Alex Palou didn’t finish first in Sunday’s INDYCAR race at Arlington. But he couldn’t help but praise winner Kyle Kirkwood for his clean racing in the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, the series’ debut on the streets adjacent to the Dallas Cowboys‘ AT&T Stadium.
While Kirkwood took the checkered flag for his first win of the 2026 INDYCAR season, Palou finished second and Will Power finished third to complete the podium. All three drivers led the race for 16 laps.
Midway through the 70-lap race on the 2.73-mile street course, Power took the lead and held on for about 10 laps, until he had to pit and Palou took control on Lap 46. But less than 10 laps later, Kirkwood started eyeing the lead.
[INDYCAR RESULTS: Kyle Kirkwood Outlasts Alex Palou at Arlington]
Kirkwood, driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda, passed Palou in Turn 13, led the rest of the race and held on for a caution-plagued victory. And while Palou probably would have preferred a different finish, he lauded Kirkwood’s racing, particularly his “awesome pass” for the lead.
“Hats off to him,” Palou said of Kirkwood during his INDYCAR on FOX post-race interview. “It was super clean, and it was pretty impressive.”
Palou — who started second behind pole-winner Marcus Ericsson, Sunday’s fourth-place finisher — acknowledged he and his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda just didn’t have the speed to catch Kirkwood on the final restart. At one point late in the race, Kirkwood had a nearly a six-second lead over Palou and everyone else, and with a late caution leading into a last-lap shootout, there was always a chance Palou could pass for the lead.
But he said his car just didn’t have it Sunday at Arlington.
“We’ll get them in a couple weeks,” Palou added, referencing INDYCAR’s next race, the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on March 29 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX and FOX One.
