WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon have talked through their Lap 1 incident at Portland International Raceway and agree the NTT IndyCar Series is allowing moves that should be outlawed.
By holding his line on the start of the Grand Prix of Portland on Aug. 25, Kirkwood admittedly ran Dixon off course and into a perilous spot that left the six-time series champion scrambling for traction (video above).
Dixon’s race was over after a subsequent collision a few corners later with Pietro Fittipaldi, who received a penalty. Kirkwood’s move was unpunished, but the Andretti Global driver felt guilty enough to text an apology afterward to Dixon, who blamed his last-place finish on Kirkwood.
“Really just apologizing that I initiated the incident, not necessarily that I caused him to crash,” Kirkwood said. “I think that’s maybe where there’s a little bit of confusion. To be fair to him, the way I raced him probably isn’t the way that he would have raced me, which I think is why he’s upset.
“But ultimately, everyone’s been racing like that recently where it’s like if you have a nose on somebody, you just drive them off the track and that’s completely acceptable in the eyes of IndyCar. I was very apologetic to him. I feel bad that he was put him in that position. I think that’s something that we need to look at in the season with IndyCar and see has this gotten out of hand.”
Dixon minced no words Friday with Kirkwood during a discussion at the Milwaukee Mile.
“It was definitely an F-U move,” Dixon said. “I explained that to him. That’s kind of amateur when you’re doing stuff like that. It’s also how the series allows you to race. So I don’t know what the answer is on that, to be honest.”
Kirkwood wants IndyCar to land on a solution during the offseason, which is why he pleaded his case to race control after the Portland race.
“I hate racing like that, and it’s completely allowed from their point of view, and I explained why I think that it shouldn’t be allowed,” Kirkwood said. “And at the moment there’s not a whole lot that they can do because this has been allowed for so long but I think it’s going to be an offseason topic for us. (On) road and street courses, it’s something that we need to look at.
Kirkwood traces the legalized overaggression to last year’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, where Dixon was forced into the barrier by Pato O’Ward in a similar move that left Dixon fuming and O’Ward unpenalized.
“Everyone was kind of shocked that that was allowed, and now that’s become the new normal,” Kirkwood said. “And I get their point of view. They don’t want to dictate the race and our racing. They kind of want to let us fight it out amongst each other, but it’s getting to the point now where I think it’s actually making the racing worse because the only time you see side by side is when somebody’s running somebody else off the track.”
Kirkwood said Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou might be the only IndyCar drivers who will race side by side without forcing the issue. Palou agreed Friday, noting that “the aggressive level has been up the past year and a half. Everybody is racing very aggressive everywhere.”
“I’d say 90% of the field, especially the guys I’ve been racing this year, they would have done me worse than what I did to (Dixon),” Kirkwood said.
“Will (Power) is the first guy to do it to you, and you almost like expect it. So is Josef (Newgarden). And I’m fine with saying that. That’s normal and it is allowed. So I get (Dixon’s) frustration, but at the same time, it’s a little, a little bit awkward because it’s completely allowed.”
Dixon, though, said he won’t be taking advantage. Nor did or will he be visiting race control.
“I figured it would fall on deaf ears,” he said.