Two of the three Andretti Autosport drivers were fastest in Saturday IndyCar Series practice on the Streets of Detroit but they were also the latest to find themselves in a conflict of some kind with Santino Ferrucci.
Colton Herta was fastest overall during the session with a 1:01.5726 lap around the second-year, nine-turn, 1.65-mile downtown street circuit. Kyle Kirkwood was second at 1:01.7381. Alex Palou, of Chip Ganassi Racing was third quick, ahead of Theo Pourchaire, who also crashed with 1:15 remaining in the session.
The headlines will surround Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing for an incident with Kirkwood earlier in the round for the below on-track incident between the two.
Kirkwood made his way over to the Foyt pit area, where Ferrucci jumped over the wall, and immediately shoved his Andretti counterpart.
“You came into me,” Ferrucci yelled at Kirkwood. “Never do that again.”
The replay indeed shows a bobble of some kind from Kirkwood but Ferrucci responded with a bit of a hip check while also trying to make the corner. He also felt it robbed him of a top-five lap time.
“We’re in practice,” Ferrucci said. “I’m on a lap that is going to put us P3, right, and I know everyone is fighting traffic, I’m coming down the hill and he just slides the car into me. It’s such a dickish move man. I grew up karting with him and have known him a long time and have always been better with him in racecraft so …
“Never saw him do something so dumb but we did see him turn into Newgarden yesterday. It’s a shame. It’s a tight track but it is what it is.”
Ferrucci also says that Herta took a swipe at him the next lap, something the Andretti team disputed.
“Then his boyfriend teammate comes down on me, too,” Ferrucci said. “Leave it to me man. We’re out here doing our own thing. It’s Detroit. I’m having a blast. Crew is fired up. We have a hot rod.”
Kirkwood pushed back on the notion that he swerved into Ferrucci and also says that the Foyt driver was the aggressor on both. He also said over the radio that Ferrucci needs to be kicked out of the series for his antics.
“Of course, Santino is going to say that,” Kirkwood said. “Everyone has to stop there. Everyone has to wait and it get their lap in. It’s practice. Relax. That’s not what he did. He did it to me and then he did it to Colton too. They collided. I don’t know what he was doing. His lap was already ruined and it ruined his next lap too.
“It’s just dumb. He’s dangerous. He drove into me trying to put me in the wall, purposely. Then, I tried to talk to him after the practice to tell him it was completely unnecessary and that everyone needs to grab their gaps so they can work on their car. He grabs and shakes me and I’m like, ‘what are you mad at me for.’ It’s insane. I was trying to see where his head was at. He clearly wasn’t on a fast lap. It makes no sense to me, at all.”
Is Kirkwood worried about being raced extra hard on Sunday?
“He’ll be a little bit behind us, so I’m not worried.”
What about Herta?
“That guy is a head case,” he said. “I don’t even know what I did. He passed me and I passed him back. He can do his thing, we’ll do ours. He’s driving a Penske car to P20. again. I don’t have time for his concerns. He’s always a ‘you-know-what’ in the race, so it doesn’t concern me.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.