There was excitement in the air with a dramatic fly-over of bombers and fighters also doing work overseas. The President spoke, and took a roll around the course in the armored Beast limousine. The drivers brought that energy to the course when the green flag flew! The high-pitched whines rose over the narrow turns and a dozen drivers clipped thing sat speed on the sharp turns to keep interest focused.

The 147 laps of the 1.7 mile course rolled by with inexorable speed unil only twenty laps remaining, the Freedom 250 stopped looking like a ceremonial race around the monuments and started looking like the commute home from the Pentagon in 1987—except everybody was doing 150.
Kyle Kirkwood had controlled most of the afternoon, but Washington wasn’t finished with him. Álex Palou crashed with 25 laps remaining, bringing out the yellow and erasing Kirkwood’s comfortable lead.

Green again with 19 to go—and Scott McLaughlin immediately went after Kirkwood for the lead. He went in too hard, hit the wall, and Felix Rosenqvist spun in the resulting mess. Yellow again.

That left Kirkwood back in front, Christian Lundgaard second, and thirteen laps remaining when they finally turned them loose again.

This time Kirkwood simply left.

Five laps from home he had stretched the advantage to about three seconds. The white flag came out with the No. 27 firmly in command.

Then, after 147 laps around the heart of Washington:

CHECKERED FLAG — KYLE KIRKWOOD WINS THE FREEDOM 250.

Kirkwood led an extraordinary 128 of the 147 laps, earning his seventh IndyCar victory and his second win of the 2026 season. Lundgaard finished second and Will Power third.

We had been pulling for that call-sign, if not the actual driver since it reminded us of squadron days!
For one Sunday afternoon, Washington traffic actually moved.

And the first man to win an IndyCar race through the nation’s capital was Kyle Kirkwood.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com