By INDYCAR
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Kyle Kirkwood earned his first career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole Saturday, grabbing the NTT P1 Award for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Kirkwood, from Jupiter, Florida, won the top spot for the prestigious Southern California street race with a best time of 1 minute, 6.2878 seconds on his final lap in the Firestone Fast Six in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda. Kirkwood’s previous best starting spot in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career was fifth in March at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding, his first race with Andretti Autosport after spending his rookie season in 2022 with AJ Foyt Racing.
SEE: Qualifying Results
“Our car is on fire this weekend,” Kirkwood said. “We’re doing really good. I’m ecstatic. We’re just constantly chipping away at it, getting better and better, and I couldn’t be any happier than this. Third weekend with the team, and I already got a pole.”
Marcus Ericsson, winner of the season-opening street race at St. Petersburg, will join Kirkwood on the front row after a top lap of 1:06.3253 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. That tied Ericsson’s career-best start of second, set in 2022 on the oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, and is his best start on a road or street course.
Live coverage of the 85-lap race starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network will cover the 30-minute warmup session starting at noon ET.
Romain Grosjean will start third after a top lap of 1:06.5347 in the No. 28 DHL Honda, one of two Andretti Autosport cars in the top three. 2021 series champion Alex Palou will start fourth after a best lap of 1:06.5549 in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon was the second Ganassi driver in the Fast Six and will start fifth after a quick lap of 1:06.5730 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Pato O’Ward, who led the first two practice sessions this weekend, was the fastest Chevy-powered driver after rounding out the Fast Six at 1:06.6039 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
The first career pole was the highlight of Kirkwood’s young NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, which started last season after he became the first driver to win titles in successive seasons in USF2000, USF Pro 2000 and INDY NXT by Firestone. Kirkwood’s rookie year with the Foyt team was…
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