Kirkwood crushes it in D.C. to take IndyCar’s Freedom 250 glory

On a day when championship leader Alex Palou started from pole position and could have moved the title race out of reach from his closest rivals, the Spaniard and his Chip Ganassi Racing team produced three costly errors after Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood took the lead on the first lap, led the most laps, and absolutely crushed the field to win the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C.

Kirkwood was flawless from start to finish in the No. 27 Honda as he delivered the finest performance of his career while Palou’s chances to turn pole into victory were fumbled on consecutive pit stops and late in the race with a solo spin and light meeting with the wall. Their respective races enabled the Andretti Global driver to cut his drivers’ standings deficit from 134 points to 91 with three races left to run.

A once-in-a-lifetime-moment for Kirkwood. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

“You can’t put this into words,” Kirkwood said after capturing his seventh career IndyCar win. “It felt good to dominate, I’m not going to lie. What a dream come true.”

After more than 2h40m of action which fluctuated between crash-filled and processional, the Floridian crossed the finish line 3.3s ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who charged from ninth to second.

Lundgaard moved to third in the championship, 110 points down to Palou, after David Malukas crashed and fell from third to fifth in the standings.

“I feel it's fitting that an American won, right?” Lundgaard said. “We gave it our best shot. Awesome event with the capital in the background. This is only something you could dream of.”

Kirkwood’s Andretti teammate Will Power earned his third consecutive podium in third, 4.1s back after starting 12th. Marcus Ericsson, the third member of the Andretti trio, fired from 21st to fourth, and behind him, Ganassi’s Kyffin Simpson went from 23rd to fifth and Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel completed the top six after taking the green flag in 18th.

Of the 147 laps, Kirkwood led 128; the other 19 were only surrendered after making pit stops. His Andretti team was the class of the field with the 1-2-4 finish, and in the cases of Power and Ericsson, they improved a combined 26 positions from the first lap.

Elsewhere, Simpson and Siegel proved how much they’ve grown after making no impactful mistakes on a day where Malukas took himself out of championship contention with an unforced error, his Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin went from second to into the wall and out of the race, and Palou handed 43 points back to Kirkwood and made the last weeks of the championship more interesting after receiving a drive-through penalty for hitting a tire while leaving the pits, nearly leaving the next stop with a wheel that wasn’t properly attached, and spinning and damaging the front wings late in the race. The last incident was a byproduct of hitting the wall earlier one and having a bent suspension piece fail, which led to an eventual finish of 20th, three laps down to Kirkwood.

It was a lot of racing, surrounded by a massive turnout of fans, with an abundance of patriotism and ceremony on the National Mall to celebrate the Freedom 250, organized in just seven months, and capped by an American winner. Welcome to the history books, Kyle Kirkwood.

Air Force One does a flyover prior to the start of the Freedom 250. Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The 147-lap, 250-mile Freedom 250 got under way at 1:18pm ET with the field of 25 drivers holding station through Turn 1 where President Donald Trump waved the green flag and were allowed to pass after crossing the start line on the exit of Turn 1. Polesitter Alex Palou was passed by front row starter Kyle Kirkwood.

Lap 2 and caution is called for debris. It’s Kirkwood, Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Rasmussen, Marcus Armstrong, and Christian Lundgaard as the top six.

Lap 5 restart and no changes in the front running order but David Malukas is trying to take P6 from Lundgaard.

Lap 6 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 0.8s and McLaughlin by 1.9s.

Lap 10 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 1.0s and McLaughlin by 2.7s. The top five are on Firestone alternates; Lundgaard in sixth is the first on primaries.

Lap 12 and the field is strung out running single file.

Lap 15 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 0.8s and McLaughlin by 3.4s. Kirkwood and Palou are trading tenths of a second per lap. McLaughlin’s a few tenths off per lap.

Lap 18 and caution is again called for debris.

Lap 20 and the running order is Kirkwood, Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Rasmussen, Marcus Armstrong, and Christian Lundgaard as the top six.

Lap 21 and Malukas pits from P7. Behind Lundgaard is Dennis Hauger in P7, then Pato O’Ward, Caio Collet, and Alexander Rossi in P10.

Lap 23 restart and no changes in the top 10.

Lap 24 and Josef Newgarden takes P10 from Rossi.

Lap 25 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 0.5s and McLaughlin by 1.2s.

Lap 30 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 1.0s and McLaughlin by 2.5s. Rasmussen is 3.6s back in P4, Armstrong is 4.6s down in P5, and Lundgaard has a 5.3s deficit to the leader.

Lap 35 and Kirkwood leads Palou by 1.0 and McLaughlin by 4.7s.

Lap 37 and caution is called for a hard crash by Malukas, who was then hit by Sting Ray Robb. Both climbed from their cars under their own power. The running order is Kirkwood, Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Rasmussen, Marcus Armstrong, and Christian Lundgaard as the top six.

Lap 39 and all leaders and most of the field pits. Kirkwood goes to a second set of alts while Palou and McLaughlin take primes. Rasmussen takes alts. Lundgaard got ahead of Armstrong; both are on primes. Leaders are Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, Kyffin Simpson, and Romain Grosjean, who pitted earlier; Kirkwood is P5.

