INDIANAPOLIS — There was zero hesitation from Kyle Kirkwood when the 26-year-old IndyCar driver was asked if he and his Andretti Global teammates are favorites for both the pole position and the victory at the upcoming Indianapolis 500.
“We’re either the best, or we are very, very close to that,” Kirkwood said. “We are very positive at this time and very confident.”
Those who might disagree? Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who has been fast all week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and is seeking his third straight Indy 500 victory, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who won four of the first five races this season on the American open-wheel circuit — including on the permanent road course at IMS last weekend — and also won three of the past four IndyCar season championships.
As for the three-car Andretti team, few had even uttered their names before Kirkwood’s bold prediction ahead of Fast Friday, the day teams get a 100 horsepower boost at Indianapolis to prepare for this weekend’s two-day qualifying session.
Guess people just weren’t paying attention. Kirkwood is, after all, the only driver this season to beat Palou, thanks to his April victory on the downtown streets of Long Beach, California. The 109th edition of the Indy 500, which is set for May 25, will be the first oval race on IndyCar’s 2025 schedule.
“I think they look very strong both speed-wise and traffic running,” said Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward, who then cautioned “don’t count out the Penskes. They’re going to have rockets, just like they did last year.”
Newgarden beat O’Ward on the final lap of last year’s Indy 500. That came after Newgarden — the 34-year-old Nashville native who won series championships in 2017 and 2019 — and fellow Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power and Newgarden swept the front row in qualifying.
There are 34 drivers going for the 33 spots in the field in Saturday and Sunday qualifying, meaning one will fail to make the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Among them is NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who for the second year will attempt “The Double” and try to complete on the same day both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, a Cup Series race that night at North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Larson’s time Friday at Indy was marred by his second crash at the track in a month. Larson had completed just four laps all day when he crashed during a mock qualifying run, hitting the wall in the front before spinning and backing into the concrete.
Larson also crashed during open testing on April 24.
“I’m OK. Just comes around quick, and once it does, that’s a bummer,” said Larson, whose Hendrickcars.com car is fielded by McLaren. “I’m not too worried about it. I think we’ll be fine. Kind of caught off guard a little bit there, but I think we’ll be fine. I tend to get over things pretty quickly.”
It’s also going to be a tough turnaround for Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kyffin Simpson, who nearly flipped his car when he crashed in practice Friday. He was uninjured, but CGR will have a ton of work to do to get a backup car prepared for Saturday’s qualifying session.
Simpson isn’t considered a pole contender, but teammates Palou and Scott Dixon are, based on the assessments of other drivers. Dixon, though, was in the group calling the Penske trio tough to beat this weekend.
“I will say that definitely the Penske cars look strong. There’s no doubt about that,” said Dixon, a six-time series champion and the winner of the 2008 Indy 500. “They definitely are running some big laps.”
The Honda teams changed their engines Thursday night to prepare for qualifying, but Chevrolet is waiting until after qualifying to make such changes for its teams, which includes Roger Penske’s bunch.
“Ganassi seems to have taken a step forward as well just from kind of playing around with them in traffic,” said O’Ward, whose Arrow McLaren No. 5 is powered by Chevy. “It’s hard to say right now. You don’t know who is hiding what, or are both manufacturers showing everything? Not sure, but they do look very strong.”
Newgarden wasn’t ready to make any predictions. He has endured a tough start to the season with just one podium finish — third place in the season opener on March 2 — and sits 12th in the points standings, the lowest of the three Penske drivers.
Still, he’s confident that makes little difference when it comes to the Indianapolis 500, and he has been pleased to be at the top of the speed charts each day this week.
“It’s showing good signs to begin. It’s a long process. You can have the quickest car in the field, and that doesn’t mean you’re going to win the race,” Newgarden said. “I think it takes a lot of ingredients, clearly, to win at this place. I think we have a few of them that are starting to show themselves in favorable conditions.
“Right now I think the car is in a really good place. We just have to continue to go through the motions. Qualifying is going to be its own thing. We’re going to find out exactly where everybody else is at, and hopefully we’ll be in a good spot there. Then the race will be a whole other animal, and we’ll figure that out next weekend.”