Kyle Kirkwood joins ‘SportsLocker Sunday’ to discuss IndyCar win on streets of Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WISH) — Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood is proving to be a force on streets circuits in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Kirkwood won Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville.

“Fortunately everything worked out in our favor here today,” Kirkwood said. “Strategy was right. Tire strategy was right. Pit stops were great. Car was phenomenally fast. We did everything right today.”

Kirkwood started eighth on Sunday and led a race-high 34 of the 80 laps. He’s now up to ninth in the IndyCar standings.

It was his second victory of the season. He won his first-career NTT IndyCar Series race on the streets of Long Beach back in April. Kirkwood seems to becoming a threat to win each street race on the calendar.

“You have to adapt quickly and you got to adapt to track evolution, and I feel like I do that really well,” Kirkwood said. “And I’m comfortable near the walls.”

Of course, this was the final year of the current Nashville configuration. Last week, the series announced that there will be a new Nashville circuit. The new track layout will also be the finale race on IndyCar’s 2024 calendar.

“It doesn’t have many corners, but honestly, us being on Broadway is such a big deal for IndyCar,” Kirkwood said. “And I think we’re going to get a huge fan base from it. And it’s going to be a great race and a great place to end the season.”

Kirkwood will hope to keep the momentum going this upcoming weekend, when IndyCar and NASCAR come together for Brickyard weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. IndyCar’s Gallagher Grand Prix will take place Saturday afternoon.

Kirkwood joined “SportsLocker Sunday” to discuss his victory and more.