The NTT IndyCar Series made history on Sunday afternoon on the streets of Washington, D.C., in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., the first-ever motorsports race around the National Mall and the iconic monuments and buildings of the nation’s capital city.
Alex Palou started the race on the pole, with Kyle Kirkwood starting second. Kyle Kirkwood took the lead on the opening lap. Debris brought out the first two cautions on laps one and 18. Kirkwood led the opening 38 laps before David Malukas crashed into the Turn 7 wall. Sting Ray Robb did not see him and hit him for the third caution.
Kirkwood, along with other drivers, made a pit stop. Alex Palou hit the tire of Mick Schumacher and was issued a drive-through penalty. Palou’s day would go down from there. Graham Rahal was the new leader. He led 12 laps, a majority of them under caution, when Marcus Armstrong tried to make a pass but was late on the brakes and hit Christian Rasmussen, who then hit Rinus VeeKay at Turn 5. Armstrong served a stop-and-hold penalty for avoidable contact.
Kirkwood would retake the lead on lap 51. Meanwhile, Alex Palou’s pit crew had issues putting on the left front tire. Once he got out, Kirkwood put him a lap down. He led until lap 79 before making his second pit stop. Will Power led two laps before Kirkwood went back to the lead. Kirkwood led until lap 111 before making his final pit stop.
Scott McLaughlin led three laps, and Will Power led a couple of laps before Kirkwood took the lead for good. Late in the race, Kirkwood had to fend off the field due to two cautions. Alex Palou crashed at Turn 4, and Scott McLaughlin and Felix Rosenqvist got together at Turn 1.
Kyle Kirkwood led a race-high 128 of 147 laps to win his second race of the season by 3.0906 seconds over Christian Lundgaard. Will Power, Marcus Ericsson, and Kyffin Simpson rounded out the top five. Nolan Siegel, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Caio Collet, and Romain Grosjean completed the top ten. Click here to view the final results.
Kirkwood came into the race trailing Palou by 133 points. After today, he now trails Palou by 91 points with three races remaining. The NTT IndyCar Series heads to the Milwaukee Mile for a doubleheader starting on Saturday at 2:30 pm on Fox, and Sunday’s race is at 1 pm on Fox.
