100 Days to Indy (2023) s01e03 Episode Script
California Dreamin
1
TTEOKBOKKIsubs
- Ready.
- Green, green, green, green.
You have to be brave.
This is a very demanding race.
[Engines revving]
Oh, Rosenqvist
with a monster jump.
Look at all the cars dropping
left sides in the grass!
Man, there's a lot of action,
a lot of moving around.
Texas was really the tale
of two races.
The first 3/4 of the race,
it was down to two drivers --
Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden.
[Engines revving]
The two strongest cars all day
run side by side, nose to nose,
with seven to go at the Y!
You got to take big risks
to get that big reward in Texas.
- He's on a mission!
- Good to go.
Romain Grosjean out for the
seventh race in a row!
And it was this
220-mile-an-hour chess match
Yellow, yellow.
who was gonna lead when
and be the last guy
across the line?
Preparing to go
to victory lane.
You know the way.
Ultimately, Josef put himself
in the right place
to be a winner again at Texas.
There's always been this talk
of the big three --
Ganassi, Penske, Andretti.
We're not far, man.
We're right there.
- [Cheers and applause]
- We've made a statement.
I know we didn't win the race,
but we sure as hell
showed everybody that --
that we were the class of the
field, uh, together with Josef.
♪♪
I think McLaren's confidence
as a team is sky high right now.
It looks like a few more drivers
and teams are in the mix,
which is just gonna make the
whole season more exciting.
The biggest event
outside the Indianapolis 500 --
the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach is away!
[Engines revving]
Long Beach is the
Monaco Grand Prix of IndyCar.
After Indy,
that race is the one the drivers
want to win the most.
I've got to continue pushing
for something
that nobody ever did.
Welcome to the 4-time club!
Long Beach, I finished on the
podium just a couple years ago,
and I think we're gonna be
a player.
♪♪
[Bird caws]
[Indistinct talking on
television, engines revving]
Green, green, green!
Here we go,
racing again in Texas!
I like to watch this back,
you know,
see the decision-making process
for everybody.
I feel really good right now.
You know, Team Penske as a whole
is in a really good place.
I think Long Beach
can be a good event for us.
So I think
we have the ability to win
any race that we show up to.
I knew Pato was going to be
my -- my biggest challenger.
I needed to get position on him.
So it's interesting
to watch this back
and see the decision process,
not -- not just for me
but for, also, Pato
and, you know,
why did he do what --
Why did he make the decisions he
made during the final part here?
The more diligent
that you are about notekeeping,
I think the better you can be
for -- for the next year.
- Kota man!
- Come here, dude.
Come here!
Do you want to come write notes?
What do you think?
Oh, that's a good note. Yeah.
- Just full notes.
- [Laughs]
- It's caution time.
- It's time to play.
Brace up.
That's how he gets in.
He knows exactly how
to get into this thing.
He just falls into it,
basically. Okay, buddy.
- You gotta go.
- You gotta go take a nap.
- Yay!
- It's bright. It's bright. Okay.
You've got to be really good
at resetting.
You've just got to continually
reset every weekend
and start fresh.
[Indistinct chatter
on television]
Pato was my biggest challenger.
If that yellow didn't come out
towards the end of the race,
it might have been hard
for me to catch him.
All right. You ready?
We told you at home to take
a breath, regroup, reset.
Now we go again.
And now to the lead
goes Josef Newgarden!
He's not going to go anywhere.
You know, he's going to be
someone that I have to compete
against all year
and for a while.
He's -- He's one of the best
out there.
The PPG 375
at Texas Motor Speedway
is won by Josef Newgarden
in the PPG Chevrolet
for Team Penske!
What's that?
Three wins
at Texas Motor Speedway!
That's how it worked out
for him in that race,
but I'm sure it's going to work
out the opposite in other races.
Which races will it be?
I have no idea.
But Josef should get used to it.
[Chuckles]
That's what we want to do
in and out, you know?
Joseph's in Penske.
So, like, if we want
to win championships
and we want to win Indy 500s,
we're going to have to bring it
to the Penskes
and the Ganassis every single
weekend, week in, week out.
Like, it's not -- it's not going
to be like, "Yeah, you know,
let's -- let's just beat them
one weekend
and forget about the rest."
We're going to Tony's house.
Tony's got this -- you know,
these, like, badass simulators,
and Tony Kanaan is one
of the most liked drivers
in the series
and Indy 500 winner.
Butterfly!
Butterfly?
- [Laughs]
- Pshoo!
Yes!
Every day I say good morning
to my kids, my wife,
and my boy Gordon.
[Chuckles]
I'm Tony Kanaan,
and I'm a professional
IndyCar driver.
The 12th time is the charm at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
The twin checkers wave!
T.K. has won the 2013 500!
[Cheers and applause]
Winning the 500
changed my life.
Today I'm having
my beautiful young teammate --
Pato's coming to the house.
We're going to do some, uh,
simulation, uh, testing.
Obviously in IndyCar,
we don't get to test
in real life all the time,
so I put a setup here at home.
The sim that I use is this one.
This is my baby.
It's my seat position
where my arm,
my -- my brake pedal,
everything the way I like it,
it's all set up for me.
[Engine revving]
I think one of the reasons
that Arrow McLaren got me
was to add more experience to
the young guns that they have.
- Hey!
- They're plenty fast.
But we -- we exchange
information, for sure.
- Nice!
- But they are your teammates
until the green flag drops.
What are we driving --
Long Beach?
I thought --
I thought I'd sim Long Beach.
Long Beach?
As much as this is still
a video game,
like, how Tony has it set up,
it's the closest you're gonna
get it to the real car.
[Engines revving]
It is very difficult to
actually practice in motorsports
because it's so expensive.
Ahh, you --
♪♪
They can simulate and get
pretty close to it.
[Engine revving]
In my opinion, he is,
of the young generation,
probably the most raw,
pure talent
I've ever seen.
♪♪
[Laughs]
[Bleep] [Speaks Spanish]
Did you beat me yet?
No. Man, I've had one flyer.
- I keep crashing on the out lap.
- Me, too.
He has everything.
He has the team.
He has the car.
He has the talent.
Now it's up to him to try to put
all these pieces together.
Old man's still got it
a little bit, no?
- Yeah.
- [Laughs]
Tony's been in this series
longer than I've been alive.
[Laughs]
That's a lot of experience
that I can tap into.
♪♪
I'm always gonna find ways
to improve.
But we've had a phenomenal start
to the season.
That's already two races
that we could have won.
But Long Beach is -- well, you
can't make a lot of errors.
You've got a nice wall.
- Watch him go right in the wall!
- Oh, no!
- Oh, my goodness!
- Imagine I was in the garden.
- Go!
- Marcus Ericsson in the wall!
I'm in the wall.
- Oh, no!
- Big crash!
It was just a stupid mistake.
Right now we're on our way
to the racetrack.
There is a very
special ceremony.
We're going to have the brick of
the four-timers in a racetrack,
which is right
at the Brickyard.
I'm actually got to
contain here my emotions,
because [Sighs] this is an honor
to be in this place,
which I call the home
of the -- the gods of racing.
So, like always, we're waiting
on the racecar driver.
All right.
I know we're all cold,
so I'm going to make this quick.
In front of us are 576 bricks.
These 576 bricks
are 114 years old,
and most of them have been
the start/finish line
for those 114 years.
So this is the fourth time
in our 114-year history
that this has happened
where the owner of the speedway
and one of the drivers
is going to get
an opportunity to unveil that.
So, Hélio, I'm going to have you
grab that corner up front,
and, Roger,
if you can get this one.
3, 2, 1.
Let's bring it on back.
There you go --
the new yard of bricks.
that includes the bricks
from our four four-time winners
and the brick in the middle
to commemorate
the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
- We've had a few of these, huh?
- Oh, my God. Yeah.
In the history
of the Indianapolis 500,
only four guys were able
to do Indy 500 four times --
A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears,
Al Unser Sr.,
and I can't believe I'm in,
uh -- in this amazing group.
[Cheers and applause]
So I won Indianapolis 500
in 2001,
in 2002,
2009, and 2021.
♪♪
Hélio Castroneves has won
the Indianapolis 500!
- He's done it!
- Two in a row!
Castroneves
goes to the fence again!
- We did it again!
- We did it again!
Whoo!
A 3-time winner of the biggest
race in the world!
Hélio Castroneves wins at Indy!
- He did it!
- Yeah, baby! Whoo!
Welcome to the 4-time club!
Unbelievable!
"Spider-Man" is back
at the speedway!
[Cheers and applause]
I'm just so blessed to not
only, um, believe in, um --
in myself, I believe
in what I love, and be
Hélio getting his own brick
at the speedway --
Name me another sport
where only four people on earth
have accomplished something.
To be a four-time winner
at the Speedway is
I can't even think of anything
else in sports to compare it to.
It is so, so difficult.
It's just a statement
that when you believe
dreams come true --
and I did dream
about the -- that fourth --
and, um --
and it came a little late,
but, uh [Chuckles] it's
better late than never.
- You have plenty more time here.
- I know, I know.
Hopefully we're
going to have you ready.
