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Kyle Kirkwood Dominates To Win Freedom 250 Grand Prix In Washington, D.C.

by Hunter Thomas August 23, 2026 0 comments

WASHINGTON – Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood dominated the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ first-ever race through downtown Washington, D.C.

Kirkwood took the lead away from polesitter Alex Palou on Lap 1 and stayed out in front of the field until Graham Rahal took over the top spot on Lap 39; however, Kirkwood was back in front on Lap 51 and throughout the remainder of the day, only lost the lead for a few laps at a time. Overall, the driver of the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda led a race high of 128 of 147 laps en route to his second victory of the season.

“You can’t even put it into words – this is incredible,” Kirkwood said. “I’m almost in tears here. This is a big moment for us, a big moment for America here with the 250.”

With the win, Kirkwood takes a huge chunk out of Palou’s points lead. With Palou finishing 20^th, Kirkwood now only trails by 91 points after earning 42 points on the day. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES only has three races remaining this season, so the battle upfront is heating up.

“It felt good to dominate out there; I’m not going to lie,” Kirkwood said. “That was a really good moment. What an incredible place to do it. If you can’t win the (Indianapolis) 500, this is definitely the place to win. I don’t know if we’re ever going to get a chance to do it again – I hope we do. This was awesome. What a dream come true.”

Christin Lundgaard finished runner-up in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet after finishing 3.0906 seconds behind Kirkwood. Andretti Global’s Will Power and Marchus Ericsson finished third and fourth respectively, and completing the top-five was Kyffin Simpson.

Completing the top-10 was Nolan Siegel, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, rookie Caio Collet and Romain Grosjean.  

There were six cautions throughout the afternoon in the nation’s capital.

The first two cautions were for debris, but then the action heated up.

The first caution for an accident came out on Lap 37 for a hard crash between Sting Ray Robb and David Malukas in Turn 7.  Malukas didn’t make the corner and went nearly head-on into the wall, and with nowhere to go, Robb piled in.

On Lap 44 the caution came out for another multicar accident. Marcus Armstrong got into the right rear of the Christian Rasmussen in Turn 5 and spun him into the Rinus VeeKay.

Paulo spun in Turn 5 to bring out the caution on Lap 122.

The final caution of the day came out on Lap 129, and it was a notable one. Scott McLaughlin tried to make a big move on Kirkwood as they entered Turn 1 on a restart, and he overdrove the corner. McLaughlin pounded the wall, and Felix Rosenqvist spun behind him.

Up next on the schedule for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin on Saturday, Aug. 29. Live coverage will broadcast on FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell Richtmyre/TheFourthTurn.com