Almost nothing is guaranteed in motorsports, but when you set out to host a one-of-a-kind INDYCAR street race in the heart of Washington, D.C., exceptional and wonderfully juxtaposed views are, in fact, a given. 

For Sunday’s Freedom 250, the 1.7-mile street course ran around and through the National Mall, flanked by the U.S. Capitol on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. The temporary track also snaked around National Archives, the National Gallery of Art and the Air and Space Museum, among many other museums and government buildings, providing both INDYCAR teams and fans with unparalleled optics. 

INDYCAR drivers — including Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal — soaked in all the history and what was for some their first trip to the U.S. capital, and the Freedom 250 itself delivered stunning race images against the backdrop of some of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks. 

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from Sunday’s Freedom 250.

Cars on track ahead of INDYCAR’s Freedom 250. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Alex Palou’s car on track in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Rinus VeeKay and Mick Schumacher prior to INDYCAR’s Freedom 250. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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Scott McLaughlin racing in the Freedom 250 in front of National Archives. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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An aerial view of the Freedom 250 course. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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General view of the U.S. Capitol from the Freedom 250 course. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Pato O’Ward’s car before the Freedom 250. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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David Malukas and Marcus Armstrong during driver intros ahead of the Freedom 250. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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Caio Collet during the Freedom 250. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

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Alexander Rossi’s car on the Freedom 250 course. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Alex Palou before the Freedom 250. (FOX Sports)

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Pato O’Ward races in the Freedom 250 in front of National Archives. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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An aerial view of the Freedom 250 course. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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Josef Newgarden’s Team Penske crew works on his car on the Freedom 250 pit road. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Cars on the Freedom 250 track. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing team before the Freedom 250. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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U.S. Capitol from the stands at the Freedom 250. (FOX Sports)

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National Archives from the Freedom 250 track. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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“Thomas Jefferson” and “Abraham Lincoln” at the Freedom 250. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Nolan Siegel in front of National Archives during the Freedom 250. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

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Cars on the Freedom 250 course. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Kyle Kirkwood winning the Freedom 250 in front of the U.S. (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

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Kyle Kirkwood celebrates winning the Freedom 250. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

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Freedom 250 winner and Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood celebrates with his team. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Racing legend Mario Andretti congratulates Freedom 250 winner and Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood. (Jon Hill/FOX Sports)

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Third-place finisher Will Power and winner Kyle Kirkwood celebrate podium finishes in the Freedom 250. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

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MORE FREEDOM 250

The Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., was given a memorable flyover on Sunday.

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Two of the top three teams in the NL meet in Milwaukee for the series finale. The Brewers are going for the sweep today after taking the first two games of the series. Atlanta, meanwhile, has dropped four of its last five and tries to avoid getting swept for the second straight series.

Week 2 preseason action in the NFL concludes with the Titans and Seahawks meeting in Nissan Stadium. Tennessee’s first-round pick Carnell Tate looks to put on a better performance than his week one debut.

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Tight end Dae’Quan Wright is set to make history in an unusual way. 

The Cleveland Browns are set to waive Wright and if the tight end clears waivers, he has a commitment in place to return to college and play for LSU in 2026, ESPN reported Sunday. If Wright does wind up playing for LSU this fall, it’s believed that he’ll be the first player to have ever played college football after being on an NFL roster, according to ESPN. 

Wright, who’ll turn 23 in September, is one of a handful of players who have participated in an NFL training camp this summer and have also entered their names into the transfer portal. Wright is one of a few former Ole Miss players who were granted an injunction by a judge in Louisiana this past week that allowed them another year of college eligibility. The list of plaintiffs in the lawsuit featured 16 football players among student-athletes from other sports. 

The Philadelphia Eagles initially signed Wright as an undrafted free agent in May. However, they waived him on Aug. 10. The Browns picked him up a day later. 

Wright took part in warm-ups for the Browns ahead of their preseason matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday. He didn’t play a snap in the game, but the fact that he was in pads while also considering a return to college made headlines. 

The situation with Wright also left Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken befuddled. 

“Man, isn’t this s— crazy?” Monken told reporters. “I don’t even know what to say. As far as I know, he’s had a medical issue that wasn’t allowing him to practice. That’s a medical issue. It has nothing to do with me. He was cleared, so we dressed him just in case we had to have him.”