You're going to give
your, uh --
uh, your run for the money
for sure
with your team and your, uh --
your drivers,
and I'll definitely -- going
to try to stop them for sure.
But, uh, wow.
This is a-a-an incredible dream.
Thank you, everyone,
from Indianapolis.
- I appreciate it. Thank you.
- Congratulations, Hélio.
- Well deserved, obviously.
- Thank you.
- Good luck.
- [Applause]
Hélio left Penske in 2019,
and a lot of people weren't sure
if he was ever going to have
a chance to win the 500 again.
That's the winningest team
in 500 history.
But, sure enough,
you go to 2021,
he lands
with Meyer Shank Racing,
and he pulls it off
with the little team that could.
Amazing. Amazing. Thank you.
I think every year
the expectations
of Meyer Shank go up.
You know, they started
as a small, one-car,
part-time team.
Now they've got a two-car team.
One driver's won four Indy 500s.
One driver has won
a championship at an Indy 500.
It's kind of now or never
for Meyer Shank.
He's very much like me --
passionate.
He loves racing.
He threw everything in the line
to make it happen.
Meyer Shank Racing is still
a relatively young team,
but they won the
Indianapolis 500 two years ago,
and that was probably
a little bit ahead of schedule.
They had Hélio Castroneves,
who had already won it
three times with Team Penske.
Michael Shank's
having a great time!
So that led them to add
a second car full-time.
So, I think they're still
in the growing stages.
[Indistinct conversations]
And I'll be really surprised
if they're not more
competitive this year.
Couple things I want to do --
I want to win it again,
and I want to have multiple
victories for not only Hélio
but for Simon, too,
'cause Simon won in 2019.
So to be a part of multiple
winners with different teams
is a really special thing for me
to show that our team
is capable of winning
like the other teams are.
Both of our drivers
running at Penske
were a big reason
why we hired them
- You're adapting, you see?
- Yes.
because that mentality
at Penske
is obviously
at the top of the world.
It's top of the food chain.
I want Penske
and Ganassi and Andretti.
I want them to keep winning
because when I beat them,
it's just perfect.
That means
I've really done something.
I want them trying as hard
as they've ever tried,
'cause I am.
♪♪
I would love to, uh,
be as skinny
as a lot of these guys are,
but I just keep blaming Dad.
It's something genetically
that he just didn't give me,
you know?
Six-pack was not in my genes.
As I have gotten older,
after a race,
freaking knee hurts.
My sciatic nerve gives me
lightning bolts all the time.
My neck's out of whack.
I'm like my dad now.
My dad's, like, had every body
part replaced surgically.
I think that's my future,
pretty much.
So
[Mid-tempo music playing]
I never thought I would be
an owner of IndyCar team.
Bobby Rahal and I would discuss
kind of jokingly
that I could be a-a-an owner
of a team.
So that's how I fit in,
as mostly a joke.
[Music winds down]
This year we have three drivers
for the series.
We have Christian Lundgaard,
who is very young,
we have Jack Harvey,
who I think is in his late 20s,
and we have Graham Rahal,
who is the oldest
of those three drivers,
and we're right there.
We are so silly close.
When we break through,
I'll come back
and talk to you
some more about it.
My relationship with Dave
has always been
really, really good.
I mean, he loves IndyCar racing.
Growing up,
my dad raced IndyCars, as well.
For me, it was in the blood.
The only thing I ever loved,
you know, as a little kid
was to be at the races
and to be with Dad.
There goes Rahal!
He's going to get by
on the inside!
Bobby Rahal
has gone by Rick Mears
and now taken the lead
in the Indianapolis 500!
Accelerates,
and Bobby Rahal has won
his first Indianapolis 500!
The Indy 500 --
it can change
your world forever.
I've seen it.
I've witnessed it,
you know, with my dad.
So, for me,
that is what drives me --
if you could have one Indy 500
or four like Hélio.
Notice as I get older,
I just sweat more,
which I think enhances
the appearance that you're
working harder than you are.
[Chuckles]
Racing's not fun
if you're not winning.
Racing's not fun if you're
finishing 10th to 15th.
Texas was just a bust.
So disappointing.
- Two cars in the wall!
- Graham Rahal!
Oh, boy.
[Crowd gasps]
♪♪
Unfortunately, Graham Rahal
is finished for the day.
This entire weekend,
we expected a lot,
and none of us
were in the window at all,
and for a team like us,
it's absolutely unacceptable.
But now we can't fix that.
We have to go forward.
Get that left knee
lower to the floor.
- I'm trying.
- My goals for this year,
number one,
is to get a win right away.
Long Beach, I finished
on the podium
just a couple of years ago.
I mean, we need to get
the monkey off our back.
♪♪
And we can.
Believe me, we can.
That has fueled everybody
within the RLL organization,
and I think we're going to be
a player the rest of the year.
[Breathes heavily]
Damn.
♪♪
Ah.
You know, sometimes
people think
that just because
we're a racecar driver,
we carry this label that we're,
like, reckless, right?
And it's different.
It's the opposite, actually.
And the worst thing is when
you are on the left lane,
they are supposed to know
that the left lane
is whoever is in a hurry.
My wife says that I drive
like an old lady.
Nothing against
little old ladies, by the way,
'cause I think
they drive very well.
That's him, I think, right?
Is it dry?
That's --
I'm saving the planet.
- Oh, saving the planet.
- That's good.
I thought you were warming up.
Ah. No, sir.
[Laughs]
Where are we going?
Ah, just the tennis here
on the left.
- Ah, aquí. I see it.
- All right.
That's my competitor.
There we go.
What kind of tennis player
he's going to be?
He's going to be clever.
- Oh-ho-ho-ho!
- He's going to be --
He's going to be the guy
that, you know,
look for it and then --
Kills.
and then gets you
when you don't expect it to be.
I-I'm more like the guy
that goes for it.
I see. I said it. I said it.
- All right, let's play.
- All right.
I serve because I'm older.
[Grunts]
♪♪
[Groaning]
♪♪
- Aah!
- Nice!
- Nice!
- [Laughs]
That was beautiful!
It was beautiful.
You went from
Spider-Man to Superman.
♪♪
I fell into his trap.
Exactly what you're not
supposed to do.
Score is 6-5.
[Grunts]
- Ay, ay, ay, ay!
- Now, now, now!
Why?! I have to watch the line!
Why?!
- I won.
- Whoo!
Oh, we get the flexibility
of that young man.
Well done. It's good.
The pyramid in motorsport
is so steep.
Coming from the beginning
up to that level is insane.
Already,
when you're the top level,
you are a very good driver.
You've made it
through the field.
You've made it through
the competition.
♪♪
And then it's all in here.
If I win the race,
that's because I was the fastest
and I was clean.
♪♪
I'd like to win
the IndyCar championship.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
We have a chance this year.
We have a very strong car,
very strong team.
I really like Kyle. I think
he's a very talented driver --
superfast.
He's a very nice person,
as well, to work with.
Well, hopefully
the water's clear.
We shall see at low tide.
[Birds chirping]
You want me to grab this?
Oh, okay then.
[Engine starts]
We're in Pompano Beach
right now,
and we're going to try
and catch lobsters.
What are we going to go?
Secret spot.
Racing has definitely
controlled my entire life,
and you don't really
get many days like this.
We're able to get get
a little bit of time
to come back down here and do
some fishing, do some diving.
It's kind of been my lifestyle
before I even knew
anything about racing.
The expectations coming from
a Andretti Autosport driver
is quite high.
We are in a quite a good
position in a lot of races
and, um, just bad things happen.
♪♪
- Ohh!
- Hey! No!
We have a car up and over --
Kyle Kirkwood!
- Ahh!
- I'm okay, but the car is not.
♪♪
There was contact
on pit road --
bam, right there! --
between Kyle Kirkwood
and Alexander Rossi.
You call it.
Shut it off. Shut it off.
Sorry, pal.
I-It's toast. It's smoking.
And that's the end of the day.
There are expectations
that come from a team
like Andretti Autosport,
where it's like, "Hey,
we produce race-winning cars.
We have a race-winning team.
We have the best personnel
in the series.
We should be winning."
I had one inside my hand,
but, no, I didn't catch it.
♪♪
Let me try and get this one
one more time.
♪♪
I think it's super important
for me to get a win.
It's something I would say
is a goal of mine
and I think it's kind
of expected from everyone.
It's kind of flattened out.
I'm going to check
this last one right here.
Andretti Autosport
has a car to win
every racetrack that we go to.
We're here to go out there
and win races and win the 500.
There's, uh -- There's no other
time than the present.
- I got one!
- Ooh!
That's a keeper!
It's the only one I've seen
so far that's legal,
so I'm happy with this.
Oh, yeah. Solid keeper.
- Hey, at least we got one.
- [Laughs]
♪♪
Hey! ♪
♪♪
Hey! ♪
♪♪
- Hey! ♪
- Long Beach is
the Monaco Grand Prix
of IndyCar.
- It is beautiful.
- Hey! ♪
- It's on the California coast.
- It is a party all weekend long.
- Hey! ♪
- Walk on the beach ♪
on Sunday afternoon
and make her feel alive ♪
Oh, yeah ♪
It's got such an energy,
such a vibe,
- and so much history.
