Race Highlights | 2026 INDYCAR at Arlington

Marcus Armstrong due to be starting this race in sixth. What do we know? Well, I know that his right rear is punctured telling the team right now that it is going down So he will be pitting early to change that right rear tire All that hard work for marcus armstrong undone before the race has even begun Two by two we roll to the green we roll. We do have a green and we're racing on the streets of arlington Marcus erickson defends his lead alex pillow slots into second a little bit of contact at the rear, but we are through Cleanly the first turn And the grand prix of arlington is underway erickson from pillow from pato award and willpower the top four remain unchanged But kyle kirkwood on a charge. How about dem indy cars three wide going through re uh rangers right? There is marcus erickson delivers on what he needed to do holding the lead armstrong not pitting He stayed out there making moves in 14 as they get into that tight corner side by side Easy to get hip jacked into pit lane if you're not careful down there And I wonder if armstrong had any choice other than to stay out his teammate on the inside No way into pit lane on that tight final corner It's been well behaved there. You see that's rasmussen going a little bit wide coming out of turn three His teammate alex rossi there the other light blue and yellow machine trying to make a move This is turn four. We've seen so many issues here on the brakes this weekend Our a little slow out of the corner As he tries to keep pato awards well within his sights I think david malukas got muscled out of the way there through the horseshoe As kirkwood and rosenquist run nose to tail but marcus erickson opening up a really nice lead on this first lap Now let's take a replay here This is the onboard mclaren racing club of christian lungard through turn four into the tight turn five Which should add a review kevin from the stewards for avoidable contact Oh and will powell making the move on pato award that is for a podium place and kyle kirkwood Attempting to follow his teammate through looks on the outside now looks on the inside of the mclaren man as they run down into the rangers right award having to defend In the battle of the rookies mick schumacher car 47 has been given a penalty We'll have to have a drive through for a voidable contact soft tire runners starting to struggle in particular christian Rasmussen electrifying one week ago in phoenix today starting to drop a replay here on board with the penske of david malukas Malukas also on the soft tire making it work for him slides up the inside and we're going to see his teammate joseph newgarden Taking advantage of this as well some great respectful racing here three corners side by side through one through two through three Then on the run down to turn four newgarden sees the opportunity and t-belt. He took it Yeah, big credit to rasmussen here for keeping it clean Kyle kirkwood rolled the dices with the first of the runners up front to come into the pits But it wasn't a clean stop for the 27 We're hearing there was an issue with one of the There was issue with one of the wheel nuts. Let's take a look here Standard so far a little slow on the right rear to get it off and then you can see he dropped a wheel nut The fuel done far before tires that's going to cost him a couple seconds for sure I think the wheel nut might have fallen out right there as the gun went down and he has a spare Magnetically affixed to his lap belt. That is an unbelievable recovery quick for that outside rear tire changer Marcus erickson really having to work for it now polo is right on his gearbox But spectacular that these two drivers have been able to hang on to the soft tire for this long pressing at the front Polo does seem to have the advantage on and they come in together both pit at the same time and on different sides jack Oh, this is going to be an awesome battle on pit lane. Townsend marcus. Erickson has been absolutely flying the new stuff going on for him georgia Race for alex blow. He didn't finish phoenix. It's a battle off pit lane, but marcus erickson still on pit lane Polo is going to beat him. It was soft to soft for him second andretti car with wheel nut or wheel gun issues as polo crushes Erickson on that pit stop exchange probably gained three to four seconds They're both out critically ahead of pato awards and kyle kirkwood This was a fantastic first stint for will power who gets Maybe in position to be able to do it on one more stop. He needed to get to his least lap 22 He's got a deal with some terrific enough to stop to avoid louis foster coming in but power is the only one That's already run the soft and might be able to do it on one more stop if andretti didn't have bad luck They'd have no luck at all a clean stop and trying to pull out and louis foster's there As we sit on board here with joseph newgarden in replay teammate car david malukas Green on green That's exactly what happened with kirkwood earlier When rosenquist came out of the pits on board here with malukas. I think he tries to leave him room Kirkwood right now is the fastest car on the racetrack has been for a few laps Absolutely flying now that he's on those hard tires and here's a replay of how he took fifth place From his teammate erickson on the rev limiter on the button down just pure commitment towns and on the brakes into 10 Listen erickson was doing 190 Kirkwood probably 193 there uh with the tailwind into the speed trap and kirkwood's in a hurry He's trying to close that gap to alex below who sits seven seconds up the road Those two I think are going to duke it out for the win today Wait, mcshumacher. We see a spin now with mcshumacher. We'll get back to this in a moment This is a break for will power if a caution comes out right now And that I think is right in front of our commentary position going That's our commentary booth right there. Mcshumacher spinning exeter two on the run down to three Having a difficult weekend a bit mcshumacher So what happened here? He's coming through. Oh, and that's new garden on the blend leaving pit lane mick just into the back Of joseph new garden and gets turned around Eyes now on lungard under big pressure from kyle kirkwood Who's pushing so hard again the fastest car on the racetrack last time by and guys lungard on the soft tire It should be faster, but kirkwood on the hard has been mesmerizing this weekend He has absolutely rapid remember last time he made a pass on erickson It was a few corners later down the long back straightaway So I think kirkwood is just trying to set up here. This is turn eight kevin Coming to turn nine kirkwood ready to fly out of cowboy corner And lungard a few laps ago said I don't have enough power when he was asked if he could get by foster It's not an engine issue though. It was simply a mapping issue. They told him to change the map. He got by foster Let's watch this race down to 10 now and here comes kirkwood. They're going side by side on this snaking long incredibly fast straight And kirkwood gets it done on the power Into the braking zone an easy pass for kyle kirkwood. He's through he's off to the podium places He's now seven seconds behind alex polo It's below below They are going to make no changes to that 10 car per barry walzer They're going to put on another set of the hard tires fill it up with shell 100% renewable fuel all the way to the brim It's what's going to take him to the end jack Kyle kirkwood has put that hard black tire on another issue on the outside rear rear right again for andretti Oh, what a day for andretti. In fact, kyle kirkwood's going to have some traffic right here Gets out ahead of malukas, but only just malukas still has to make his final stop Kirkwood on cold tires and will power in the background as well Below his mirrors full of kirkwood. Will he have a look down into ranger right? That would be a risky one That's a difficult brake zone downhill Not a lot of rubber on the inside But kirkwood was so strong on the brakes coming into 14 on the lap before dare. He have a look now He does last minute right off the inside that is instinctive from kirkwood and that is the lead Unbelievable. Oh, there's a little contact as he moves to defend his position Late on the brakes last minute dive that's p1 for kyle kirkwood on the streets of arlington And rasmussen Is into the wall I don't know if he's into the wall or has an issue. That's right. It pit out. I believe Uh, I think it's just closer to a stop. Oh caution that we have. Oh boy. We have our caution with four to go. Oh My goodness, and this is a long lap guys. That's an easy quick pull Well, it's not like we're going to finish this one under caution we got time to go green Could this yet be an We're green we're racing on the way down to 14 Kirkwood already stretching his legs Rosaquist has a look at malukas off the inside kirkwood with a massive wiggle Green white checker one lap to go And there's your race leader alex pillow behind him and we have a yellow behind you I was wondering if we were going to be able to keep it clean. We were not that's dennis hauger Nolan, so says roman grosjean and nolan seagull Kyle kirkwood Will win on the streets of arlington perhaps even more importantly. He will take the championship Lead what a day. What a weekend. What a drive from kyle kirkwood