“I don’t know what to say. I wondered why [LSU head coach] Lane Kiffin reached out to me a week ago. Now I know. I didn’t call him back. I guess I should have.”

Wright played for Kiffin at Ole Miss over the last two seasons, logging 1,029 yards and nine touchdowns over his time with the Rebels. Now, if all goes to plan for Wright, he’ll follow Kiffin to LSU after the head coach departed Ole Miss over the offseason. 

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INDYCAR raced through the streets of Washington, D.C., for the Freedom 250, and for the podium finishers, the location was the main takeaway of the weekend. Competing against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol, the podium finishers reflected on the impact driving around various D.C. landmarks had on the experience.

Winner Kyle Kirkwood held the lead for most of the afternoon, but the location added weight to the victory that rivaled traditional major races on the schedule. 

“You can’t even put it into words,” Kirkwood told our Jamie Little after the race. “This is incredible, I’m almost in tears here. This is a big moment for us, big moment for America. … It felt good to dominate out there, I’m not gonna lie.”

While different in many ways, the spectacle of the Freedom 250 has been compared with that of the Indianapolis 500, which is considered one of the greatest motorsports events in the world. 

“If you can’t win at the (Indy) 500, this is definitely the place to win,” Kirkwood continued. “And I don’t know if we’re ever going to get another chance at this. I hope we do. I hope we do. This was awesome, but what a dream come true.”

Second-place finisher Christian Lundgaard missed out on the top spot, but pointed out the location as a defining element of the weekend. 

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

Kyle Kirkwood drives through the streets of Washington D.C. en route to victory in the INDYCAR Freedom 250. (FOX Sports).

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Will Power secured third place and reflected on his journey from regional Australia to driving on the streets of D.C. He underscored how surreal the environment felt from inside the cockpit. 

“It’s such an epic event, man,” Power said. “Look back there, I just could never dream of being in a place like this, racing in a place like this when I started all those years ago in Toowoomba.”

The shared perspective among the top three finishers highlighted an event where the scale of the venue elevated the racing experience.

INDYCAR Related Stories

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Ferran Torres scored twice in his Paris Saint-Germain debut to help the French defending champion draw 2-2 at Rennes in its league opener on Sunday.

Torres, who joined PSG from Barcelona after scoring Spain’s World Cup winning goal last month, came off the bench to score in the 71st and 82nd minutes, helping his new club avoid a second consecutive loss to start the season.

Both goals were assisted by Torres’ Spain teammate Fabian Ruiz.

Sebastian Szymanski and Esteban Lepaul had put host Rennes ahead with first-half goals.

The comeback allowed PSG to avoid defeat after a penalty shootout loss to Lens in the French Super Cup final.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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The Freedom 250 ripped up Alex Palou’s perfect script. What began with single-lap dominance ended in pit-lane penalties and a 20th-place finish on the streets of Washington, D.C., delivering a sudden shock to an otherwise untouchable championship run.

As the INDYCAR standings take shape, Palou remains in prime position to capture the championship — what would be his fifth in six seasons. He leads the field with 553 points, building a comfortable 91-point cushion over Freedom 250 race winner Kyle Kirkwood.

Alex Palou leads the field with 553 points, building a comfortable 91-point cushion over Freedom 250 winner Kyle Kirkwood.

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Sunday’s race didn’t go Palou’s way, taking a slight bite out of his championship lead over Kirkwood with just three races remaining. When asked about how much the frustrating result stung after dropping down the order, he didn’t mince his words.

“We could have done a lot differently,” Palou said on the FOX Sports broadcast. “It hurts. It was one of those races that I really wanted to do very good. I wanted to get that win, so it hurts a lot that we just had this bad of a day. But it’s okay, things happen.”

Nearly everything that could go wrong did for Palou on Sunday. 

Early contact with the wall broke his rear toe link, and as a result, ended up sending him into a spin through Turn 5 with front-wing damage. To top it off, a pit lane error forced his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew to serve a drive-through penalty on the Lap 43 restart.

When asked to sum up his off day, Palou joked that if he had to have a bad race, at least it all came at once rather than dragging across multiple weekends.

“I’m at least kind of happy that everything happened the same day instead of spreading it throughout different races,” Palou said. “Not a good day, but it’s alright. Things happen.”