- Drive for 5!
On top of that, it's a really
fun track to drive.
Baby, I've been missin' ya ♪
You're on your iPhone,
perfect ♪
But you hit me out of bounds
anyway ♪
I just wanna give
what you want ♪
I've been thinkin' 'bout you
every day ♪
Got you waitin'
for me to call ♪
Front straightaway
along the shoreline there.
You've got the ocean
to your left.
- You go into these
- Hey! ♪
really iconic corners,
as well.
[Engines revving]
- After Indy, that race
- Hey! ♪
is the one the drivers
want to win the most.
Hey! ♪
What's up with
the sunglasses?
- You don't like these?
- It's team vibes.
He's already
in a different league.
- I-I-I don't understand it.
- [Speaking indistinctly]
Hélio, this is team vibes
right here, okay?
I feel really good.
I'm excited to be here.
You know, Long Beach
is a classic for everybody.
It's one of those events
that everybody puts
on their bucket list
that they want to win.
I feel good.
I mean, Long Beach has always
been a great place for me.
And, you know,
my wife's from out here,
so, for me, it's kind of
like second home a little bit.
So I -- you know,
I feel good about it for sure.
- What are we doing?
- We're gonna touch a jellyfish.
- Go and touch jellyfish?
- [Chuckling] Yeah.
Right, Harlan?
The not-fun side
of being an IndyCar driver
is the travel.
You know,
people often say to me,
"Oh, man, it must be
so cool to travel."
Yeah, not when you do it
275 days a year.
- Feel it.
- Okay.
Aah!
[Both laugh]
- Okay. Come on.
- We're going to go upstairs
and see some big fishies --
colorful fishies.
It gets harder
to be on the road.
It gets harder to commit
yourself day in and day out
to the same level.
I've been able to do it,
but it takes a really great
support staff at home
and it takes the girls
coming on the road a lot
in order to make all of
those things blend and mesh.
Look, Harlan, look. Look up.
- Look up. See him?
- He's smiling at you.
You know, with Harlan
right now,
there's a new word
that comes out
or some new experience
every single day.
And when you're getting that
via a photo on your phone,
it leaves a little bit
of a hole in the heart.
- Oh!
- [Chuckles]
[Chuckling] Oh, there he is.
With us having kids,
it's cool to show them
kind of the way
that we grew up
out at the racetrack
and kind of giving them
that same --
same childhood a little bit.
And I think back to, you know,
when I was a kid.
There were so many things
that I would have loved
to do with my dad, you know,
because he was gone a lot.
And so I want my girls to know
that I'm there for them,
you know,
and whatever they need.
[Engines revving in distance]
- [Speaks indistinctly]
- But you can --
you can throw away your whole
qualifying line easily.
But are you committing
to throttle before the bump?
- No.
- What?!
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Mnh-mnh. No.
- I'm not. [Chuckles]
I felt good there.
I'm bombing that bitch
in there, bro.
♪♪
What a day for go fast day
as we welcome you
to Southern California
on a really exciting day.
Huge festival of motorsport here
today, folks.
This is the most exciting
part of the weekend, I think.
You know, qualifying is so,
so important.
♪♪
They're coming at us,
pull down the hood ♪
Let's take the wheel
and get out for good ♪
- [Cellphone rings]
- It's hardly speed 12.
It's all going pretty good.
- All right.
- Well, Graham Rahal has finished
a lot further back
than where he would like to be.
- A little bit of understeer.
- It just doesn't accelerate.
I like Newgarden's
strategy here.
I mean, he's going to get
the timing line here
and just fire off.
- Only two cars on black.
- They're 10th and 11th.
Josef Newgarden will start 8th.
♪♪
This is Pato O'Ward.
He's still hustling
this Arrow McLaren.
What a confident drive
right now for Pato O'Ward --
every inch of the road.
- Ohh!
- Oh, big lockup!
- Finished in 5th.
- Finished in 5th.
That's going to cost him
a bit of time.
He sort of salvaged it, but --
Oh, he lost 2/10.
And that's it.
He's out. He's done.
And so it's not going to be
a pole position for Pato O'Ward.
♪♪
So this is going to be the lap
that really counts
for Kyle Kirkwood.
- Oh, it looks good.
- It looks really good!
[Engine revving]
Kyle Kirkwood
for Andretti Autosport
is going to cycle to the top!
- [All cheering]
- Pole position. Great job.
Let's go, boys! Come on!
Kyle Kirkwood gets his first
NTT IndyCar pole position.
Romain Grosjean's there
to congratulate his teammate.
- What an impressive performance.
- Way to go!
This Andretti Autosport squad
is definitely firing
on all cylinders right now.
[Cheers and applause]
As a young man
who grew up dreaming
that you would be a driver
in this series someday,
what does that first
pole position mean to you?
It's kind of solidifying
myself, right?
It's like,
"Okay, he can do this now.
He's starting from the pole."
A lot of people win
from the pole.
It's a -- It's a good moment,
no doubt.
- [Cheers and applause]
- Yeah, baby!
[Indistinct conversations]
What's up?!
Newgarden, 2 crew!
- What time is it, Charles?
- Whoo! Business time!
Yeaaaaaaaaah!
♪♪
♪♪
IndyCar is the most
competitive form of motorsport.
You have to have a short memory.
You got to forget
about the last one.
Learn from what didn't go well
but move on to the next one.
Oh, what an afternoon
we have in store for you
here from Long Beach,
California.
Good luck, Josef!
- Will we see a new winner today?
- That's one of the questions.
And talk about a fresh face
on the pole position --
Kyle Kirkwood.
This young American
is trying to change the fortune
of his team, Andretti Autosport.
That's the first I've seen
with my T-shirt on.
Hopefully there will be more.
[Chuckles]
Go!
You always know
you're in Long Beach.
When you go down
the front straight,
you get a nicesmell of
marijuana through your helmet.
Hey, let's step on it
a little bit.
I gotta find the Porta-Potty.
- [Laughs]
- Faster! [Chuckles]
- [Horns honking]
- We love you!
[Speaks indistinctly]
♪♪
[Horns honking]
- Love you.
- I love you.
[Speaking indistinctly]
- Love you, Tinley.
- Guys, over the grid, please.
- Over the grid.
- [Chuckles]
- Get off the grid.
- Okay.
- Okay. Come on, Harlan.
- I'll see you guys
- after the race.
- Bye!
Kyle, you're used to running up
front throughout your career,
but is there a different level
of competition
you have to learn
to run up front in IndyCar?
No doubt. I mean, everyone's
going to be fighting
for that top position.
Fingers crossed, we get
through the start really well.
If we get through the start,
I have a good feeling
that we can hang on to it
for a while.
[Jet engines roaring]
26% of the pole winners
have gone on
to win the race at Long Beach.
Kyle Kirkwood hoping to come
through with that as well today.
- Kyle, just get ready.
- Get ready.
24-year-old Floridian
Kyle Kirkwood.
Now he heads
this star-studded field
at the biggest event outside
the Indianapolis 500!
The Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach is away,
and Kirkwood gets a pole start!
Kyle Kirkwood leading,
but, side by side, Grosjean
and Josef Newgarden
heading into the fountain.
This is one lane only.
[Engines revving]
[Tires screech]
Hélio Castroneves in the wall.
The 4-time
Indianapolis 500 winner.
As soon as we go green,
we go yellow.
- We are full-course yellow.
- Pits are closed.
Castroneves comfortably
inside the number 45,
but Christian Lundgaard --
did he get tapped?
Yeah, I did not touch him.
It was Hélio.
I did not touch him.
I think he took a lot of curb
into turn 1,
got aggressive
on the throttle,
and that was enough
to pitch him around.
- So critical here.
- All right. We have to pit now.
We're going to put
the new front wing on.
We're gonna make this quick.
If the thing hit
square into the wall
and it just needs
a nose and wing,
Hélio Castroneves
might be okay.
- No. Come on.
- Get out of the way.
Get out of --
Get out of the way!
Come on. Go, go, go, go, go!
[Engine revving]
There's Hélio Castroneves
having to watch everybody go by.
He almost made it --
the pace car
just passing him on pit lane.
You go to the back
of the pack, Hélio.
So now Castroneves, a lap down,
has to let the field by
for this restart.
This place is hot enough as
it is without being a lap down.
All right.
You ready to do it again?
Green, green, green.
Back to racing here
on the streets of Long Beach,
and Kyle Kirkwood is gone!
Takes off
on a beautiful restart.
Kyle Kirkwood leads the way
and has almost a one-second
advantage over Marcus Ericsson,
the Indy 500 champ.
Let me know if Pato
starts slicing through.
- We're okay. Pace is very good.
- Plus 1.5 over Ericsson.
Just keep doing
what you're doing.
Already 16 laps into this
85-lap Grand Prix of Long Beach.
That's a great way to protect
against Newgarden.
Things starting
to get tight here.
That's the white-and-black car
of Josef Newgarden
with a great run down Shoreline
on Grosjean.
Ducks inside,
and he's going to get him!
Penske is starting to show
that muscle, that durability,
- at this point in the stint.
- All right, Pato.
