IndyCar Results and Highlights From the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington DC

Full results and race highlights from the highly scrutinized one-off race on the streets of Washington DC.

Kyle Kirkwood Andretti | Penske Entertainment: James Black

It is no secret that the Freedom 250 is a race that, even one month ago, many questioned whether it would even occur. Yet, today, with nearly three hours of pre-race ceremony, seven flyovers, ten parades, and the pomp and circumstance you would expect of FIFA or the Olympics, the race commenced.

The Freedom 250 Grand Prix, announced just 7 months ago, was added to a stretch of the calendar that resulted in five back-to-back race weekends and six consecutive races. With its length of 250 miles on a 1.7-mile road course, it is also one of the longest races of the year.

After qualifying it was Alex Palou who secured pole position – closely followed by his championship rival, Kyle Kirkwood. By the numbers, Palou could clinch his 5th IndyCar title at the Freedom 250 with a win.

Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Freedom 250 | Penske Entertainment, Chris Owens

In the end, though, that did not happen. It was Kyle Kirkwood, living true to his moniker of 'King of the Streets' in his #27 Andretti, who won the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Andretti had a strong overall finish as a team, with Will Power in 3rd and last week's winner, Marcus Ericsson in 4th.

Yellows Breed Yellows... and Penalties

The first third of the race was certainly one rife with action. Within the first 20 laps, there were two separate cautions thrown for various debris from cars tapping each other on the starts and restarts.

However, where the action really comes into play was on lap 36 when Penske's David Malukas – who has admittedly raced a few weekends to forget in Portland and Markham – hit the wall at Turn 7. This is a blind turn so a few seconds later Juncos Holinger's Robb collided with the side of Malukas taking them both out of contention.

Jul 20, 2026; Lebanon, Tennessee, USA; Team Penske driver David Malukas (12) during the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Once the pits reopened, nearly the entire field dove in simultaneously a recipe for disaster. First, Hauger received a 3-position penalty for an unsafe release. More importantly, Alex Palou, fighting for a win today, hit a tire of another pit box, resulting in a drive-through-penalty and sending him to the back of the grid. We will get back to Palou in a moment.

The field went green again... for half a lap. Then, Marcus Armstrong pulled an extremely aggressive move into Rinus VeeKay – sending VeeKay into the wall and spinning Christian Rasmussen. Rasmussen made it back out into the race after minor repairs. Armstrong later received a stop-and-go 10-second penalty.

Later in the race, a caution came out for Alex Palou hitting the wall again; we will return in a moment. However, on the restart, with the entire field bunched together, it was Scott McLaughlin – winless for two seasons who caused another caution with just over 20 laps to go.

Scott McLaughlin, Penske, IndyCar, St Petersburg | Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

Scott overtook race leader Kyle Kirkwood at the start just to drive straight into the tire barrier at Turn 3, taking himself out of the race. Just behind him, Felix Rosenqvist slid on the broken tire barrier and spun. He was able to finish the race, but McLaughlin was not.

Palou's No Good Very Bad Day

By the math, Alex Palou could have clinched the 2026 IndyCar Championship today. However, it was a metaphorical hit for the reigning champ. First, as discussed above, he hit a tire in the pit lane, giving him a drive-through penalty early in the race.

Alex Palou - Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix | Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski

One would think Palou could come back from that... he's Alex Palou. However, on his next pit stop, Palou had an issue with his tire creating a very long pit stop.

Finally, Palou crashed. There is nothing else to add to that except a gasp of shock in the media center. Palou ended the race three laps down from the winner and his championship rival, Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood. His lead over Kirkwood has been slashed by 42 points – a difficult, but not insurmountable task for Kirkwood and his #27 crew at Andretti.

IndyCar Freedom 250 Results

Position	Driver / Team	Time Diff from Lead [s]
1.	Kyle Kirkwood/ Andretti	-
2.	Lundgaard / McLaren	+3.364
3.	Power / Andretti	+4.440
4.	Ericsson / Andretti	+12.721
5.	Simpson / Chip Ganassi	+14.116
6.	Siegel / McLaren	+15.913
7.	Dixon / Chip Ganassi	+18.842
8.	Newgarden / Penske	+19.740
9.	Collet / AJ Foyt	+20.426
10.	Grosjean / Dale Coyne	+22.470
11.	Schumacher / RLL	+26.899
12.	Rossi / ECR	+31.132
13.	Rahal / RLL	+32.260
14.	Rasmussen / ECR	+1 Lap
15.	Hauger / Dale Coyne	+1 Lap
16.	O'Ward / McLaren	+1 Lap
17.	Armstrong / Meyer Shank	+1 Lap
18.	Foster / RLL	+1 Lap
19.	Rosenqvist / Meyer Shank	+1 Lap
20.	Palou / Chip Ganassi	+3 Laps
21.	Ferrucci / AJ Foyt	+8 Laps
22.	McLaughlin / Penske	DNF
23.	VeeKay / Juncos	DNF
24.	Malukas / Penske	DNF
25.	Robb / Juncos	DNF

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There are three races and two race weekends remaining in the 2026 IndyCar Season.

IndyCar will return next weekend for a double-header at the Milwaukee Mile. Race 1 will occur on Saturday, August 29th at 2:30 PM ET. Race 2 will occur on Sunday, August 30th at 1:00 PM ET. Both races will air on Fox Sports.