Karting Born in
Jupiter, Kirkwood began karting at a young age, often competing alongside fellow Jupiter native
Oliver Askew. Throughout his karting career, he amassed multiple titles, including the AM Engines Formula Tag Junior championship in 2012, the
SKUSA SuperNationals XVII - S5 Junior championship in 2013 and back-to-back wins at the Florida Winter Tour in 2015 and 2016.
Lower formula In 2015, Kirkwood made his single-seater debut in the F1600 Championship with Chastain Motorsports. There he took victory in the season opener at
Road Atlanta and contested a further six rounds to finish sixteenth. Following his performance in Formula 4 United States, Kirkwood returned to the Formula Ford scene in 2016 to represent Team USA in the Formula Ford Festival and
Walter Hayes Trophy event, finishing seventh and fourth overall in both respective events. In 2016, Kirkwood joined the
inaugural Formula 4 United States Championship with Primus Racing, which saw him claim a win at
Mid-Ohio and finish third in the standings overall. In September 2016, Kirkwood was awarded with the Team USA scholarship. After competing with them in pre-season testing at
NOLA, Kirkwood returned to the championship the
following year, switching to newcomers Cape Motorsports. He achieved nine victories, including back-to-back hat-tricks at
Indianapolis and
Motorsport Park, wrapping up the title in the
Formula One supporting season finale at the
Circuit of the Americas. During the season, Kirkwood was once again selected as a candidate for the Team USA scholarship.
International Formula 3 In August 2018, Kirkwood joined
Abel Motorsports to contest the
inaugural season of F3 Americas. The season saw him claim fifteen of the seventeen race victories on offer and seal his third consecutive championship at NOLA with a round to spare. The following year, Kirkwood made a one-off appearance with
RP Motorsport in the season finale of the
Euroformula Open Championship at
Monza, which saw him take a best-placed finish of sixth in race two.
Formula E In February 2020, Kirkwood was announced to be partaking in the rookie test at Marrakesh with
BMW i Andretti Motorsport.
Road to Indy In December 2016, Kirkwood partook in the
Mazda Road to Indy Shootout, but lost out on the scholarship to Askew.
USF2000 In 2017, Kirkwood partook in the
Chris Griffis Memorial Test with Swan-RJB Motorsports. In February 2018, he reunited with Cape Motorsports to contest the
2018 championship. In only his rookie season, Kirkwood dominated proceedings, taking twelve of the fourteen victories on offer and sealing his second title in a year at
Mid-Ohio and equalling
J. R. Hildebrand's record of wins across a season.
Indy Pro 2000 Kirkwood graduated to the championship in 2019, selecting RP Motorsport Racing as his team. After faltering in earlier rounds, Kirkwood took his maiden victories in both races at
Road America. From the second race at
Toronto onwards, Kirkwood dominated the season and won his fourth consecutive title at the season finale in
Laguna Seca despite being taken out by
Danial Frost.
Indy Lights In December 2019, Kirkwood partook in the post-season test at
Sebring with reigning champions
Andretti Autosport. The following month, Andretti confirmed Kirkwood would race with them for the
2020 season, only for that year's running of the championship to be canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Kirkwood won the 2021 Indy Lights Championship for Andretti Autosport. In doing so, he became the first driver to win a championship in every Road to Indy series.
IndyCar Throughout
2021, Kirkwood was viewed with significant interest by different teams in the IndyCar Series paddock. Andretti Autosport owner
Michael Andretti stated he intended to keep Kirkwood in the Andretti Autosport stable and reiterated this after Kirkwood won the Indy Lights championship. Andretti stated that he was considering moving Kirkwood to
Formula E if a seat did not open up in IndyCar. As part of winning the Indy Lights championship, Kirkwood was guaranteed to compete in three IndyCar races in
2022, including the
2022 Indianapolis 500. On November 10, 2021, it was announced that Kirkwood would drive the No. 14 entry full-time for
A. J. Foyt Enterprises during the 2022 IndyCar Series season. He had a best finish of tenth at Long Beach, and ranked 24th in points. On June 1, 2022, Kirkwood and Andretti Autosport announced he would return to the Andretti stable for the 2023 season to replace the departing
Alexander Rossi. Kirkwood took his first IndyCar win at the
2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Kirkwood took a second win at the
2023 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.
Sports car racing With the
2020 Indy Lights season cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Kirkwood drove four races in the
IMSA Prototype Challenge and also joined
AIM Vasser Sullivan Racing for a limited GTD schedule. ==Karting record==