The leaders are starting
to dig a little bit.
If you can make a move,
you can make a move.
♪♪
Oh, now you got a car
in the barrier!
- Turn 8. Turn 8.
- Got a car in the tires.
Scott Dixon to the tire barrier
at turn 8.
- Pits are closed.
- Full-course yellow.
- That is Pato.
- Pato O'Ward inside.
And I'm sure Dixon
was just surprised. I --
- That's a late move.
- It came late,
but the contact was square,
shoulder to shoulder,
perfect alignment.
Well, th-that one's
on the edge for sure.
Incident at turn 8
between the 5 and the 9
is under review.
From Scott Dixon's standpoint,
he's turned in,
committed to the corner,
not thinking anyone was there.
So this --
this is good for us, Kyle.
This is a --
This is kind of ideal, really.
When the pits open,
we will come in.
We'll give you four tires
and fuel and send you back out.
Copy that.
Scott,
we're going to stop here.
We're going to look
at the front wing,
and we're going to
change the tires.
[Engines revving]
Pits are open. Pits are open.
This is going to
jumble things up.
Let's see who gets out
of the pits the best.
Here we are. 3, 2, 1. In.
Steering wheel straight.
Foot on the brake.
Within the window
to make it to the end
on just one more stop,
you see Josef Newgarden.
He gains more spots
here on pit road,
just avoiding Kyle Kirkwood.
The incident with the 9
and the 5 has been reviewed.
No action.
A couple cars stayed out,
so it looks like you are P2.
Yeah, 78 stayed out,
so he's technically the leader.
- Get ready.
- Green, green, green, green.
- Kirkwood, then you got him!
- We're back to racing
in the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach!
Now you've got Callum Ilott
coming out of the pits
in front of his teammate!
This is going to stack up
all the true race leaders.
Watch the frustration
develop here.
- Down to turn 8.
- Here comes O'Ward again!
Pato O'Ward spins!
Ericsson hits him!
Kirkwood gets away with it!
- We saw that.
- Is there any damage?
- I think it's fine.
- Rear left feels weird.
We're just so impatient.
Not the kind of move
you need to make
- at that part of the race.
- Okay, pace car.
New leader is car 2. Car 2.
- Check this out. There's --
- Oh.
- Canapino gets sideways.
- Oh!
Kirkwood hits him.
There goes Newgarden flashing by
on the run downhill to turn 8.
I feel like Kirkwood just
escaped total disaster there.
We're slowly approaching
the halfway mark
of this Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach.
Josef Newgarden for Team Penske
leads the AutoNation Honda
of Kyle Kirkwood
for Andretti Autosport,
and then right behind
is Romain Grosjean.
The pressure is on at the front.
Okay. Uh, we can start putting
some pressure on Josef now.
This is 17 laps
on this set of tires.
Copy that.
[Engines revving]
There's Graham Rahal.
Graham already up eight spots
from the start,
doing what he does on Sundays.
Nice job. You're currently P16.
Rahal's just stuck
in this line of cars.
It's so frustrating when
you feel like you have more pace
than the cars in front of you.
Tough start to the season
for that whole
Rahal Letterman Lanigan team.
- How's Dad doing?
- Oh, you drive too fast!
It's comforting that
he's running a good race.
I mean, obviously, he started
from the back,
so it's not the best position
to be in on race day,
but he's moving through the
field like I thought he would,
and that's, I think,
the positive.
Anything can happen
in one of these races,
and your anxiety is high
until the checkered flag is out.
[Chuckles]
- I got a major problem.
- Copy.
Yeah, we'll shut it off there.
You got no oil pressure at all.
- Dixon, no oil pressure.
- He is off the track.
Lots of reason to be
frustrated with a fast car.
Uh, the contact with Pato O'Ward
that set you back early --
how did you see that?
Uh, I don't know. To me --
I haven't seen
proper replays of it yet,
but that seemed extremely late.
You know, I wouldn't have
chosen to do that.
But if, uh -- if that's how
the series wants us to race,
then I guess it's all gloves off
from, uh -- from this point.
[Engines revving]
- Get this lap here.
- Come again?
Get this lap.
Look who's in the pit --
the 2.
That's in early.
Josef Newgarden,
final stop of the day.
- Bro, get this lap.
- Pit, pit, pit.
That's a fuel alarm going off
on Kyle Kirkwood's dash there --
the red and white lights.
Grosjean's in the pits.
His teammate Grosjean
gives up a second place.
See what happens
with Grosjean blending out.
Where's Josef Newgarden?
Grosjean gets out ahead.
[Engines revving]
[Bleep]
Kyle Kirkwood
diving into the pits.
Now it's all in the hands
of the pit crew.
- Kyle is in his marks well.
- Team gets him going.
[Engine revs]
And he nails it!
Here it is! It's a drag race!
[Engines revving]
Kirkwood's going to
beat them both out!
Can he hang tough
with 31 to go?
- [Cheers and applause]
- Yeah!
Andretti Autosport running
1-2 at Long Beach.
And it is what it is now.
You got to save
a ton of fuel for us.
Pretty much going to have
to let the 8 go
to make the numbers --
probably the 26.
Marcus Ericsson is the best
for Chip Ganassi Racing,
and here he is here on
the inside of Josef Newgarden.
That's for a spot on the podium!
Colton Herta now
is making that move on the 2.
Just cannot defend.
So frustrating
and spirit-crushing
just to be sitting there
trying to get to the end on fuel
over these closing 19 laps
as everybody's coming on attack.
- Painful.
- I know it's painful.
Yeah. [Speaks indistinctly]
It's either that
or finish 18th.
♪♪
Okay, 18 to go.
You are plus-2 seconds
over Grosjean.
What must be going
through Kirkwood's head?
This is essentially
one of the majors.
This will mean so much.
White flag. Team 2, you're good
to the finish here, bud.
He had to answer
a lot of uncomfortable questions
last year in his rookie year.
It didn't pan out the way
that he had hoped,
but the famous Andretti name
with a young American
behind the wheel,
Kyle Kirkwood, is your latest
IndyCar race winner!
He wins the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach!
You just want the Long Beach
Grand Prix, buddy!
Way to go!
Let's go! Yeah!
[All cheering]
Oh, my gosh!
Thank you so much, guys.
Amazing job. Amazing job.
Yeah!
- Stellar drive there, buddy.
- We went -- We went 1, 2, 4.
It was you, Grosjean,
Ericsson, and Colton 4th.
That's a good team result, too.
Way to go.
Couldn't ask
for a better day than that.
Whoo! That's the weekend
right there, baby!
Yeah!
There is Michael Andretti
celebrating.
- Enjoy this lap, pal.
- Enjoy this lap. Bring it home.
They'll guide you in
where to go --
victory lane, obviously.
I was over there.
♪♪
- Whoo!
- Way to crush it!
[Cheers and applause]
♪♪
I felt like I needed this win,
and we got it today,
and a moment of relief,
no doubt.
Kyle Kirkwood, a winner
on the IndyCar Series stage.
- What a pleasure
- Congratulations.
- Thank you so much.
- You're awesome. Guys.
- Thank you.
- [Speaking indistinctly]
Thank you.
[Indistinct conversations]
I'm wondering
if your emotions are mixed.
Your teammate won,
but you finished in P2.
Wish I was in his position
right now,
but he drove a hell
of a race like a champ,
and the whole weekend,
so he deserved that.
Yeah, I wish it was
the other way around,
but I have to say
Kyle deserved it this weekend.
This is where I won
my first race.
Yeah, I know. That's what
Colton was just telling me.
- That's cool, huh?
- Good job by the team
The winner of the 48th running
of the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach --
his first victory
in the IndyCar tour --
Kyle Kirkwood!
[Cheers and applause]
♪♪
♪♪
Well, you know what they say --
a bad day in L.A.
is better than a good day
anywhere else, so, um
Fate didn't really go our way.
I'm just -- I'm sad for my team.
I think it was a good save, uh,
from qualifying
- Yeah.
- to get a top 12.
It's not what we want. We want
to be winning races as a team.
We're learning
as we go a little bit,
and it's frustrating,
but it's the truth.
Obviously frustrating
with my mistake.
The results are not
what we wanted,
but everybody here
did a great job.
Yes, it hurts, but there was
always a blip on the radar.
And this might be the one.
The season
has not started off great
for Rahal Letterman Lanigan
and Meyer Shank.
They're probably a little bit
concerned about a lot of things,
I would say, based on the way
that they've opened the year.
♪♪
With "Dixie,"
well, I was on the inside.
He decided to stay
on the outside,
and he put himself in the tires.
I'm not apologizing for that.
These weekends will happen.
We obviously don't want
to have them.
We'll learn from today --
well, I will learn from today --
and we will move on.
We've talked a lot about
how there are kind
of two powerhouse teams
that have won every championship
for the last 10 years,
but McLaren
and Andretti Autosport
are definitely nipping
at their heels.
It's going to be exciting to see
how they carry this momentum
all the way through the season.
♪♪
- How many texts do I have?
- 421.
- [Laughs]
- [Bleep]
It was a cool day.
It was a cool day,
to say the least.
♪♪
- Have a good one.
- Have a good one.