Lap 42 and Palou is given a drive-through penalty for hitting the outside rear tire that was laid out for Mick Schumacher. It will need to be served after the race returns to green. He’s currently circulating in P6.

Lap 43 restart and Rahal hits the wall coming to green. VeeKay gets ahead for a moment. Armstrong decides to become a hero and make a last-second passing attempt that was never on, hits Rasmussen, who hits VeeKay. VeeKay hits the wall and is out. Rasmussen gets spun and spins around to continue. Caution. Palou pitted to serve his penalty and returns in P21. Kirkwood got up to P3 behind Simpson and leader Rahal.

Lap 51 restart and Kirkwood takes P2 from Simpson as Armstrong serves a drive-through penalty. Kirkwood takes P1 from Rahal before the end of the lap. Palou, who stopped under caution to top up his fuel tank, is P17.

Lap 52 and the running order is Kirkwood, Rahal, Simpson, Grosjean, McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Hauger and Collet.

Lap 53 and Kirkwood leads Rahal by 2.1s.

Lap 54 and Lundgaard takes P6 from Rosenqvist. Palou is down to P18.

Lap 60 and Kirkwood leads Rahal by 3.8s and Simpson by 5.4s. Palou is sinking like a rock on primes, down 19.8s to Kirkwood.

Lap 61 and Rahal pits from P2. Marcus Ericsson takes P11 from Hauger.

Lap 62 and Kirkwood leads Simpson by 5.2s and Grosjean by 6.4s. Palou is down 23.1s to Kirkwood in P17.

Lap 68 and Palou pits. He traded primes for alts. He’s sent without the left-front wheel being secured. He’s stopped before going far. The left-front is tightened and then he’s sent, but Kirkwood goes by and puts Palou a lap down. Big collapse with a driver error at the last stop and a team error on this stop. He returns in P21.

Lap 70 and Kirkwood leads Simpson by 6.5s and Grosjean by 9.5s.

Lap 73 and we’ve reached the halfway point at 2:39pm ET. Grosjean pits. Ericsson takes P9 from Collet.

Lap 75 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 10.3 as Simpson pits.

Lap 77 and Rossi takes P10 from Hauger.

Lap 78 and Lundgaard pits to take alts for the first time. He’ll also close on alts.

Lap 80 and Kirkwood pits to take primes. McLaughlin pits for primes.

Lap 85 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 9.2s and Simpson by 10.1s.

Lap 89 and Kirkwood is losing time behind slower cars; McLaughlin is 6.7s back.

Lap 92 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 5.3s and has cleared the slower cars. Palou is P13, but pits. He returns in P18 in front of P1 Kirkwood.

Lap 95 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 7.2s and Lundgaard by 8.4s.

Lap 100 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 11.2s. Kirkwood has led 86 laps so far.

Lap 103 and Kirkwood and Palou set their fastest laps of the race. Palou is 55.7s behind Kirkwood in P17. If it stays this way, Kirkwood will make serious gains in the championship.

Lap 105 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 13.0s. The top 10 is comprised of Kirkwood, McLaughlin, Lundgaard, Power, Simpson, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Grosjean, Newgarden, and Nolan Siegel.

Lap 106 and Ericsson takes P6 from Rosenqvist.

Lap 110 and Kirkwood leads McLaughlin by 15.3s and Lundgaard by 16.3s. Ericsson takes P5 from Simpson.

Lap 112 and Ericsson pits. Kirkwood pits as well.

Lap 113 and Simpson pits.

Lap 115 and Lundgaard pits.

Lap 116 and McLaughlin pits. Power inherits the lead.

Lap 117 and Power pits.

Lap 123 sees another caution as Palou spins on his own and breaks the front wings from the nose on his car. He gets turned around and drives back to the pits with the wing riding under the left-front tire. Rarely have we seen a total collapse like this from the four-time champion.

Lap 127 and Palou is P21, three laps down. He’s two laps behind Rasmussen, which means he’s buried at the back unless other drivers fall out. Huge day for Kirkwood to make inroads on the championship leader.

La[ 129 restart and McLaughlin tries to take the lead from Kirkwood and slams into the wall. Caution. Rosenqvist spun on his own and nosed into the wall.

Lap 132 and the running order is Kirkwood, Lundgaard, Power, Ericsson, Simpson, Siegel, Newgarden, Dixon, Collet, and Rossi for the top 10. When it goes back to green, Kirkwood and Simpson and Siegel are the main drivers on primes while the rest nearby are on alts.

Lap 135 restart and Kirkwood is under no pressure.

Lap 137 and Kirkwood leads Lundgaard by 1.7s and Power by 3.2s.

Lap 140 and Kirkwood leads Lundgaard by 1.1s and Power by 4.6s.

Lap 143 and Kirkwood sets his fastest lap and pushes the lead over Lundgaard out to 2.6s. He’s on a mission.

Lap 146 and Kirkwood’s lead is 4.4s. Epic drive.

Lap 147 it’s 3:59pm ET and Kirkwood wins the Freedom 250 for Andretti Global and Honda. He leads Lundgaard by 3.3s, Power by 4.4s, Ericsson by 12.7s, Simpson by 14.1s, and Siegel by 15.9s. Palou is P20.

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