Kyle Kirkwood likes to journey gentle. Give him a percussion gun to remain free through the week and a single pair of sun shades he could or could not lose by the post-race press convention, and the IndyCar driver says just about good to go.
On the monitor, although, when he climbs into his No. 27 Andretti Global Honda for this Sunday’s Youngsters’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix in Birmingham, AL, he’ll deliver the identical calculating, ice‑chilly composure that helped him to his first victory of the 2026 season two weeks in the past. His win on the Java Home Grand Prix of Arlington additionally put him in new territory: For the primary time within the 27‑yr‑previous’s profession, he sits atop the IndyCar standings—and he isn’t prepared at hand that again to 3‑time defending champion Alex Palou simply but.
“Man, what an unbelievable day,” Kirkwood stated following the win. “We want much more like this. We’re solely in race No. 3, so I’m not wanting on the championship, however it’s good to say it’s the primary time I’ve ever led the championship within the IndyCar Collection.”
It was how he acquired there that stood out. A daring transfer previous Palou with 15 laps remaining sealed his win. After 5 high‑5 finishes in 2025, he’s opened this yr with three extra, together with his win in Texas and a second‑place end on the Good Ranchers 250—early proof that consistency could also be his largest weapon.
Sustaining that momentum means staying cool when the cockpit hits triple‑digit temps, the G‑forces attempt to rip your head off, and a cut up‑second opening just like the one he present in Arlington can both work in your favor or ship you backward.
For the 5’8″, 154‑pound driver, staying gentle is without doubt one of the keys to staying in management. Whereas the weightroom and conditioning exercises pressure him to coach like a hybrid athlete, his focus isn’t on pushing big numbers. Controlling a 2,000‑pound automobile doesn’t require controlling heavy weights within the health club and even logging in lots of running miles. “There’s a degree that you find yourself changing an excessive amount of vitality along with your arms, endurance, and your dimension,” he says. “It’s important to keep considerably small. I’d say the median weight is between, like, 155 and 170 for a racing driver, and I’m on the low finish of that.”
Diet and hydration additionally matter—particularly on raceday, however Kirkwood has discovered to control his in‑automobile composure by retaining his coronary heart price low by means of a extra unconventional ability set. The Jupiter, FL, native has developed an uncanny potential to carry his breath underwater, a energy first cultivated as a child spearfishing and diving within the Atlantic. That refined apply taught him to remain calm at depth, management his respiratory for lengthy stretches, and hold his coronary heart price down when his physique desires to panic.
“I suppose in some methods it’s related,” says Kirkwood, whose victory in Texas was his sixth profession IndyCar win. “You’re making an attempt to maintain your coronary heart price low in considered one of these automobiles with all of the G forces, the physicality of it, the warmth—you’re making an attempt to maintain your coronary heart price as little as doable for these two hours that you simply’re contained in the automobile. So there’s some correlation there.”
How Kyle Kirkwood Trains to Keep Calm at 5Gs
In IndyCar, the distinction between profitable and fading to the again of the pack isn’t all the time who’s quickest—it’s who stays the calmest when all the pieces is making an attempt to tear them aside. At greater than 200 mph, with as much as 5 Gs pulling a driver’s head away from the automobile’s course, those who can calm down, management their respiratory, and hold their coronary heart price low are those who can spot a split-second opening and take it with out it backfiring.
Mid-race meditation is clearly not an possibility behind the wheel. However an unassuming tactic Kirkwood and different drivers use to handle that stress is breath management. Throughout practically each lap, he holds his breath for stretches, then resets and regains a standard rhythm. “Breath holds round a monitor like this for about 22 seconds,” he says. “And I might say, give or take, 10 to fifteen seconds of the monitor, you’re in a nook pulling three or 4 G’s, and all people is aware of if you’re at that form of G stage, it’s fairly onerous to breathe, so that you do have to carry your breath for a interval of the lap right here.”
As a lifelong diver, that type of breath management now seems like second nature. His potential immediately, although, was boosted by early adventures within the Atlantic—lengthy earlier than he knew the advantages would translate to racing. It’s turn out to be one of many unsung strengths behind his rise on the IndyCar circuit. “You exit on the water, you go spearfishing, you go diving, you go online,” he says. “I used to be within the water snorkeling after I was like, 3 or 4 years previous—it’s simply been a lifestyle.”
Studying calm down when his preliminary intuition was to react has turn out to be a useful software. The longer he stayed beneath the floor, the extra he needed to stretch every inhale, keep calm as his lungs burned, and belief that he may outlast the urge to hurry again up. “Once you’re spearfishing, you’ve acquired to maintain your coronary heart price low,” he says. “The cadence of your breath and the way you’re establishing to your dive is essential.”
Whereas he lives in Indianapolis through the season and doesn’t get to dive as usually as he as soon as did, Kirkwood nonetheless leans on these calming benefits throughout a race’s key moments. He admits he can’t maintain his breath like he did in his fishing prime, however the identical leisure and coronary heart price reducing habits he constructed underweater now assist him handle the warmth and G‑forces within the cockpit. ““I used to have the ability to maintain my breath for over three minutes,” he says. ”I used to have the ability to do about 100 ft, possibly somewhat bit extra after I was in my late teenagers. Now I may in all probability do 60 or 70 ft.”
