Kyle Kirkwood finished a career-best second in the 2026 IndyCar standings after two wins, ending the year 86 points behind champion Alex Palou.
Kyle Kirkwood finished the 2026 IndyCar season closer to Alex Palou than any other driver, taking second in the championship after wins at Arlington and Washington, D. C. He scored 545 points, 86 fewer than the five-time champion, to secure a career-best final position and set a firm offseason target.
The Andretti Global driver returned to the news cycle on Thursday, September 17, as attention shifted toward further improvement following the strongest campaign of his IndyCar career.
Kirkwood secures the runner-up spot
Kirkwood started all 18 races, posting 10 top-five finishes and 15 top-10 results, the same total as Palou. He also led 220 laps and claimed one pole.
Second place stayed undecided until late.
Christian Lundgaard finished only 10 points behind Kirkwood after earning two wins, with Pato O’Ward another 13 points back in fourth. David Malukas rounded out the top five with 514 points, leaving just 31 points between second and fifth following the September 6 finale at Laguna Seca.
Kirkwood clinched his final championship position by finishing second in Monterey. Scott McLaughlin won after leading 87 of 95 laps, while Kirkwood capped a season that paired two victories with improved week-to-week consistency.
Two street wins define Kirkwood’s season
Kirkwood collected his two victories five months apart, both at new street events.
He won the Grand Prix of Arlington on March 15, then returned to Victory Lane at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D. C., on August 23. The results made him one of six multiple winners across the 18-race season.
Palou won six races. O’Ward earned three victories, including both Milwaukee Mile races on August 30, while Kirkwood joined Lundgaard and Josef Newgarden with two wins. McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson and Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist each scored one victory.
Kirkwood’s Washington win followed Palou’s Portland victory by two weeks and came one week after Ericsson prevailed at Markham. It kept Kirkwood firmly in the contest for second as four drivers reached Laguna Seca with the position still up for grabs.
Palou establishes the 2027 standard
Palou secured his fifth championship with 631 points, six victories and eight poles. He led 673 laps, earned 12 top-five finishes and placed in the top 10 in 15 of his 18 starts.
The champion opened the season with a win at St. Petersburg on March 1, then added victories at Barber, Long Beach and Detroit before May ended. He later won at Nashville on July 20 and Portland on August 9.
Kirkwood still finished 86 points behind after his career year.
Lundgaard scored 535 points, leaving him 96 behind Palou. O’Ward ended the season 109 points back despite three wins, while Malukas trailed by 117 after leading 282 laps without winning. McLaughlin took sixth with 482 points after his victory in the finale.
Andretti gets a clear offseason benchmark
Kirkwood’s 10 top-five finishes matched O’Ward’s total and ranked behind only Palou’s 12. His 15 top-10 results also tied the champion for the best mark in the standings.
The main gap was at the front. Across the same number of starts, Palou collected four additional victories and seven more poles, while leading 453 more laps than Kirkwood.
Those numbers provide Andretti Global with specific areas to address before next season. Kirkwood has secured second place, but naming him Palou’s principal 2027 challenger is an expectation for the new campaign rather than part of the record he has already established.
The group behind Kirkwood remained tightly packed. Lundgaard, O’Ward and Malukas each finished within 31 points of him, and all three led laps in 2026. McLaughlin ended the year by winning from pole at Laguna Seca after setting a 1:09.1363 in qualifying.
IndyCar turns its attention to 2027
Confirmed offseason movement has already begun elsewhere. Reigning Rookie of the Year Dennis Hauger signed a multi-year agreement with AJ Foyt Racing and will drive the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet in 2027.
Hauger placed 22nd in the championship with 228 points and two top-10 finishes from 18 starts. Santino Ferrucci finished 17th with 280 points, including four top-10 results.
Development work has also started on IndyCar’s longer-term technical program. The IR-28 chassis completed its first superspeedway test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 9 with Alexander Rossi driving, before Palou tested the car in oval configuration on September 10. The chassis is scheduled to enter competition in 2028.
Kirkwood heads into the offseason as the highest-ranked driver pursuing Palou, with his next competitive assignment arriving when IndyCar begins its 2027 season.
