Kyle Kirkwood, defending Detroit Grand Prix champ, eyes Indy 500 glory

“It’s unlike anything else,” Kirkwood said. “It's absolutely incredible that you have 400,000 people in one place at one time, and the whole city shuts down for one event. It's hard to explain. Just the whole hype of the race, all the traditions that come with it, the event. People have to get in here at 7 a.m. sharp to make sure that they get to their seat in time to watch the race. We have to stay inside the track the night before, because if not, we have to wake up at 4 a.m. to get to the track just to make sure that we beat the traffic to get in.

“It's absolutely incredible. We all love it. We all want to win this race more than any other. And pretty sure anybody that etches their name in history by winning this race is forever a different person.”

There is little rest after the Indianapolis 500, though, and the teams and drivers head to Detroit for practice on May 29, five days later. Teams will have spent the previous two weeks preparing the car and drivers for the high-speed oval and then have to transition to the tight Detroit street circuit.

Kyle Kirkwood, shown here in last summer's Detroit Grand Prix, is second this season in the IndyCar standings.

“You have to be able to adapt and adjust to different conditions and circuits,” Kirkwood said. “Quite honestly, it's very hard on everybody, especially since it's pretty much six weeks in a row for us where we're going nonstop. There's no breaks. Even after the race, you’re in meetings, turning the cars over, getting ready for the next event. And you kind of have to leave the last race in the past, leave each test day in the past, learn from where you can and then move on and keep digging.

“It's not an easy thing through these six weeks. We go through the 500 which is an extremely stressful event, and then it's like, guess what, we're straight into Detroit and then after Detroit, we go to St. Louis for an oval. So it's a tough turnaround, for sure, but they all pay the same points. That's the way we have to look at it. The Indy 500 pays the same amount of points as Detroit does and any other circuit does out of the 18 races that we race. So that's really the focal point.”

IndyCar drivers often say that outside of winning the Indianapolis 500, winning in Detroit is critical because of the manufacturers based here.

“Detroit is a very historic race for IndyCar racing, and coming back to downtown is another historic moment for it,” Kirkwood said. “Being able to race around the GM building there and having a title sponsor like GM is a really big deal for any sport, so it brings some weight to it. I'd say street courses are bigger events if you look at the history of Long Beach, St. Pete, Detroit, Toronto. Outside of the 500, those are the races that we pack full of people and( Detroit is) accessible. It's great racing. It goes along with IndyCar very well in its history, so it’s always one we want to win.”

Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix

When: 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 31

Where: Downtown Detroit

TV: FOX

Defending champion: Kyle Kirkwood

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Kyle Kirkwood, defending Detroit Grand Prix champ, eyes Indy 500 glory