With the last race behind them, all eyes now shift toward next weekend’s doubleheader: Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 at the historic Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin.

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The Freedom 250 ripped up Alex Palou’s perfect script. What began with single-lap dominance ended in pit-lane penalties and a 20th-place finish on the streets of Washington, D.C., delivering a sudden shock to an otherwise untouchable championship run.

As the INDYCAR standings take shape, Palou remains in prime position to capture the championship — what would be his fifth in six seasons. He leads the field with 553 points, building a comfortable 91-point cushion over Freedom 250 race winner Kyle Kirkwood.

Alex Palou leads the field with 553 points, building a comfortable 91-point cushion over Freedom 250 winner Kyle Kirkwood.

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Sunday’s race didn’t go Palou’s way, taking a slight bite out of his championship lead over Kirkwood with just three races remaining. When asked about how much the frustrating result stung after dropping down the order, he didn’t mince his words.

“We could have done a lot differently,” Palou said on the FOX Sports broadcast. “It hurts. It was one of those races that I really wanted to do very good. I wanted to get that win, so it hurts a lot that we just had this bad of a day. But it’s okay, things happen.”

Nearly everything that could go wrong did for Palou on Sunday. 

Early contact with the wall broke his rear toe link, and as a result, ended up sending him into a spin through Turn 5 with front-wing damage. To top it off, a pit lane error forced his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew to serve a drive-through penalty on the Lap 43 restart.

When asked to sum up his off day, Palou joked that if he had to have a bad race, at least it all came at once rather than dragging across multiple weekends.

“I’m at least kind of happy that everything happened the same day instead of spreading it throughout different races,” Palou said. “Not a good day, but it’s alright. Things happen.”

With the last race behind them, all eyes now shift toward next weekend’s doubleheader: Snap-on Makers and Fixers 250 at the historic Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin.

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Washington — Kyle Kirkwood, who has been the best U.S.-born driver in INDYCAR the last two seasons, made him a popular winner of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix — an event designed to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary season.

The Andretti Global driver led 128 of the 147 laps of a race where President Donald Trump waved the green flag and the drivers competed on a 1.7-mile circuit that included Pennsylvania Avenue as well as Constitution and Independence within view of many iconic U.S. landmarks.

“America is built on many different nations,” Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood told me Sunday night. “In many ways, I don’t believe that today had to be won by an American. It just so happened that we were the best car out there today and we did everything right and were the winners.

“In many ways I’m glad because I think that there’s a lot of people that are here as fans or watching on TV that wanted to see an American win. I’m glad I could give them that satisfaction, but it’s not easy to win any INDYCAR race, and the fact I was able to do it today as an American is a massive deal.”

Here are my takeaways:

1. The Race Delivered

Will Power takes a photo with the presidential limousine, “The Beast”, on the Freedom 250 Grand Prix track.

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With no huge issues with the track and no security breaches, the event went off without a major hitch. That was a major accomplishment for a race that was put together in late January when a Trump executive order gave INDYCAR the access to fast-track permits it needed.

Trump stayed for the entire event and several members of his cabinet and other legislators were in attendance. Organizers said that 215,000 fans came to the grounds during the two days, many on free tickets.

The president took a photo with past INDYCAR champions and Indianapolis 500 winners.

“For me, being from a small town in Australia, to end up standing and talking to an American president is surreal,” Will Power said in his post-race news conference. “It’s something I never would have dreamed of.

“It was just incredible to stand there, talk to the president and the First Lady, then jump in a race car and race in Washington, D.C.”

2. Andretti 1-3-4

Marcus Ericsson finished fourth at the Freedom 250.

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Andretti Global didn’t just snag the victory, it also had Will Power finishing third and Marcus Ericsson finishing fourth.

Only Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who placed second, broke up the Andretti Global party.

“The team has made huge progression over this season, and you can see it now,” Power said in his post-race news conference. “It’s all coming online. I think the expectation now every weekend is to be on the podium — challenge for a win.”

3. McLaughlin Goes For It … And Wrecks

Scott McLaughlin said that it was hard to pass all day at the Freedom 250.

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Scott McLaughlin tried to make the pass on Kirkwood on a restart for the lead with 19 laps remaining. 

