NTT INDYCAR SERIES: BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500

June 15, 2025

Rob Edwards

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Joined by Rob Edwards, longtime team manager for Andretti Global. The team not only celebrates their third win here in 2025, but 77th all told. You've got to go back and review that just to figure out exactly what happened, but congratulations on the win. How big is this for Kyle and the team?

ROB EDWARDS: I think it's huge. Kyle's first oval win, and I think obviously we came out of Detroit with momentum, and keeping that momentum going.

Big gap to the guy in front, but nights like tonight keep the dream alive. So yeah, big night.

Q. Kyle's development in the last couple years has been -- I don't want to say astonishing but you can tell the rapid improvement he's made from the previous years here in the series.

ROB EDWARDS: I think really what we're seeing now is what we saw when he drove in INDY NXT for us. And by the by, one of the really cool things that was just mentioned to me is all three drivers on the podium tonight are graduates of the INDY NXT program, so super excited about that.

I think first couple of years in INDYCAR he was finding his feet, but I think what we've seen this year is what those of us that worked with him in INDY NXT always expected would happen in INDYCAR.

Q. Do you think that what we're seeing out of Kyle is a little reminiscent of what we saw out of Josef his first early years? Because once he started winning, he kicked the door in and won a lot.

ROB EDWARDS: I certainly hope so. I think we're just taking it one race at a time. I think everyone expected us to be strong at Detroit because traditionally our cars are strong at Detroit.

I think obviously with Colton winning at Nashville last year and now with Kyle winning here, maybe we're spreading that strength over a few other tracks, as well.

Road America has been good to us. We'll go and keep trying to notch up wins and keep that momentum going.

Q. Also, how important is this for the whole Andretti Global effort, because it really seems like the entire team is much better this year than in the previous seasons?

ROB EDWARDS: Well, thank you. I appreciate that observation. We're our biggest critics, so we're looking at the things that aren't working, and for us, great with Kyle. We obviously want to have all three cars up there competing for wins.

But I do think across the board, the INDY NXT program, the INDYCAR program, a lot of work was done in the off-season, a lot of work on processes and procedures and so on, and this is a long stretch of the series coming up, and hopefully that groundwork that was laid in the off-season is starting to pay dividends and will continue to pay dividends.

Q. How different is it with Dan Towriss in charge of the program, what he's able to allow you guys to do or some of the things that you might be able to do that you weren't able to do before?

ROB EDWARDS: I think we're given a lot of opportunity, a lot of resources, a lot of opportunity. We have a lot of support from Dan, from Mark, from the whole TWG group, and our job is to deliver on that commitment that they've made to us.

Yeah, nights like tonight make my job a lot easier when I go back and keep looking for the resources and the people and everything else to make sure that we stay at the front end.

But, yeah, but great support from everyone the whole way across TWG Motorsports.

Q. What is the strength of Kirkwood? And one more thing. You have three cars now and no association with the other team this year. How come you've been doing so well this year?

ROB EDWARDS: I'll answer the second question first. I don't think the fact that we don't have a relationship with another team is part of what we're seeing this year with the competitiveness.

We had a great relationship with a partner team last year and it was a strength for us, and in some ways we miss having that partner because we thought it benefitted us. I think if the right partner comes along, we'd look at it again.

Like I say, I think with Kyle, I think drivers do get momentum, they do get in the zone, and I think what we see with Kyle now is he's in that zone. Those of you that know me, I'm an early riser, and I was one of the first at the track this morning, and parking his car next to me when I came in was Kyle Kirkwood.

He's working hard at it, and I think he realizes that the opportunity -- back to the other question about the investment and the tools we've been given for TWG, I think he sees that opportunity and he's grabbing the opportunity with both hands.

Q. Rob, obviously Kyle in his first few years was sort of inconsistent but got those couple of wins and now we fast forward and he's incredibly consistent and winning on top of that. How do you think Kyle has developed over the last couple of years to reach this peak performance he's at currently?

ROB EDWARDS: I think one of the things we talked about over the last couple of years is the chemistry we have across all three drivers, Colton and Kyle and Marcus, and I think that has benefitted Kyle greatly.

I think they really do work well together, and at the end of the day, one car is going to win the race, but we definitely view it that when we win, we win as a team. You know, 172 people at the shop, and I think Kyle's crew this weekend was an example of that, right? Jeremy Milless, his engineer was back in Indianapolis with an injury; Dave Seyffert stepped up and engineered the car; Robby Wickens was on the 27 stand this weekend.

There's a lot of resource within the team, and I think all three drivers, they park their egos at the door and they take input and advice and whatever things we can learn off each other.

I think the difference with Kyle, I would say both last year and this year, is the strength of the group around him. All three drivers really complement each other really well, so I think Kyle is benefiting from the chemistry with Colton and with Marcus.

Q. Can you speak a little bit about Honda this year? Eight race wins out of eight races; it's incredible.

ROB EDWARDS: It is incredible. They're great partners. Barry Wanser and I texted each other after Detroit and said, this is working pretty good for HRC; let's see if we can keep it going. Haven't got the text year, but I assume the sentiment is going to be the same.

They're great competitors, and they rub on us when we need to raise our game and vice versa. As someone that has only ever worked with Honda the whole time I've been in INDYCAR racing, they are just a great group. Love the relationship, love working with them. They want to win just as bad as we do, and hopefully we can keep delivering wins for them.