Kyle Kirkwood

Kyle Kirkwood was born on October 19, 1998, in Jupiter, Florida, and found his way to karting at a young age. Together with fellow Jupiter native Oliver Askew, he gained his first experiences there and secured several national titles, including the AM Engines Formula Tag Junior championship in 2012 and the SKUSA SuperNationals title in the S5 Junior class in 2013. He was also victorious at the Florida Winter Tour in 2015 and 2016 in consecutive years before making the move to formula racing.

His rise through the American junior racing series was extraordinarily steep. In 2015, Kirkwood made his debut in the F1600 Championship with Chastain Motorsports before establishing himself in the Formula 4 United States Championship, where he won the title in 2017 with Cape Motorsports. An unprecedented streak followed: in 2018, he secured both the U.S. F2000 National Championship and the F3 Americas Championship with Abel Motorsports, winning 15 of the 17 races. In 2019, he continued his winning streak with the Indy Pro 2000 Championship title, before making his Indy Lights Championship debut in 2021 with Andretti Autosport, following the pandemic-cancelled 2020 season, and winning that championship on his first attempt. This made him the first driver ever to win all three stages of the Road to Indy in his respective first attempt.

This success paved the way for Kirkwood to join the IndyCar Series in 2022, where he made his debut for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. By 2023, he switched to Andretti Global in the number 27 car and celebrated his first IndyCar victory and pole position at the Long Beach Grand Prix, followed later that same year by another triumph at the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville. Since then, he has been one of the defining faces of the team and has continuously built on his success record, including a strong fourth-place finish in the championship standings in 2025 and victories on diverse track types. Beyond formula racing, Kirkwood is also active in sports car racing and competed in endurance classics like the 24 Hours of Daytona with a Lexus RC F GT3 for Vasser Sullivan.

For the 2026 season, Kyle Kirkwood remains with Andretti Global as a full-time driver, continuing for another year with the team with which he has achieved his greatest IndyCar successes so far. After his strong performance in 2025, expectations rest on the now-experienced American, who wants to finally confirm his flawless record from the junior series in the premier class of American formula racing. Fans of the series can look forward to seeing whether the young driver from Florida can continue his upward trend and compete for additional podium finishes and victories.