Kirkwood Dominates Freedom Grand Prix In Nation’s Capital

Kyle Kirkwood celebrates in victory lane Sunday in Washington, D.C. (Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment photo)

By Thomas Hughes, SWN Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (Aug. 23, 2026) — Alex Palou is human, and Kyle Kirkwood is still the King of the Streets in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Both are facts that needed some reminding, given that the former has won six of IndyCar’s 15 races so far this season and is a four-time series champion, while the latter hasn’t been quite as impeccable on the temporary city courses as he has been in years past. But it remains prescient.

Palou’s race unraveled in a sequence of surprising mistakes Sunday, opening the door for Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood to author a historic first-of-its-kind victory at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., the debut motor race to be held in the United States capital city.

Kirkwood didn’t merely win the inaugural race around the National Mall. He dominated it.

The Florida native led 128 of the 147 laps on the seven-turn, 1.7-mile street circuit, cruising to a 3.0906-second victory over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard and leading an Andretti Global sweep of three of the top four finishing positions.

“It was a great feeling to rebound after last weekend, to get here, to see all the fans, 100,000 people on both days is absolutely incredible,” Kirkwood said. “… To be able to win in what will be considered probably my home race, right, being the Freedom 250 as an American, is something very special. I'll cherish this moment for a very long time.”

“I think we got a better result than we expected,” Lundgaard added of his second-place effort. “We got three more races to go. I think I'm just happy to see Alex not win for once.”

Kirkwood had built a considerably larger lead of more than 16 seconds at one point, before late cautions bunched the field and gave his challengers one final opportunity to spoil what had otherwise been a clinical performance. Like the entire day, they could not catch Kirkwood’s No. 27 Honda.

“There's times where it's like a hundred laps in, I'm thinking about winning this race, right?” Kirkwood said. “I have to, like, block it out, try and be like refocus, reset. I just told myself to reset. Even in the last few laps, once it got to the last lap, I could let myself breathe a little bit, soak it in a little bit because we had about a four-and-a-half-second lead. Kind of chilled out in that lap.”

Kirkwood seized the lead from Palou on the opening lap and, save for pit-stop cycles, was the man in front for essentially the entirety of the 250-mile affair.

The only thing that consistently slowed him was the caution flag — but even that proved insufficient.

The victory was Kirkwood’s second of the season and seventh of his IndyCar career, continuing an increasingly obvious trend in his resume. Six of those seven wins have come on street circuits, including his victory in the inaugural Arlington Grand Prix earlier this season.

The Freedom 250 served as the centerpiece of Washington, D.C.’s celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday. More than 215,000 people attended the two-day event, turning an already historic venue into one of the largest spectacles on the IndyCar calendar — and Kirkwood made sure the spectacle had an American winner.

“This was a very special day,” Kirkwood said. “We were very prepared for it. Outside of the Indy 500, I don't think there's another race that you'd want to win.”

Palou, meanwhile, endured perhaps the strangest race of his dominant season. The Spaniard entered Washington with a 133-point advantage in the championship standings and had the opportunity to take another substantial step toward a record-tying fourth consecutive championship, or clinch it outright.

Instead, almost everything that could go wrong did.

The first mistake came during a pit stop, when Palou’s No. 10 Honda struck a tire in the pit box of Mick Schumacher. The incident earned him a drive-through penalty and dropped him deep into the field. Palou recovered, working his way into the top 10, but then came another pit-stop problem.

This time, it was his Chip Ganassi Racing crew struggling to secure the front-left tire, causing Palou to go a lap down to Kirkwood. The Spaniard eventually crashed into the turn four wall after contact earlier in the race contributed to a broken toe link, ending his afternoon in 20th place, three laps down.

The result cut Palou's championship lead to 91 points with three races remaining. While it’s still a significant gap, Kirkwood has now given himself at least a mathematical reason to dream.

Andretti Global’s other drivers provided further evidence of the team's strength on Sunday. Will Power finished third for his third consecutive podium, while Marcus Ericsson followed in fourth. Power's recent surge has moved him to 10th in the championship standings.

The late stages provided the race's lone set of drama. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin briefly moved underneath Kirkwood on a restart with 19 laps remaining, appearing poised to challenge for the lead. But he carried too much speed into turn one, clipped the tire barrier and was eliminated from contention.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist later spun, bringing out another caution and once again compressing the field.

The final restart on lap 134 offered Kirkwood’s rivals one last opportunity. Instead, Kirkwood rocketed away from the field and cruised toward the checkered flag, leaving no doubt about who had been the fastest driver in Washington.

It also continued Andretti Global's remarkable success at new venues. Kirkwood had won at the Grand Prix of Arlington in Texas, while Marcus Ericsson won the Markham Grand Prix in Ontario, giving the team a sweep of the three new venues on the 2026 IndyCar calendar

Behind Kirkwood, Palou and the remainder of the Andretti cohort, Chip Ganassi’s Kyffin Simpson garnered a season-best fifth-place finish. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel finished sixth, with Scott Dixon just under three seconds back in seventh.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden finished eighth, and A.J. Foyt Racing rookie Caio Collet logged a ninth-place finish. Dale Coyne Racing’s Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10.

Meanwhile, for Palou, the road to a fifth championship suddenly looks a little less straightforward. Since IndyCar's reunification in 2008 from the IRL and Champ Car Series, no driver has overcome a deficit larger than 59 points with four races remaining to win the championship.

Kirkwood will have three races to try to erase the colossal deficit, anyway. Next comes the Milwaukee Mile, where IndyCar will hold a doubleheader on Aug. 29 and 30 before the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 6.

The first race at Milwaukee starts at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 29, with the second race set for Sunday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. ET. Milwaukee hosted one race last year, which was won by Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen.