggled most in recent seasons. It didn’t have to be that way. Except for Kyle Kirkwood, it did.
There just weren’t many options for him, at least not in IndyCar. That seems incredible considering Kirkwood amassed 31 wins in 50 races across the three Road to Indy [RTI] formulae (USF2000, Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights), won the championship in all three (first driver to do so), and has a bag of $1.25m as a scholarship prize from the RTI.
Had Kirkwood’s previous team owner Michael Andretti managed to buy into the Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1 team and found a way to lever Colton Herta into it, then Kirkwood would have been slotted into the #26 Andretti Autosport IndyCar that Herta had vacated. But that deal famously fell apart at the eleventh hour.
Consequently, Andretti’s…
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