Kirkwood Ok After Scary Indy 500 Crash

Kyle Kirkwood, driver of the No.27 AutoNation Andretti Autosport Honda had a lucky escape in Sunday’s 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

The Floridian made contact with the rear tire of Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist which resulted in Kirkwood going upside down in chaotic scenes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

One of Kirkwood’s tires flew off hos car and over the fencing and hot a car in one of the car parks.

Our AutoNation Honda was just so good today and we felt like we were going to win. We were just driving through the field on that second-to-last stint and then, unfortunately, got collected in that incident. Everything happened so quick, but thankfully these cars are so safe because I think it could have been a lot worse. Glad the car was super fast, but disappointed how it all played out.

Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda came home in ninth place having started the Greatest Spectacle In Racing from 21st and speaking following the action he commented saying:

“It was an up and down day. Ultimately, we had the car to win, but we just didn’t pull it all together so it’s very disappointing. I feel really bad for the team and for the incident on pit lane, which unfortunately ruined our race. But, you know, I guess that’s racing. We had a really good race going up until the drive-through penalty. We still made it back to the top 10, but I’m not really happy with that – we’re here to win. All things considered, it’s better than other possible outcomes.”

Romain Grosjean started the race from 19th place and was classified in 30th place after crashing out of the event and speaking following the race he commented saying:

“The No. 28 DHL Honda was really good on Carb Day, so after today’s outcome I think we just need to better understand the changes we made so that our issues are less unpredictable in the future. Right now, we just need to reset, get back to Detroit next weekend and focus on making improvements so that we can do a good job out there.”

Devlin DeFrancesco had a great race as he started from 25th and came through the field to finish the race in 13th place and speaking following his second Indianapolis 500 he commented saying:

“I thought our Sodexo team had a decent day today. Considering the hole we were in during qualifying and where we started the race, we still seemed to execute quite well. No real big dramas, just lacked a little bit of speed all month. I think that trend followed us into the race today. As the conditions got harder, we seemed to struggle with a two-problem car, however, the No. 29 Sodexo Honda team did a really great job and executed well. I’m happy we could bring it home today.”

Marco Andretti who started the race from 24th felt that the race was just survival mode and he came home in 17th place and speaking following the event he said:

“Today just felt like survival mode. The car felt off all month and showed more today. I was lucky with the way things played out there near the end when Ed’s car was pushed into me. I thought that was going to be a huge one on the straight, but we got lucky with only a damaged tire, and brought it home.”

Reflecting on the Greatest Spectacle In Racing, Andretti Autosport COO Rob Edwards said:

“When you don’t qualify great, you’re digging deep in the race. We had potential to win with the speed that the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda and the No. 27 AutoNation Honda showcased. Obviously, we need to go back and look at the incident between the No. 26 and No. 28 in pit lane and see what happened. I’m glad that Colton could go back in and move his way through the field. All of us are happy that Kyle is okay, and that no one got injured. Devlin did a good job in the No. 29 Sodexo Honda. It wasn’t an easy race, but he ended up coming out 13th in his second year in the Indy 500. For Marco, we had some troubles early on and just got caught in the mess during the restart. We’ll get in tomorrow and regroup as we prepare for Detroit.”