[Indistinct conversations]
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
TTEOKBOKKIsubs
- Ready.
- Green, green, green, green.
You have to be brave.
This is a very demanding race.
[Engines revving]
Oh, Rosenqvist
with a monster jump.
Look at all the cars dropping
left sides in the grass!
Man, there's a lot of action,
a lot of moving around.
Texas was really the tale
of two races.
The first 3/4 of the race,
it was down to two drivers --
Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden.
[Engines revving]
The two strongest cars all day
run side by side, nose to nose,
with seven to go at the Y!
You got to take big risks
to get that big reward in Texas.
- He's on a mission!
- Good to go.
Romain Grosjean out for the
seventh race in a row!
And it was this
220-mile-an-hour chess match
Yellow, yellow.
who was gonna lead when
and be the last guy
across the line?
Preparing to go
to victory lane.
You know the way.
Ultimately, Josef put himself
in the right place
to be a winner again at Texas.
There's always been this talk
of the big three --
Ganassi, Penske, Andretti.
We're not far, man.
We're right there.
- [Cheers and applause]
- We've made a statement.
I know we didn't win the race,
but we sure as hell
showed everybody that --
that we were the class of the
field, uh, together with Josef.
♪♪
I think McLaren's confidence
as a team is sky high right now.
It looks like a few more drivers
and teams are in the mix,
which is just gonna make the
whole season more exciting.
The biggest event
outside the Indianapolis 500 --
the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach is away!
[Engines revving]
Long Beach is the
Monaco Grand Prix of IndyCar.
After Indy,
that race is the one the drivers
want to win the most.
I've got to continue pushing
for something
that nobody ever did.
Welcome to the 4-time club!
Long Beach, I finished on the
podium just a couple years ago,
and I think we're gonna be
a player.
♪♪
[Bird caws]
[Indistinct talking on
television, engines revving]
Green, green, green!
Here we go,
racing again in Texas!
I like to watch this back,
you know,
see the decision-making process
for everybody.
I feel really good right now.
You know, Team Penske as a whole
is in a really good place.
I think Long Beach
can be a good event for us.
So I think
we have the ability to win
any race that we show up to.
I knew Pato was going to be
my -- my biggest challenger.
I needed to get position on him.
So it's interesting
to watch this back
and see the decision process,
not -- not just for me
but for, also, Pato
and, you know,
why did he do what --
Why did he make the decisions he
made during the final part here?
The more diligent
that you are about notekeeping,
I think the better you can be
for -- for the next year.
- Kota man!
- Come here, dude.
Come here!
Do you want to come write notes?
What do you think?
Oh, that's a good note. Yeah.
- Just full notes.
- [Laughs]
- It's caution time.
- It's time to play.
Brace up.
That's how he gets in.
He knows exactly how
to get into this thing.
He just falls into it,
basically. Okay, buddy.
- You gotta go.
- You gotta go take a nap.
- Yay!
- It's bright. It's bright. Okay.
You've got to be really good
at resetting.
You've just got to continually
reset every weekend
and start fresh.
[Indistinct chatter
on television]
Pato was my biggest challenger.
If that yellow didn't come out
towards the end of the race,
it might have been hard
for me to catch him.
All right. You ready?
We told you at home to take
a breath, regroup, reset.
Now we go again.
And now to the lead
goes Josef Newgarden!
He's not going to go anywhere.
You know, he's going to be
someone that I have to compete
against all year
and for a while.
He's -- He's one of the best
out there.
The PPG 375
at Texas Motor Speedway
is won by Josef Newgarden
in the PPG Chevrolet
for Team Penske!
What's that?
Three wins
at Texas Motor Speedway!
That's how it worked out
for him in that race,
but I'm sure it's going to work
out the opposite in other races.
Which races will it be?
I have no idea.
But Josef should get used to it.
[Chuckles]
That's what we want to do
in and out, you know?
Joseph's in Penske.
So, like, if we want
to win championships
and we want to win Indy 500s,
we're going to have to bring it
to the Penskes
and the Ganassis every single
weekend, week in, week out.
Like, it's not -- it's not going
to be like, "Yeah, you know,
let's -- let's just beat them
one weekend
and forget about the rest."
We're going to Tony's house.
Tony's got this -- you know,
these, like, badass simulators,
and Tony Kanaan is one
of the most liked drivers
in the series
and Indy 500 winner.
Butterfly!
Butterfly?
- [Laughs]
- Pshoo!
Yes!
Every day I say good morning
to my kids, my wife,
and my boy Gordon.
[Chuckles]
I'm Tony Kanaan,
and I'm a professional
IndyCar driver.
The 12th time is the charm at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
The twin checkers wave!
T.K. has won the 2013 500!
[Cheers and applause]
Winning the 500
changed my life.
Today I'm having
my beautiful young teammate --
Pato's coming to the house.
We're going to do some, uh,
simulation, uh, testing.
Obviously in IndyCar,
we don't get to test
in real life all the time,
so I put a setup here at home.
The sim that I use is this one.
This is my baby.
It's my seat position
where my arm,
my -- my brake pedal,
everything the way I like it,
it's all set up for me.
[Engine revving]
I think one of the reasons
that Arrow McLaren got me
was to add more experience to
the young guns that they have.
- Hey!
- They're plenty fast.
But we -- we exchange
information, for sure.
- Nice!
- But they are your teammates
until the green flag drops.
What are we driving --
Long Beach?
I thought --
I thought I'd sim Long Beach.
Long Beach?
As much as this is still
a video game,
like, how Tony has it set up,
it's the closest you're gonna
get it to the real car.
[Engines revving]
It is very difficult to
actually practice in motorsports
because it's so expensive.
Ahh, you --
♪♪
They can simulate and get
pretty close to it.
[Engine revving]
In my opinion, he is,
of the young generation,
probably the most raw,
pure talent
I've ever seen.
♪♪
[Laughs]
[Bleep] [Speaks Spanish]
Did you beat me yet?
No. Man, I've had one flyer.
- I keep crashing on the out lap.
- Me, too.
He has everything.
He has the team.
He has the car.
He has the talent.
Now it's up to him to try to put
all these pieces together.
Old man's still got it
a little bit, no?
- Yeah.
- [Laughs]
Tony's been in this series
longer than I've been alive.
[Laughs]
That's a lot of experience
that I can tap into.
♪♪
I'm always gonna find ways
to improve.
But we've had a phenomenal start
to the season.
That's already two races
that we could have won.
But Long Beach is -- well, you
can't make a lot of errors.
You've got a nice wall.
- Watch him go right in the wall!
- Oh, no!
- Oh, my goodness!
- Imagine I was in the garden.
- Go!
- Marcus Ericsson in the wall!
I'm in the wall.
- Oh, no!
- Big crash!
It was just a stupid mistake.
Right now we're on our way
to the racetrack.
There is a very
special ceremony.
We're going to have the brick of
the four-timers in a racetrack,
which is right
at the Brickyard.
I'm actually got to
contain here my emotions,
because [Sighs] this is an honor
to be in this place,
which I call the home
of the -- the gods of racing.
So, like always, we're waiting
on the racecar driver.
All right.
I know we're all cold,
so I'm going to make this quick.
In front of us are 576 bricks.
These 576 bricks
are 114 years old,
and most of them have been
the start/finish line
for those 114 years.
So this is the fourth time
in our 114-year history
that this has happened
where the owner of the speedway
and one of the drivers
is going to get
an opportunity to unveil that.
So, Hélio, I'm going to have you
grab that corner up front,
and, Roger,
if you can get this one.
3, 2, 1.
Let's bring it on back.
There you go --
the new yard of bricks.
that includes the bricks
from our four four-time winners
and the brick in the middle
to commemorate
the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
- We've had a few of these, huh?
- Oh, my God. Yeah.
In the history
of the Indianapolis 500,
only four guys were able
to do Indy 500 four times --
A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears,
Al Unser Sr.,
and I can't believe I'm in,
uh -- in this amazing group.
[Cheers and applause]
So I won Indianapolis 500
in 2001,
in 2002,
2009, and 2021.
♪♪
Hélio Castroneves has won
the Indianapolis 500!
- He's done it!
- Two in a row!
Castroneves
goes to the fence again!
- We did it again!
- We did it again!
Whoo!
A 3-time winner of the biggest
race in the world!
Hélio Castroneves wins at Indy!
- He did it!
- Yeah, baby! Whoo!
Welcome to the 4-time club!
Unbelievable!
"Spider-Man" is back
at the speedway!
[Cheers and applause]
I'm just so blessed to not
only, um, believe in, um --
in myself, I believe
in what I love, and be
Hélio getting his own brick
at the speedway --
Name me another sport
where only four people on earth
have accomplished something.
To be a four-time winner
at the Speedway is
I can't even think of anything
else in sports to compare it to.
It is so, so difficult.
It's just a statement
that when you believe
dreams come true --
and I did dream
about the -- that fourth --
and, um --
and it came a little late,
but, uh [Chuckles] it's
better late than never.
- You have plenty more time here.
- I know, I know.
Hopefully we're
going to have you ready.
You're going to give
your, uh --
uh, your run for the money
for sure
with your team and your, uh --
your drivers,
and I'll definitely -- going
to try to stop them for sure.
