RACE REPORT: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Race Notes
- The first round of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season brought 100 laps of street course action this afternoon at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
- Kyle Kirkwood led the charge for Andretti Global with a fourth-place finish, marking the team’s 420th top-five. Marcus Ericsson followed in sixth, while Will Power finished 22nd.
- The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg saw two caution periods, totaling seven laps.
- The focus now shifts to oval racing with INDYCAR returning to Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, March 7 at 3 pm ET on FOX.
Race Results
Will Power
No. 26 TWG AI Honda
P22
| Started | P13 |
| Standings | 23rd (8 points) |
- Rolling off 13th in his first race with Andretti Global, Will Power made his eighth start on the Streets of St. Petersburg this afternoon.
- Under the full course yellow that occurred in the first moments of the race, Power lost one position from where he started the race.
- On Lap 21, the TWG AI Honda brushed the wall and was towed back to the garage for repairs. The No. 26 TWG AI crew repaired the Honda machine, and Power was able to rejoin the field on Lap 56. Eventually, being 45 laps down from the lead lap, the Australian driver retired from the race early, ultimately ending the day in 22nd.
“Today felt like the same issue I had the other day when I hit the wall. It’s the exact same problem that we’ve been having. I feel really bad for the No. 26 guys who were doing such a good job. The car was really good, and it’s just been like this the whole weekend. I just feel really bad for the team, but we’ll be back on track in a few days, so we’re going to work on getting this worked out for Phoenix.”
Kyle Kirkwood
No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda
P4
| Started | P15 |
| Standings | 4th (32 points) |
- After not advancing to the second round of yesterday’s qualifying session, Kyle Kirkwood took the green in the eighth row on the starting grid.
- Maintaining his starting position under the caution period in the first lap of the race, Kirkwood remained committed to his strategy, making his first stop on Lap 31 and leaning on his street course expertise to advance the No. 27 JM Bullion / Gold.com Honda into the top five by the halfway point of the race.
- Pitting for the final time on Lap 65, Kirkwood continued to work himself up the field and found himself inside the top two in the last 23 laps of the race. Although to conserve enough fuel to cross the finish line, Kirkwood was forced to drop back, giving up two positions and securing his 13th INDYCAR career top-five finish and best INDYCAR finish on this track. The Florida native also set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 68.
“We had an amazing strategy today. Definitely not the long run play, but the short run play to get us a better track position, and that’s what got us that fourth place. Of course, we wanted to hang on for second or third, but honestly, after starting from 15th, you can’t really ask for much more than finishing inside the top five. This is my best finish here from one of the worst positions that I’ve started in. I’m really happy with this day. Andretti gave me a rocket ship, and strategy played out beautifully. It’s also my best finish here by one position. I like battling against these guys at the front. I’ve raced a lot against Scott [McLaughlin], Christian [Lundgaard] and Alex [Palou], but I just need to start a little bit further up to really challenge them. Good day overall for the No. 27 team. We had one of our biggest hard-charging moments that we’ve seen here at St. Petersburg, and that was just pure pace. So, hats off to the crew and props to Bryan [Herta] for recognizing the pace and the undercut availability, because that’s where we really made the big bucks today.”
Marcus Ericsson
No. 28 Delaware Life Honda
P6
| Started | P2 |
| Standings | 6th (29 points) |
- Marcus Ericsson took the track this afternoon in his first front-row start since the 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and his best start on the Streets of St. Petersburg.
- The Swede led one lap on Lap 35 and remained inside the top two through much of the race before the final pit cycle dropped the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda to ninth. Ericsson regained three positions as the race continued to ultimately finish sixth.
- Today’s result marks the Swede’s sixth top 10 at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and 61st top-10 finish of his career.
“It was a disappointing race. Starting in the front row and finishing sixth is not what we were looking for. I think that just having one set of sticker reds just hurt our day. We were really good on primaries, but on that second stint, I used reds, and we just died on them. Unfortunately, that just cost us the race. Otherwise, a podium was there. We were on pace for that. But I’m still very proud of the whole weekend. I think we performed really well every session, including a great qualifying. The only thing we didn’t execute was the race, and the second stint cost us the podium. But this is still a good start to the season, and we have Phoenix next weekend.”
Ron Ruzewski
INDYCAR Team Principal
“Today was a good start to the 2026 season. Two cars in the top six with a spirited drive by Kyle. The No. 27 team did an aggressive undercut and good pit strategy, which put them in the fight. Unfortunately, we just fell a little shy of the podium. I’m proud of the No. 28 car and their day. It didn’t quite play out the way that they wanted, but it’s still a top-six finish. The No. 26 car will continue to build on this. We’ll gain momentum going forward and continue to focus on the rest of the season.”
