IndyCar driver not named Alex Palou finally wins, but tempers flare

There have still been only two winners through the first seven races of the 2025 IndyCar season, which has been the case for five races in a row now. But for the first time since mid-April, it was somebody other than Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou standing in victory lane on Sunday afternoon on the streets of Detroit, Michigan.

In Chevrolet's home race, it was Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood who made Honda a perfect seven-for-seven to start the 2025 season. Kirkwood also won the street race in Long Beach, California a month and a half ago and has now won back-to-back street races.

Palou appeared to be on course for a top five finish, which still would have been his worst result of the year since the newly crowned Indy 500 winner entered the race with five wins and a runner-up finish in six starts, before he was taken out by A.J. Foyt Enterprises' David Malukas.

Still, Kirkwood, who had been the only driver to even finish ahead of Palou at any point this year, remained the only driver other than Palou to win a race, as he held off Malukas' teammate, Santino Ferrucci, and his own teammate and polesitter, Colton Herta, to secure his fourth career victory.

After Kirkwood was on the receiving end of a bizarre move by Team Penske's Will Power to start the weekend in practice, he was able to keep his cool, qualify third despite making a mistake on his final qualifying run, and capitalize on the speed of a No. 27 Honda that was never in doubt after the green flag.

But tempers flared elsewhere, specifically off the track.

Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin was the de facto race leader after staying out on the race track when Kirkwood made his first pit stop, as he was able to come out ahead of Kirkwood after pitting under the ensuing timely caution flag. But he rammed into the back of Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel and earned himself a penalty.

Team principal Tony Kanaan was justifiably upset with the incident, as it marked the second time in three street races this year that Siegel was taken out by a Team Penske driver running into the rear of the No. 6 Chevrolet (Power in St. Petersburg was the other).

McLaughlin was coming off of the most embarrassing race weekend of his career, in which he crashed on the pace lap of the Indy 500 and never took the green flag. So his 12th place finish was still an improvement, even if he probably should have been challenging for the podium on pure pace.

McLaughlin, who crashed out of last year's Detroit race on his own, didn't initially take full blame for the incident, given how early Siegel appeared to brake, and he issued somewhat of a sarcastic response to the penalty.

He later changed his tone and issued a more serious response, noting the incident was "on him".

But Kanaan had already heard enough, and he went full scorched earth on the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet.

Kanaan, of course, is referencing the fact that team president Tim Cindric, along with two other formerly high-ranking Penske employees, were fired by Roger Penske after the team's second cheating scandal in 14 months emerged during Indy 500 qualifying weekend.

McLaughlin had previously stated that he took their firings "personally", a statement that some took as him "playing the victim" rather than acknowledging or taking any semblance of responsibility. So after he crashed out on the final pace lap at Indy after supposedly being out to make a statement, Kanaan simply went for the low-hanging fruit.

McLaughlin responded to Kanaan's scathing post, but at this point, you've got to believe that there is a lot more to this seemingly ongoing feud.

I've said from the start that the public will never know the true specifics behind last year's push-to-pass scandal.

And Kanaan was one of the most outspoken individuals against Penske once that scandal emerged last year, so you've got to believe that the fact that Team Penske, even with the ensuing suspensions and disqualifications, basically got away with no actual penalties still doesn't sit well with the rival McLaren team.

And now the fact that Siegel, who has been struggling enough without Penske drivers sending him into the wall this year, was once again on the receiving end of avoidable contact means that Kanaan is no longer holding back.

IndyCar is set for its first off weekend since late April next weekend before the series is set to head to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, where Siegel owns his career-high finish of seventh place from last August. The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 is set to be shown live on Fox beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 15. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!