Fishing Has Additionally Turn out to be Kyle Kirkwood’s Efficiency Gasoline
There’s extra to South Florida deep diving than simply constructing an even bigger breath. Kirkwood says that on high of being considered one of his favourite off-track actions, touchdown a large fish throughout any considered one of his spearfishing expeditions additionally helps in terms of refining his vitamin. “Catching a 40‑ or 50‑pound grouper might be my primary fish,” he says.
Kirkwood isn’t a hardcore macro counter, however he stays conscious of retaining meals as wholesome as doable, particularly when he’s sustaining his in-season weight of below 160 kilos. “Often I’ll poach it, grill it, and even sauté it,” he says. “That’s often the go‑to, after which I eat it with rice or a vegetable. That’s a typical fish meal for me.” Nonetheless, there are occasions when a celebration requires somewhat indulgence. “The easiest way might be fried,” he admits. “That’s the perfect tasting, however I strive not to try this fairly often.”
No matter’s not being ready instantly, Kirkwood wraps and freezes—generally even bringing it on the street when wholesome choices aren’t assured. “The whole lot that I do spear, I clearly take dwelling. I clear it, I both package deal it, freeze it, deliver it up with me to Indiana, or prepare dinner it contemporary,” he explains.
One time fish is off the menu, although, is true earlier than a race. Sitting in a automobile for 500 miles, any digestive surprises may be catastrophic.
Prior to every race, hydration turns into a high precedence. Kirkwood sticks to a pre‑race electrolyte routine and alternates water with a hydration combine within the cockpit. “I simply do a combination of water and both—like, I’d say, 4 or 5 hours earlier than we’re really on monitor,” he says. “I exploit The Proper Stuff, which is usually a salt combination, after which inside two hours, it’s both Liquid I.V. or one thing equal.”
His pre‑race meals is simply as constant: plain rooster, rice, and greens. The one problem he doesn’t want throughout a race is testing his abdomen. “We clearly meal prep for the occasions, for Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” he says. “The whole lot that I eat may be very restricted, as a result of the very last thing you need is one thing heavy, one thing that’s in all probability not good for you, in a automobile if you’re pulling 4 or 5 Gs round a racetrack like this.”
Inside Kyle Kirkwood’s All-Round IndyCar Coaching Routine
Being nicknamed “King of the Streets” generally is a short-lived title that’s solely pretty much as good as your final race—particularly when constant success throughout IndyCar’s full vary of tracks is what in the end secures the highest spot on the finish of the season. Whereas his win at Arlington continues to raise Kirkwood’s repute as a avenue‑circuit savant—5 of his six profession wins have come on them—championships are earned by making your mark as a high all‑round contender on different layouts, from excessive‑G quick ovals like Phoenix (the place he completed second) to 220‑plus mph superspeedways like Indianapolis, the place he hopes to earn his first victory over Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s probably the most various sequence on the earth,” he says. “So having a distinct self-discipline and being prepared for every a type of occasions is essential.”
It takes a sure energy to manage the completely different speeds and G‑hundreds every course presents, however through the season Kirkwood doesn’t depend on heavy lifting a lot because the race‑particular energy he’s constructed for the automobile. “I’m not an enormous [fan of] weightlifting,” he admits. “I feel there’s a degree in a race automobile that you would be able to’t be too huge. It’s similar to any endurance athlete. You don’t need to be too huge and also you don’t need to make large [demands] on the physique.”
As a substitute, his practical basis comes from two foremost strategies: an offseason neck‑coaching focus and in‑season cognitive work that retains his reactions sharp in coronary heart‑price‑spiking moments like his end at Arlington. “These are the 2 issues which are very particular, I feel, to racing,” he says. “Particularly cognitive potential—to have the ability to get your coronary heart price up, one thing just like what you’ll be like within the automobile, then we use a synaptic display screen to attempt to assist your peripheral [vision] and your response timing.”
Kirkwood’s weeks observe a easy method of resetting his physique, coaching, and driving. Every exercise usually begins or ends with him utilizing his Theragun percussion gun to work out the tightness and knots 500 miles of driving can add to the physique. “I all the time journey with a Theragun,” he says. “That’s one factor that will get me loosened up.”
In the course of the season, Monday turns into an automated reset day for Kirkwood to give attention to rehydration and refueling, including again a few of the as much as eight kilos of water weight he could lose throughout a race. “Staying hydrated, utilizing that drink bottle is essential,” he says. “When you get to the purpose that you simply really feel fatigued and also you’re type of getting some psychological fog, you’re already previous the restrict that you ought to be.” Tuesdays and Wednesdays are for cardio and average lifting, plus coordination and cognitive drills to maintain his response time sharp at elevated coronary heart charges.
The routine repeats till the season concludes Sept. 6 in Monterey, CA. It’s a schedule designed to maintain him sharp with out burning him out—and thus far this season, all the pieces appears to be going proper. It’s the kind of conditioning that separates racecar drivers from the informal motorist. “I feel for the typical human, they’d get in considered one of these automobiles and do 15–20 laps and be like, I can’t do anymore, like my neck is finished. My arms are drained. However for us, we all know adapt to the situations fairly properly. We do plenty of coaching for it.”
With every win and podium end, the nearer Kirkwood will get to a shot a possible championship. After mastering the flexibility to carry tight to the steering wheel, merely hanging onto his shades after a press convention often is the subsequent problem. He’ll take that trade-off if he’s nonetheless on the high of the IndyCar standings on the finish of the season. “I burn by means of sun shades as a result of I all the time find yourself leaving them someplace,” he says. “You are taking them off within the media middle, you permit them, and subsequent factor you already know, you bought to go purchase one other pair.”
