As the dust settled at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Kyle Kirkwood emerged with his first-ever NTT IndyCar Series oval win, getting by Scott Dixon in the final pit cycle and holding off the hard-charging Pato O’Ward and Christian Rasmussen in the closing laps.
Kirkwood won his fifth career IndyCar race and third of the 2025 season, eating into championship rival Alex Palou‘s points lead.
“The starts and the restarts were big,” Kirkwood told FOX. “That was absolutely huge. We were not too happy with the car yesterday. We had got some help from the teammates, made the car really good and went on track with an amazing car. In the beginning, I really didn’t think that we had it, but as it got dark this Honda just came alive.
“My first oval win – I’m over the moon right now,” Kirkwood continued. “Ovals have alluded me for a very long time. [I wanted it] way more than a street course, not going to lie. An oval win and a road course win is what I wanted. I didn’t want people to think of me as just a street course guy.”
O’Ward, one of the few who ran up front all day, cashed in his second runner-up finish of the season for Arrow McLaren’s No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I hope it was an amazing show for all you fans,” O’Ward said. “All in all, a very good points day for the Arrow McLaren Chevy. I wish would’ve loved to have gotten that for team Chevy. We’re still winless all year. We’re going to keep pushing.”
Rasmussen earned third after passing 62 cars throughout the night. He battled back from pitting too soon after coming close to running out of fuel under caution and catching fire on the pit lane, similar to his teammate Alexander Rossi in the Indy 500.
“It’s huge, especially just with how this weekend has gone for us,” Rasmussen said “We were really slow in practice one. We didn’t get it done in qualy. We started 25th in the race, but way to turn it around for [Ed Carpenter Racing] here today. This is awesome. This is definitely the best day of my life so far.”
“As soon as I found out that the high line was so effective, my car was good up there both in one and two and [turn] 3 and 4,” Rasmussen continued. “I just started running high, and I could pass people.”
Scott Dixon led before the final stops but fell back to fourth. Santino Ferrucci tried to stretch fuel or catch a lucky caution in the final green flag stint. However, he had to pit and settle for his third consecutive top-five finish.
Conor Daly led laps and contended for the win late but finished sixth.
Rinus VeeKay, Palou, Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman rounded out the top 10, earning PREMA Racing their first top-10 finish in IndyCar.
Josef Newgarden was the class of the field at one point, but while leading by 6 seconds over David Malukas, the driver of the No. 2 took flight after getting pinched into the wall by an out-of-control Louis Foster, who hit the outside wall ahead of him out of turn 4, ending Newgarden’s chances at a fifth Gateway win in six tries.
MASSIVE impact involving Louis Foster and Josef Newgarden 😳 pic.twitter.com/L0Y2M4VCLh
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 16, 2025
Newgarden’s Penske teammates didn’t fare well either as Will Power broke his suspension after hitting the turn 4 wall and Scott McLaughlin retired with mechanical issues late, continuing the team’s woes for 2025.
Malukas led the most laps for AJ Foyt Enterprises with a total 67, but the native Chicagoan also hit the wall and struggled late to finish 12th.
2025 IndyCar Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Results
IndyCar returns next week to Road America for the Xpel Grand Prix on Sunday, June 22 at 1:30 p.m. ET with coverage provided by FOX.
Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch's primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch's Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt's written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing