Kyle Kirkwood shares 'confusing' impact of Andretti Global's alliance with MSR
Kyle Kirkwood shared that having a lot of cars under Andretti's umbrella caused confusion among the ranks due to an overload of information. Meyer Shank Racing previously had an alliance with Andretti but shifted over to collaborate with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of last season.
Back in August of last season, MSR announced that they would end their multi-year partnership with Andretti Technologies and join hands with Chip Ganassi Racing from the 2025 season onward. This agreement meant that CGR would now provide engineering teams for MSR's #60 and #66 Hondas, and the two teams would now share setup information.
MSR reportedly made this move as they believed CGR to be a stronger technical partners, as they are the reigning championship winners with Alex Palou at the moment. The team also wanted to stay aligned with another Honda-powered team. On the other hand, Andretti has lost a partnership that lasted for five years, having begun in 2020.
Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood shared that the partnership was 'confusing' for the team at times, though, as he felt there was a surplus of information, and all of MSR data did not translate to Andretti. Speaking to FOX on Tuesday, the American shared his thoughts about life after losing their partners.
"I would say more often than not, having so many cars under one umbrella confused us. Even though you have so much information from running that many cars, sometimes it gets a little too confusing, especially when you have as many different dynamics among the drivers in how they want to have things."
MSR is hoping to benefit from this move, as they will get to work closer with the reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou, as well as six-time champion Scott Dixon. The driver rosters from both teams will also participate in group debriefs together as part of the technical partnership.
Kyle Kirkwood claims Andretti is not missing anything after MSR alliance shift
Kyle Kirkwood has claimed that the Andretti team has not felt the loss of MSR at all in the first few weeks. The 26-year-old claimed that additional data would usually be good to have, but the team has not felt the need for this in the early stages of the 2025 season.
Adding further to his statement about the Andretti and MSR partnership to FOX on Tuesday, Kirkwood revealed that his team did not feel like they were 'missing anything.'
"We don't feel like we're missing anything is the simple answer. But at the same time, it is nice to have that information, especially if you're running out of information to look at. But I don't think that is the case at the moment."
Kyle Kirkwood won the 2021 Indy Lights with Andretti and was subsequently promoted to the IndyCar series in 2022 with A. J. Foyt. The American rejoined Andretti in 2023, this time in the big leagues, and even claimed his first and second wins in the series that season.