Kyle Kirkwood has revealed his car initially did not have the pace to win in St Louis, after making dramatic in-race changes.
Taking his first oval victory, Kyle Kirkwood’s win St Louis was unexpected for both him and the team.
Starting in the lower top ten, he did not feature in the early action. However luck with the cautions and tweaks to his car setup secured Kirkwood’s third race of 2025.
Speaking in the post-race conference, he admitted his surprise at the result, with conversations with his team proving crucial.
“You know, I understand it”, he said. “I understood the strategy pretty well. I understood that some of those guys there at the end were trying to make the fuel work and if they got a caution, they would have. It would have been pretty easy for them to make it to the end if there was just one caution.
|As I come down the front straight I look at the pylon, and when you other guys like after you’ve done your stop and you’re like 10, 15 laps into your stint and you’re like, those guys are trying to make it, and now you’re looking for those cars. Even though Brian was filling me in on it, I was still paying attention to what was going on out there.“
Other factors at play?
Kyle Kirkwood also confirmed that other factors played a part in his victory, including the cooler weather conditions.
“Yeah, a good day. Everything worked to plan accordingly. If I’m being honest, we didn’t start with an amazing race car, we finished with one. That was just due to the work that the crew did and due to the work that Honda did.
“I think as the conditions cooled, we picked up some power, and then as the conditions cooled for our car we got a little better, but we also tuned on it, too. We were making changes at almost every single stop to get ourselves into a good window, and that played a huge factor in today’s win because in the beginning stages it felt like we have anything.
“So we kept our heads down and stayed calm, cool, and collected, took opportunities where they came, and fortunately came away with that win.“
Has Kyle Kirkwood fixed his St Louis curse?
Asked about how he overcame previous poor results at the circuit, Kirkwood said he did not understand his form at the circuit.
“You know, I never felt that bad here. I don’t know why I finished 15th. I didn’t know that, so thanks for reminding me.
“Like last year we were running good. I thought we had a car to win last year, it’s just we got caught up in a little mess. Last year, to be honest, I was too timid on the restarts and starts and kept getting passed. This year my engineer was like, hey, don’t be a blank on restarts and starts.
“That actually played in our favor here today, so I had to be pretty aggressive and take more risks than I would have liked to, but it worked out.”
