With back-to-back NTT INDYCAR SERIES victories, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood has sliced his points deficit to championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing in half. Still, Kirkwood still has considerable work to do to earn his first series title as the season reaches its halfway point this weekend at Road America.

Kirkwood, who won Sunday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway, still trails Palou by 75 points, and Palou has some of his favorite tracks lined up. Palou has won two races at the Wisconsin track that hosts Sunday’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR, and he is a former pole and race winner at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the site of the ensuing race Sunday, July 6.

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Kirkwood has neither won at Road America nor Mid-Ohio, although he is riding a wave of momentum after winning both of this month’s races: the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear and the race at WWTR. Sunday’s win was his first on an oval after four street circuit wins.

“It does,” Kirkwood said of a 75-point deficit feeling at least somewhat manageable. “It's double digits again. Triple digits are never a good sign in a championship. Moving closer. It's still a long ways to go.

“(Palou) is good at a lot of races that we're coming up to, so those are the ones that are going to really count. (WWTR) has been a track that we haven't been amazing at, so it's great to claw back some points. But everybody knows we're going to go to Road America and he's going to put on a show there, and we'll have to do everything in our power to keep him from looking shiny once again on road courses.”

Kirkwood would be in a better points position if not for being penalized for his car being outside the equipment rules in last month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Rather than finishing sixth and netting 28 points, Kirkwood landed 32nd and received just five points. The Floridian could be within 52 points of the lead, which is still a race’s worth of points, but the deficit would be less.

For Palou, who is seeking his third consecutive season championship and fourth in five years, the next two races represent an opportunity to regain his footing. He got knocked into the tire barrier in Detroit and finished 25th. At WWTR, he nearly got lapped at the halfway point before scrambling up to finish eighth. Still, after winning five of the season’s first six races, this could be considered a drought.

Last year at Road America, Palou and Kirkwood finished fourth and fifth, respectively, each leading three laps. But neither was a match for Team Penske’s three drivers, which earned the team’s first podium sweep in seven years. Will Power beat Josef Newgarden to the finish line by 3.2609 seconds with Scott McLaughlin third. The trio combined to lead 27 of the 55 laps.

Team Penske is coming off a damaging race at WWTR. Power and Newgarden were involved in accidents; McLaughlin had equipment failure. They finished 24th, 25th and 27th in the 27-car field and remain winless as a group this season.

Palou (five wins) and Kirkwood (three) remain the only race winners this season, helping Honda win the first eight races of the season. It has been 45 years since a pair of drivers had a comparable start to the season.

It would be foolish to sleep on Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who at WWTR scored his series-leading third runner-up finish of the season. He has series wins at three of the remaining eight venues on the schedule. He is second in the standings, 73 points behind Palou and two points in front of Kirkwood.

Palou still controls the race to the Astor Challenge Cup, but Kirkwood and O’Ward have made it interesting with strong results this month. If they finish 1-2 at Road America, as they did at WWTR, this could turn into a dogfight.