Kyle Kirkwood points to 3 ‘nightmare’ races of mistakes in the 2025 IndyCar season that gave Pato O’Ward the advantage of finishing second in the 2025 IndyCar season

In the high-octane world of the NTT IndyCar Series, where split-second decisions can crown champions or shatter seasons, few rivalries burn as brightly as the one between Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. The 2025 season, which wrapped up with Alex Palou’s fourth title in five years, saw Palou dominate with eight victories, including a historic Indianapolis 500 win. Yet, behind the Spaniard’s shadow, a fierce battle raged for second place—one that Kirkwood believes slipped through his fingers due to three self-inflicted “nightmare” races marred by costly errors. These missteps, Kirkwood reflected in a post-season interview, handed O’Ward a 42-point championship edge, securing the Mexican driver’s runner-up finish with 475 points to Kirkwood’s 433.

Kirkwood’s campaign was a tale of brilliance interspersed with heartbreak. The 26-year-old Floridian notched three wins—triumphs at Long Beach, Detroit, and a breakthrough oval victory at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR)—propelling him to career highs in podiums and top finishes. He became only the second driver besides Palou to taste victory that year, showcasing the raw speed of Andretti’s Honda-powered machinery. O’Ward, meanwhile, countered with two wins of his own, including gritty street-circuit charges in Toronto and Iowa, plus a league-high nine podiums alongside Palou and teammate Christian Lundgaard. The duo’s duel for second often came down to consistency, where Kirkwood’s flashes of genius were undermined by races he now labels as pivotal disasters.

The first nightmare unfolded early, at the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May. Starting from pole after a blistering qualifying lap, Kirkwood appeared poised to challenge Palou’s early-season stranglehold. The 85-lap affair tested drivers with its mix of sweeping turns and tight chicanes, and Kirkwood led the opening stint with surgical precision, building a gap over the field. But on Lap 42, disaster struck during a routine pit stop. A miscommunication with his crew led to a botched wheel change, costing him 15 precious seconds as the No. 27 AutoNation Honda rolled out with uneven tire pressures. “It was like watching a slow-motion car wreck,” Kirkwood admitted later. “I knew right then we’d thrown away a win.” He clawed back to fourth, but O’Ward capitalized, slipping into second behind Palou after a flawless strategy call from Arrow McLaren. That result netted O’Ward 40 points to Kirkwood’s 32, planting the first seed of separation. Kirkwood pointed to the error as a wake-up call, but in the heat of the moment, it stung like a lost crown jewel.

Mid-season brought the second gut punch at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at WWTR in June—a night race under the lights that promised redemption on the flat oval. Kirkwood had dominated practice and qualified third, his Andretti team dialing in a setup that devoured the 1.25-mile track’s high banks. The 260-lap thriller saw 14 lead changes, with Kirkwood surging to the front on a restart midway through, holding off O’Ward in a door-slamming duel that had fans on their feet. Victory seemed locked until Lap 210, when overzealous aggression bit back. Battling for position against Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Kirkwood dove inside too hot entering Turn 3, clipping the apron and spinning into the inside wall. The contact shredded his left-rear tire, forcing an emergency pit stop under green that dropped him to 18th. “Pure driver error—I got greedy,” Kirkwood confessed in debriefs. “That spin wasn’t the track or the car; it was me not respecting the limit.” O’Ward, unscathed in second at the time, inherited the lead briefly before fading to runner-up behind Dixon. Kirkwood recovered to ninth, salvaging 24 points, while O’Ward banked 40. The gap widened to 18 points after that weekend, a margin Kirkwood rues as the “one I replay in my sleep.”

The season’s cruelest twist came at the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland in August, the 15th round on the twisting 1.967-mile road course amid Oregon’s misty forests. By then, Palou had clinched the title, shifting focus to the scraps for second. Kirkwood arrived hot off a podium at Road America, his No. 27 machine humming with upgrades that made him a Mid-Ohio practice pacesetter. He started fifth and methodically climbed, overtaking teammates Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson by Lap 20. Portland’s undulating layout rewarded patience, and Kirkwood was in the groove, pressuring O’Ward for third when chaos erupted on Lap 45. A debris caution flew after Will Power tangled with Santino Ferrucci, bunching the field for a double-file restart. Kirkwood, fixated on O’Ward ahead, anticipated a conservative move but misjudged the throttle—bogging down off the line and allowing a freight train of cars, including Lundgaard and Josef Newgarden, to swarm past. The hesitation snowballed into a 12th-place finish after a late push, yielding just 20 points. O’Ward, ever the opportunist, seized fourth (35 points), extending his lead to an insurmountable 38 with three races left. “Portland was the killer,” Kirkwood said, shaking his head. “I hesitated when I should have hammered it. That’s the race where second slipped away for good.”

These three races—Indy road course, WWTR, and Portland—stand out in Kirkwood’s mind not for bad luck, but for avoidable blunders that totaled a 46-point swing in O’Ward’s favor. Across the season, Kirkwood’s win-or-bust style yielded seven top-fives but four finishes outside the top 10, contrasting O’Ward’s metronomic reliability: nine podiums and only two DNFs. “Pato didn’t beat me; my mistakes gifted him the edge,” Kirkwood reflected. “He’s consistent, yeah, but I had the speed to match him everywhere. Lesson learned—next year, no more nightmares.”

O’Ward, gracious in victory, acknowledged the thin line between triumph and torment. “Kyle’s a beast; those wins were no flukes,” he said after Nashville, where he pole-vaulted to fifth despite a late charge from Kirkwood. “Second feels good, but it’s fuel for ’26. Arrow McLaren’s on the cusp—Palou’s untouchable now, but we’re coming.” For Kirkwood, the sting of fourth (behind Lundgaard’s late surge) only sharpens his resolve. Andretti Global’s resurgence, bolstered by Kirkwood’s oval breakthrough, hints at bigger things. As the off-season looms, one truth endures in IndyCar: redemption waits for no one, but mistakes? They echo forever.