The team struggled in qualifying, with Dalton Kellett, Kirkwood and JR Hildebrand only 22nd, 23rd and 26th on the speed charts. However, in second practice Kirkwood was 15th with his race setup, and overnight the team made further progress.
When the first caution period occurred on Lap 12, reigning Indy Lights champion Kirkwood was running 21st so the team elected to pit him, and his progress from the Lap 16 restart was spectacular. Despite this being Kirkwood’s first race on a 1.5-mile oval, he took full advantage of his 10-lap fresher tires, and sliced forward. He passed nine cars in three laps, and by Lap 28 he was ninth, having got around Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson and Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the pair of whom would go on to finish third and first respectively.