But, uh, wow.
This is a-a-an incredible dream.
Thank you, everyone,
from Indianapolis.
- I appreciate it. Thank you.
- Congratulations, Hélio.
- Well deserved, obviously.
- Thank you.
- Good luck.
- [Applause]
Hélio left Penske in 2019,
and a lot of people weren't sure
if he was ever going to have
a chance to win the 500 again.
That's the winningest team
in 500 history.
But, sure enough,
you go to 2021,
he lands
with Meyer Shank Racing,
and he pulls it off
with the little team that could.
Amazing. Amazing. Thank you.
I think every year
the expectations
of Meyer Shank go up.
You know, they started
as a small, one-car,
part-time team.
Now they've got a two-car team.
One driver's won four Indy 500s.
One driver has won
a championship at an Indy 500.
It's kind of now or never
for Meyer Shank.
He's very much like me --
passionate.
He loves racing.
He threw everything in the line
to make it happen.
Meyer Shank Racing is still
a relatively young team,
but they won the
Indianapolis 500 two years ago,
and that was probably
a little bit ahead of schedule.
They had Hélio Castroneves,
who had already won it
three times with Team Penske.
Michael Shank's
having a great time!
So that led them to add
a second car full-time.
So, I think they're still
in the growing stages.
[Indistinct conversations]
And I'll be really surprised
if they're not more
competitive this year.
Couple things I want to do --
I want to win it again,
and I want to have multiple
victories for not only Hélio
but for Simon, too,
'cause Simon won in 2019.
So to be a part of multiple
winners with different teams
is a really special thing for me
to show that our team
is capable of winning
like the other teams are.
Both of our drivers
running at Penske
were a big reason
why we hired them
- You're adapting, you see?
- Yes.
because that mentality
at Penske
is obviously
at the top of the world.
It's top of the food chain.
I want Penske
and Ganassi and Andretti.
I want them to keep winning
because when I beat them,
it's just perfect.
That means
I've really done something.
I want them trying as hard
as they've ever tried,
'cause I am.
♪♪
I would love to, uh,
be as skinny
as a lot of these guys are,
but I just keep blaming Dad.
It's something genetically
that he just didn't give me,
you know?
Six-pack was not in my genes.
As I have gotten older,
after a race,
freaking knee hurts.
My sciatic nerve gives me
lightning bolts all the time.
My neck's out of whack.
I'm like my dad now.
My dad's, like, had every body
part replaced surgically.
I think that's my future,
pretty much.
So
[Mid-tempo music playing]
I never thought I would be
an owner of IndyCar team.
Bobby Rahal and I would discuss
kind of jokingly
that I could be a-a-an owner
of a team.
So that's how I fit in,
as mostly a joke.
[Music winds down]
This year we have three drivers
for the series.
We have Christian Lundgaard,
who is very young,
we have Jack Harvey,
who I think is in his late 20s,
and we have Graham Rahal,
who is the oldest
of those three drivers,
and we're right there.
We are so silly close.
When we break through,
I'll come back
and talk to you
some more about it.
My relationship with Dave
has always been
really, really good.
I mean, he loves IndyCar racing.
Growing up,
my dad raced IndyCars, as well.
For me, it was in the blood.
The only thing I ever loved,
you know, as a little kid
was to be at the races
and to be with Dad.
There goes Rahal!
He's going to get by
on the inside!
Bobby Rahal
has gone by Rick Mears
and now taken the lead
in the Indianapolis 500!
Accelerates,
and Bobby Rahal has won
his first Indianapolis 500!
The Indy 500 --
it can change
your world forever.
I've seen it.
I've witnessed it,
you know, with my dad.
So, for me,
that is what drives me --
if you could have one Indy 500
or four like Hélio.
Notice as I get older,
I just sweat more,
which I think enhances
the appearance that you're
working harder than you are.
[Chuckles]
Racing's not fun
if you're not winning.
Racing's not fun if you're
finishing 10th to 15th.
Texas was just a bust.
So disappointing.
- Two cars in the wall!
- Graham Rahal!
Oh, boy.
[Crowd gasps]
♪♪
Unfortunately, Graham Rahal
is finished for the day.
This entire weekend,
we expected a lot,
and none of us
were in the window at all,
and for a team like us,
it's absolutely unacceptable.
But now we can't fix that.
We have to go forward.
Get that left knee
lower to the floor.
- I'm trying.
- My goals for this year,
number one,
is to get a win right away.
Long Beach, I finished
on the podium
just a couple of years ago.
I mean, we need to get
the monkey off our back.
♪♪
And we can.
Believe me, we can.
That has fueled everybody
within the RLL organization,
and I think we're going to be
a player the rest of the year.
[Breathes heavily]
Damn.
♪♪
Ah.
You know, sometimes
people think
that just because
we're a racecar driver,
we carry this label that we're,
like, reckless, right?
And it's different.
It's the opposite, actually.
And the worst thing is when
you are on the left lane,
they are supposed to know
that the left lane
is whoever is in a hurry.
My wife says that I drive
like an old lady.
Nothing against
little old ladies, by the way,
'cause I think
they drive very well.
That's him, I think, right?
Is it dry?
That's --
I'm saving the planet.
- Oh, saving the planet.
- That's good.
I thought you were warming up.
Ah. No, sir.
[Laughs]
Where are we going?
Ah, just the tennis here
on the left.
- Ah, aquí. I see it.
- All right.
That's my competitor.
There we go.
What kind of tennis player
he's going to be?
He's going to be clever.
- Oh-ho-ho-ho!
- He's going to be --
He's going to be the guy
that, you know,
look for it and then --
Kills.
and then gets you
when you don't expect it to be.
I-I'm more like the guy
that goes for it.
I see. I said it. I said it.
- All right, let's play.
- All right.
I serve because I'm older.
[Grunts]
♪♪
[Groaning]
♪♪
- Aah!
- Nice!
- Nice!
- [Laughs]
That was beautiful!
It was beautiful.
You went from
Spider-Man to Superman.
♪♪
I fell into his trap.
Exactly what you're not
supposed to do.
Score is 6-5.
[Grunts]
- Ay, ay, ay, ay!
- Now, now, now!
Why?! I have to watch the line!
Why?!
- I won.
- Whoo!
Oh, we get the flexibility
of that young man.
Well done. It's good.
The pyramid in motorsport
is so steep.
Coming from the beginning
up to that level is insane.
Already,
when you're the top level,
you are a very good driver.
You've made it
through the field.
You've made it through
the competition.
♪♪
And then it's all in here.
If I win the race,
that's because I was the fastest
and I was clean.
♪♪
I'd like to win
the IndyCar championship.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
We have a chance this year.
We have a very strong car,
very strong team.
I really like Kyle. I think
he's a very talented driver --
superfast.
He's a very nice person,
as well, to work with.
Well, hopefully
the water's clear.
We shall see at low tide.
[Birds chirping]
You want me to grab this?
Oh, okay then.
[Engine starts]
We're in Pompano Beach
right now,
and we're going to try
and catch lobsters.
What are we going to go?
Secret spot.
Racing has definitely
controlled my entire life,
and you don't really
get many days like this.
We're able to get get
a little bit of time
to come back down here and do
some fishing, do some diving.
It's kind of been my lifestyle
before I even knew
anything about racing.
The expectations coming from
a Andretti Autosport driver
is quite high.
We are in a quite a good
position in a lot of races
and, um, just bad things happen.
♪♪
- Ohh!
- Hey! No!
We have a car up and over --
Kyle Kirkwood!
- Ahh!
- I'm okay, but the car is not.
♪♪
There was contact
on pit road --
bam, right there! --
between Kyle Kirkwood
and Alexander Rossi.
You call it.
Shut it off. Shut it off.
Sorry, pal.
I-It's toast. It's smoking.
And that's the end of the day.
There are expectations
that come from a team
like Andretti Autosport,
where it's like, "Hey,
we produce race-winning cars.
We have a race-winning team.
We have the best personnel
in the series.
We should be winning."
I had one inside my hand,
but, no, I didn't catch it.
♪♪
Let me try and get this one
one more time.
♪♪
I think it's super important
for me to get a win.
It's something I would say
is a goal of mine
and I think it's kind
of expected from everyone.
It's kind of flattened out.
I'm going to check
this last one right here.
Andretti Autosport
has a car to win
every racetrack that we go to.
We're here to go out there
and win races and win the 500.
There's, uh -- There's no other
time than the present.
- I got one!
- Ooh!
That's a keeper!
It's the only one I've seen
so far that's legal,
so I'm happy with this.
Oh, yeah. Solid keeper.
- Hey, at least we got one.
- [Laughs]
♪♪
Hey! ♪
♪♪
Hey! ♪
♪♪
- Hey! ♪
- Long Beach is
the Monaco Grand Prix
of IndyCar.
- It is beautiful.
- Hey! ♪
- It's on the California coast.
- It is a party all weekend long.
- Hey! ♪
- Walk on the beach ♪
on Sunday afternoon
and make her feel alive ♪
Oh, yeah ♪
It's got such an energy,
such a vibe,
- and so much history.
- Drive for 5!
