By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
In the latest iteration of these rankings, I briefly mentioned that Kyle Kirkwood was in the midst of a 23-race winless streak dating back to Nashville in 2023.
I also said the next step for him to rise up these rankings would be to put an end to that streak.
As it turns out, it took all of one race for him to achieve that, as for the first time this INDYCAR season we had a race winner not named Alex Palou. Instead, it was Kirkwood beating the Spaniard to the line by nearly three seconds to claim the checkered flag at Long Beach.
The win marks Kirkwood’s second at the famed track and the third of his INDYCAR career overall, but more importantly it puts him second in the INDYCAR standings after the first three races, 34 points behind Palou.
Second is also where you’ll find Kirkwood in these rankings, also behind Palou.
1. Alex Palou (Previous: 1)
Season Stats: 2 Wins, 3 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s, 39 Laps Led
The bad news for Palou is he suffered his worst finish of the season at Long Beach. The good news is he still finished second and was in contention for the win for much of the race. He’s still the class of the field as the series embarks on the upcoming two-week break.
2. Kyle Kirkwood (Previous: 8)
Season Stats: 1 Win, 2 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s, 46 Laps Led
Kirkwood grabbed pole at Long Beach and was in control for the vast majority of the race en route to his first victory of the season. In the process, he jumped to second in the standings behind Palou and now looks primed for a breakout season.
3. Christian Lundgaard (Previous: 4)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s, 49 Laps Led
Lundgaard led 23 laps and finished eighth in the season opener at St. Petersburg and has since followed it up with back-to-back podiums at Thermal and this past weekend at Long Beach, a race in which he also led 26 laps. He and Palou are the only two drivers with at least two podiums so far this season.
4. Scott Dixon (Previous: 3)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 3 Top 10s, 7 Laps Led
Dixon finished eighth after starting 14th at Long Beach, so the day could have been much worse for the six-time champion than it was. But Dixon needs to start turning these fine days into good days if he wants to find himself in contention for championship number seven.
5. Felix Rosenqvist (Previous: 7)
Season Stats: 2 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s
The pairing of Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing continues to shape up as one of the better stories of 2025 thus far, as the duo has churned out three finishes of seventh or better to start the season. Rosenqvist is still searching for his first podium of the season, as one slipped away late in the running at Long Beach, but it appears to be a matter of when, not if.
6. Pato O’Ward (Previous: 2)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10, 51 Laps Led
Whereas consistency has been a strength for his teammate Lundgaard so far this season, that has far from been the case for O’Ward. He has finishes of 11th, second and 13th in the season’s first three races, and for a driver with championship aspirations, that simply won’t do.
7. Scott McLaughlin (Previous: 6)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 2 Top 10s, 40 Laps Led
McLaughlin started sixth and finished sixth at Long Beach, and if not for strong outings by a pair of drivers behind him, would still find himself sixth in these rankings. Alas, he instead finds himself in seventh, which is still one spot higher than his eighth-place ranking in the INDYCAR standings through three races. All in all, Long Beach served as a bounceback weekend after a last-place finish at Thermal.
8. Colton Herta (Previous: 9)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 2 Top 10s, 1 Lap Led
Herta was probably hoping for a little more than a seventh-place finish after starting second at Long Beach, but he and his team simply didn’t have the race pace of his teammate, Kirkwood. At the end of the day, it was still a fine showing for Herta, but as is the case with Dixon and O’Ward, he has to be careful now as he’s already 69 points back of Palou after three races.
9. Will Power (Previous: 10)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 2 Top 10s
In the last rankings, I applauded Power for his drive at Thermal that saw him go from 21st to sixth. This past weekend at Long Beach, Power once again had an impressive drive, going from 13th on the grid to finishing fifth. It’s hard not to imagine what he could do if he were to qualify up front.
10. Josef Newgarden (Previous: 5)
Season Stats: 1 Top 5, 1 Top 10, 2 Laps Led
A poor finish at Long Beach was out of Newgarden’s control after a lap-belt failure ruined any chance for a good day for he and his Penske team. It was supposed to be a bounceback weekend after an uncharacteristic day at Thermal, but instead Newgarden and the team will likely be using this short break to reset ahead of the race at Barber.
11. Alexander Rossi (Previous: 11)
Season Stats: 2 Top 10s, 1 Lap Led
Rossi finished an underwhelming 15th after starting eighth at Long Beach. In all likelihood, it’s not exactly how Rossi had envisioned the race going, but on the bright side, it was his first finish outside the top 10 this season.
Dropped out: None
Next up: Marcus Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci, Sting Ray Robb