It ended with McLaughlin with a wrecked race car.

“It was hard to pass all day,” McLaughlin told me after the accident. “I saw an opportunity. He braked really early, and obviously it was the right move from him to brake that early. But I thought that was my chance to make a move.

“I just locked the rears late, and once I locked the rears, I was toast. That was my opportunity. I went for it. And I don’t regret it.”

4. Bad Day For Palou

Reigning INDYCAR champion had a bad day in Washington D.C.

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Four-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou finished three laps down in 20th, seeing his championship lead go from 133 ahead of Kirkwood to 91. That is still a big lead with three races left in the season, and Palou very well could clinch next weekend at the doubleheader at The Milwaukee Mile.

As he was exiting the pits, Palou hit a tire that was being set to be put on Mick Schumacher’s car, resulting in a pass-through penalty. And then he bent a toe link when he tapped the wall, a toe link that eventually broke and he ended up in the wall.

“It was one of those days where I did a couple of mistakes,” Palou told me and another reporter after the race. “We had a bad stop. We had everything happening to us today.

“I prefer this than having it spread out in different races.”

4 ½. What’s Next: The Milwaukee Mile

INDYCAR will have a doubleheader weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, where it will race both Saturday and Sunday. 

Both races will be 250 laps. As far as short ovals, there have been two this year — both won by Josef Newgarden.

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A short time frame to completion and millions of dollars invested, Penske’s Bud Denker said INDYCAR’s Freedom 250 course is one he’d race again.

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Washington — Kyle Kirkwood won on another street course, continuing to earn his moniker as “king of the streets.”

And while that is a nice title to have, it kind of irks Kirkwood. 

The Andretti Global driver wants to be known for more than just strength on street courses. 

But Sunday sixth time on a street course, as he captured the victory in the inaugural race on the streets of Washington. It was his second street victory of the season to go along with the inaugural race at Arlington.

“It’s a great thing I won here today, but it’s a bad thing for that title that I have that I’ve been trying to kick,” Kirkwood told me with a laugh after his victory. 

“It’s the only negative I can take away from today.”

Freedom 250 winner Kyle Kirkwood said he wants to be known for more than just winning on street courses.

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To win a championship, Kirkwood will have to do more than win on streets. He’ll have to win on ovals (as he did last year at Gateway for his only non-street course victory) and on road courses.

Three races remain in the 2026 season — a doubleheader next weekend at Milwaukee and then the season finale at Laguna Seca.

“I think I have to win at Milwaukee and a win at Laguna so I can say I have another win at an oval and a road-course win,” Kirkwood said. “I have a lot of top fives on road courses, but that elusive win has not come to me.”

The 27-year-old Kirkwood is establishing himself as a perennial championship contender. 

He was seventh in the standings in 2024, fourth in the standings last year and sits second in the current standings. However, he is still a somewhat distant 91 points behind Alex Palou.

“Every year we elevate our game. I elevate my game, the team elevates their game,” Kirkwood said. “From seventh to fourth to now, I’m running second. If we can hold off that, that’s once again [cutting it in] half again and the next step is to win.”

Kyle Kirkwood is feeling confident about Milwaukee.

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Andretti Global has won the last two races and appears to be surging.

“We’re going to be really good at Milwaukee,” Kirkwood said. “I think we’re going to be really good at Milwaukee. We had a phenomenal test there. … We’d like to be thought about as one of the big teams. It’s no longer the “Big Two” [of Ganassi and Penske]. It might be the Big Three with the amount of wins that we’ve had this year.”

But if he (and the team) don’t win in the final three races, he might not feel that way. 

The strong vibes can be fleeting and even though there is a long offseason, Kirkwood feels how he finishes 2026 will impact 2027.

“Momentum is a real thing,” Kirkwood said. “Even when you’re out of the car. You want to come off the season as strong as possible to carry that momentum. Because last year, I had a phenomenal first part of the year, but the second part of the year wasn’t that strong.

“That momentum kind of hurts you if you don’t have great momentum going into the offseason with yourself, your work ethic, the team’s work ethic. When you’re determined, you tend to do things a lot better. It will be good to come out of the season with a very solid finish.”

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INDYCAR’s Kyle Kirkwood is just as comfortable in the ocean as he is in the cockpit.

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