On top of that, it's a really
fun track to drive.
Baby, I've been missin' ya ♪
You're on your iPhone,
perfect ♪
But you hit me out of bounds
anyway ♪
I just wanna give
what you want ♪
I've been thinkin' 'bout you
every day ♪
Got you waitin'
for me to call ♪
Front straightaway
along the shoreline there.
You've got the ocean
to your left.
- You go into these
- Hey! ♪
really iconic corners,
as well.
[Engines revving]
- After Indy, that race
- Hey! ♪
is the one the drivers
want to win the most.
Hey! ♪
What's up with
the sunglasses?
- You don't like these?
- It's team vibes.
He's already
in a different league.
- I-I-I don't understand it.
- [Speaking indistinctly]
Hélio, this is team vibes
right here, okay?
I feel really good.
I'm excited to be here.
You know, Long Beach
is a classic for everybody.
It's one of those events
that everybody puts
on their bucket list
that they want to win.
I feel good.
I mean, Long Beach has always
been a great place for me.
And, you know,
my wife's from out here,
so, for me, it's kind of
like second home a little bit.
So I -- you know,
I feel good about it for sure.
- What are we doing?
- We're gonna touch a jellyfish.
- Go and touch jellyfish?
- [Chuckling] Yeah.
Right, Harlan?
The not-fun side
of being an IndyCar driver
is the travel.
You know,
people often say to me,
"Oh, man, it must be
so cool to travel."
Yeah, not when you do it
275 days a year.
- Feel it.
- Okay.
Aah!
[Both laugh]
- Okay. Come on.
- We're going to go upstairs
and see some big fishies --
colorful fishies.
It gets harder
to be on the road.
It gets harder to commit
yourself day in and day out
to the same level.
I've been able to do it,
but it takes a really great
support staff at home
and it takes the girls
coming on the road a lot
in order to make all of
those things blend and mesh.
Look, Harlan, look. Look up.
- Look up. See him?
- He's smiling at you.
You know, with Harlan
right now,
there's a new word
that comes out
or some new experience
every single day.
And when you're getting that
via a photo on your phone,
it leaves a little bit
of a hole in the heart.
- Oh!
- [Chuckles]
[Chuckling] Oh, there he is.
With us having kids,
it's cool to show them
kind of the way
that we grew up
out at the racetrack
and kind of giving them
that same --
same childhood a little bit.
And I think back to, you know,
when I was a kid.
There were so many things
that I would have loved
to do with my dad, you know,
because he was gone a lot.
And so I want my girls to know
that I'm there for them,
you know,
and whatever they need.
[Engines revving in distance]
- [Speaks indistinctly]
- But you can --
you can throw away your whole
qualifying line easily.
But are you committing
to throttle before the bump?
- No.
- What?!
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Mnh-mnh. No.
- I'm not. [Chuckles]
I felt good there.
I'm bombing that bitch
in there, bro.
♪♪
What a day for go fast day
as we welcome you
to Southern California
on a really exciting day.
Huge festival of motorsport here
today, folks.
This is the most exciting
part of the weekend, I think.
You know, qualifying is so,
so important.
♪♪
They're coming at us,
pull down the hood ♪
Let's take the wheel
and get out for good ♪
- [Cellphone rings]
- It's hardly speed 12.
It's all going pretty good.
- All right.
- Well, Graham Rahal has finished
a lot further back
than where he would like to be.
- A little bit of understeer.
- It just doesn't accelerate.
I like Newgarden's
strategy here.
I mean, he's going to get
the timing line here
and just fire off.
- Only two cars on black.
- They're 10th and 11th.
Josef Newgarden will start 8th.
♪♪
This is Pato O'Ward.
He's still hustling
this Arrow McLaren.
What a confident drive
right now for Pato O'Ward --
every inch of the road.
- Ohh!
- Oh, big lockup!
- Finished in 5th.
- Finished in 5th.
That's going to cost him
a bit of time.
He sort of salvaged it, but --
Oh, he lost 2/10.
And that's it.
He's out. He's done.
And so it's not going to be
a pole position for Pato O'Ward.
♪♪
So this is going to be the lap
that really counts
for Kyle Kirkwood.
- Oh, it looks good.
- It looks really good!
[Engine revving]
Kyle Kirkwood
for Andretti Autosport
is going to cycle to the top!
- [All cheering]
- Pole position. Great job.
Let's go, boys! Come on!
Kyle Kirkwood gets his first
NTT IndyCar pole position.
Romain Grosjean's there
to congratulate his teammate.
- What an impressive performance.
- Way to go!
This Andretti Autosport squad
is definitely firing
on all cylinders right now.
[Cheers and applause]
As a young man
who grew up dreaming
that you would be a driver
in this series someday,
what does that first
pole position mean to you?
It's kind of solidifying
myself, right?
It's like,
"Okay, he can do this now.
He's starting from the pole."
A lot of people win
from the pole.
It's a -- It's a good moment,
no doubt.
- [Cheers and applause]
- Yeah, baby!
[Indistinct conversations]
What's up?!
Newgarden, 2 crew!
- What time is it, Charles?
- Whoo! Business time!
Yeaaaaaaaaah!
♪♪
♪♪
IndyCar is the most
competitive form of motorsport.
You have to have a short memory.
You got to forget
about the last one.
Learn from what didn't go well
but move on to the next one.
Oh, what an afternoon
we have in store for you
here from Long Beach,
California.
Good luck, Josef!
- Will we see a new winner today?
- That's one of the questions.
And talk about a fresh face
on the pole position --
Kyle Kirkwood.
This young American
is trying to change the fortune
of his team, Andretti Autosport.
That's the first I've seen
with my T-shirt on.
Hopefully there will be more.
[Chuckles]
Go!
You always know
you're in Long Beach.
When you go down
the front straight,
you get a nicesmell of
marijuana through your helmet.
Hey, let's step on it
a little bit.
I gotta find the Porta-Potty.
- [Laughs]
- Faster! [Chuckles]
- [Horns honking]
- We love you!
[Speaks indistinctly]
♪♪
[Horns honking]
- Love you.
- I love you.
[Speaking indistinctly]
- Love you, Tinley.
- Guys, over the grid, please.
- Over the grid.
- [Chuckles]
- Get off the grid.
- Okay.
- Okay. Come on, Harlan.
- I'll see you guys
- after the race.
- Bye!
Kyle, you're used to running up
front throughout your career,
but is there a different level
of competition
you have to learn
to run up front in IndyCar?
No doubt. I mean, everyone's
going to be fighting
for that top position.
Fingers crossed, we get
through the start really well.
If we get through the start,
I have a good feeling
that we can hang on to it
for a while.
[Jet engines roaring]
26% of the pole winners
have gone on
to win the race at Long Beach.
Kyle Kirkwood hoping to come
through with that as well today.
- Kyle, just get ready.
- Get ready.
24-year-old Floridian
Kyle Kirkwood.
Now he heads
this star-studded field
at the biggest event outside
the Indianapolis 500!
The Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach is away,
and Kirkwood gets a pole start!
Kyle Kirkwood leading,
but, side by side, Grosjean
and Josef Newgarden
heading into the fountain.
This is one lane only.
[Engines revving]
[Tires screech]
Hélio Castroneves in the wall.
The 4-time
Indianapolis 500 winner.
As soon as we go green,
we go yellow.
- We are full-course yellow.
- Pits are closed.
Castroneves comfortably
inside the number 45,
but Christian Lundgaard --
did he get tapped?
Yeah, I did not touch him.
It was Hélio.
I did not touch him.
I think he took a lot of curb
into turn 1,
got aggressive
on the throttle,
and that was enough
to pitch him around.
- So critical here.
- All right. We have to pit now.
We're going to put
the new front wing on.
We're gonna make this quick.
If the thing hit
square into the wall
and it just needs
a nose and wing,
Hélio Castroneves
might be okay.
- No. Come on.
- Get out of the way.
Get out of --
Get out of the way!
Come on. Go, go, go, go, go!
[Engine revving]
There's Hélio Castroneves
having to watch everybody go by.
He almost made it --
the pace car
just passing him on pit lane.
You go to the back
of the pack, Hélio.
So now Castroneves, a lap down,
has to let the field by
for this restart.
This place is hot enough as
it is without being a lap down.
All right.
You ready to do it again?
Green, green, green.
Back to racing here
on the streets of Long Beach,
and Kyle Kirkwood is gone!
Takes off
on a beautiful restart.
Kyle Kirkwood leads the way
and has almost a one-second
advantage over Marcus Ericsson,
the Indy 500 champ.
Let me know if Pato
starts slicing through.
- We're okay. Pace is very good.
- Plus 1.5 over Ericsson.
Just keep doing
what you're doing.
Already 16 laps into this
85-lap Grand Prix of Long Beach.
That's a great way to protect
against Newgarden.
Things starting
to get tight here.
That's the white-and-black car
of Josef Newgarden
with a great run down Shoreline
on Grosjean.
Ducks inside,
and he's going to get him!
Penske is starting to show
that muscle, that durability,
- at this point in the stint.
- All right, Pato.
The leaders are starting
to dig a little bit.
If you can make a move,
you can make a move.
♪♪
Oh, now you got a car
in the barrier!
- Turn 8. Turn 8.
- Got a car in the tires.
Scott Dixon to the tire barrier
at turn 8.
- Pits are closed.
- Full-course yellow.
- That is Pato.
- Pato O'Ward inside.
And I'm sure Dixon
was just surprised. I --
- That's a late move.
- It came late,
but the contact was square,
shoulder to shoulder,
perfect alignment.
Well, th-that one's
on the edge for sure.
Incident at turn 8
between the 5 and the 9
is under review.
From Scott Dixon's standpoint,
he's turned in,
committed to the corner,
not thinking anyone was there.
So this --
this is good for us, Kyle.
This is a --
This is kind of ideal, really.
When the pits open,
we will come in.
We'll give you four tires
and fuel and send you back out.
Copy that.
Scott,
we're going to stop here.
We're going to look
at the front wing,
and we're going to
change the tires.
[Engines revving]
Pits are open. Pits are open.
This is going to
jumble things up.
Let's see who gets out
of the pits the best.
Here we are. 3, 2, 1. In.
Steering wheel straight.
Foot on the brake.
Within the window
to make it to the end
on just one more stop,
you see Josef Newgarden.
He gains more spots
here on pit road,
just avoiding Kyle Kirkwood.
The incident with the 9
and the 5 has been reviewed.
No action.
A couple cars stayed out,
so it looks like you are P2.
Yeah, 78 stayed out,
so he's technically the leader.
- Get ready.
- Green, green, green, green.
- Kirkwood, then you got him!
- We're back to racing
in the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach!
Now you've got Callum Ilott
coming out of the pits
in front of his teammate!
This is going to stack up
all the true race leaders.
Watch the frustration
develop here.
- Down to turn 8.
- Here comes O'Ward again!
Pato O'Ward spins!
Ericsson hits him!
Kirkwood gets away with it!
- We saw that.
- Is there any damage?
- I think it's fine.
- Rear left feels weird.
We're just so impatient.
Not the kind of move
you need to make
- at that part of the race.
- Okay, pace car.
New leader is car 2. Car 2.
- Check this out. There's --
- Oh.
- Canapino gets sideways.
- Oh!
Kirkwood hits him.
There goes Newgarden flashing by
on the run downhill to turn 8.
I feel like Kirkwood just
escaped total disaster there.
We're slowly approaching
the halfway mark
of this Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach.
Josef Newgarden for Team Penske
leads the AutoNation Honda
of Kyle Kirkwood
for Andretti Autosport,
and then right behind
is Romain Grosjean.
The pressure is on at the front.
Okay. Uh, we can start putting
some pressure on Josef now.
This is 17 laps
on this set of tires.
Copy that.
[Engines revving]
There's Graham Rahal.
Graham already up eight spots
from the start,
doing what he does on Sundays.
Nice job. You're currently P16.
Rahal's just stuck
in this line of cars.
It's so frustrating when
you feel like you have more pace
than the cars in front of you.
Tough start to the season
for that whole
Rahal Letterman Lanigan team.
- How's Dad doing?
- Oh, you drive too fast!
It's comforting that
he's running a good race.
I mean, obviously, he started
from the back,
so it's not the best position
to be in on race day,
but he's moving through the
field like I thought he would,
and that's, I think,
the positive.
Anything can happen
in one of these races,
and your anxiety is high
until the checkered flag is out.
[Chuckles]
- I got a major problem.
- Copy.
Yeah, we'll shut it off there.
You got no oil pressure at all.
- Dixon, no oil pressure.
- He is off the track.
Lots of reason to be
frustrated with a fast car.
Uh, the contact with Pato O'Ward
that set you back early --
how did you see that?
Uh, I don't know. To me --
I haven't seen
proper replays of it yet,
but that seemed extremely late.
You know, I wouldn't have
chosen to do that.
But if, uh -- if that's how
the series wants us to race,
then I guess it's all gloves off
from, uh -- from this point.
[Engines revving]
- Get this lap here.
- Come again?
Get this lap.
Look who's in the pit --
the 2.
That's in early.
Josef Newgarden,
final stop of the day.
- Bro, get this lap.
- Pit, pit, pit.
That's a fuel alarm going off
on Kyle Kirkwood's dash there --
the red and white lights.
Grosjean's in the pits.
His teammate Grosjean
gives up a second place.
See what happens
with Grosjean blending out.
Where's Josef Newgarden?
Grosjean gets out ahead.
[Engines revving]
[Bleep]
Kyle Kirkwood
diving into the pits.
Now it's all in the hands
of the pit crew.
- Kyle is in his marks well.
- Team gets him going.
[Engine revs]
And he nails it!
Here it is! It's a drag race!
[Engines revving]
Kirkwood's going to
beat them both out!
Can he hang tough
with 31 to go?
- [Cheers and applause]
- Yeah!
Andretti Autosport running
1-2 at Long Beach.
And it is what it is now.
You got to save
a ton of fuel for us.
Pretty much going to have
to let the 8 go
to make the numbers --
probably the 26.
Marcus Ericsson is the best
for Chip Ganassi Racing,
and here he is here on
the inside of Josef Newgarden.
That's for a spot on the podium!
Colton Herta now
is making that move on the 2.
Just cannot defend.
So frustrating
and spirit-crushing
just to be sitting there
trying to get to the end on fuel
over these closing 19 laps
as everybody's coming on attack.
- Painful.
- I know it's painful.
Yeah. [Speaks indistinctly]
It's either that
or finish 18th.
♪♪
Okay, 18 to go.
You are plus-2 seconds
over Grosjean.
What must be going
through Kirkwood's head?
This is essentially
one of the majors.
This will mean so much.
White flag. Team 2, you're good
to the finish here, bud.
He had to answer
a lot of uncomfortable questions
last year in his rookie year.
It didn't pan out the way
that he had hoped,
but the famous Andretti name
with a young American
behind the wheel,
Kyle Kirkwood, is your latest
IndyCar race winner!
He wins the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach!
You just want the Long Beach
Grand Prix, buddy!
Way to go!
Let's go! Yeah!
[All cheering]
Oh, my gosh!
Thank you so much, guys.
Amazing job. Amazing job.
Yeah!
- Stellar drive there, buddy.
- We went -- We went 1, 2, 4.
It was you, Grosjean,
Ericsson, and Colton 4th.
That's a good team result, too.
Way to go.
Couldn't ask
for a better day than that.
Whoo! That's the weekend
right there, baby!
Yeah!
There is Michael Andretti
celebrating.
- Enjoy this lap, pal.
- Enjoy this lap. Bring it home.
They'll guide you in
where to go --
victory lane, obviously.
I was over there.
♪♪
- Whoo!
- Way to crush it!
[Cheers and applause]
♪♪
I felt like I needed this win,
and we got it today,
and a moment of relief,
no doubt.
Kyle Kirkwood, a winner
on the IndyCar Series stage.
- What a pleasure
- Congratulations.
- Thank you so much.
- You're awesome. Guys.
- Thank you.
- [Speaking indistinctly]
Thank you.
[Indistinct conversations]
I'm wondering
if your emotions are mixed.
Your teammate won,
but you finished in P2.
Wish I was in his position
right now,
but he drove a hell
of a race like a champ,
and the whole weekend,
so he deserved that.
Yeah, I wish it was
the other way around,
but I have to say
Kyle deserved it this weekend.
This is where I won
my first race.
Yeah, I know. That's what
Colton was just telling me.
- That's cool, huh?
- Good job by the team
The winner of the 48th running
of the Acura Grand Prix
of Long Beach --
his first victory
in the IndyCar tour --
Kyle Kirkwood!
[Cheers and applause]
♪♪
♪♪
Well, you know what they say --
a bad day in L.A.
is better than a good day
anywhere else, so, um
Fate didn't really go our way.
I'm just -- I'm sad for my team.
I think it was a good save, uh,
from qualifying
- Yeah.
- to get a top 12.
It's not what we want. We want
to be winning races as a team.
We're learning
as we go a little bit,
and it's frustrating,
but it's the truth.
Obviously frustrating
with my mistake.
The results are not
what we wanted,
but everybody here
did a great job.
Yes, it hurts, but there was
always a blip on the radar.
And this might be the one.
The season
has not started off great
for Rahal Letterman Lanigan
and Meyer Shank.
They're probably a little bit
concerned about a lot of things,
I would say, based on the way
that they've opened the year.
♪♪
With "Dixie,"
well, I was on the inside.
He decided to stay
on the outside,
and he put himself in the tires.
I'm not apologizing for that.
These weekends will happen.
We obviously don't want
to have them.
We'll learn from today --
well, I will learn from today --
and we will move on.
We've talked a lot about
how there are kind
of two powerhouse teams
that have won every championship
for the last 10 years,
but McLaren
and Andretti Autosport
are definitely nipping
at their heels.
It's going to be exciting to see
how they carry this momentum
all the way through the season.
♪♪
- How many texts do I have?
- 421.
- [Laughs]
- [Bleep]
It was a cool day.
It was a cool day,
to say the least.
♪♪
- Have a good one.
- Have a good one.
[Indistinct conversations]
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