Kirkwood Wins Freedom 250 as Trump Waves Green Flag in DC's First IndyCar Street Race
Kyle Kirkwood won the Freedom 250 IndyCar race on the streets of Washington DC on August 23, 2026, taking the chequered flag 3.0906 seconds ahead of the No. 7 Arrow car (IndyCar). The race was the first IndyCar street event ever held in the US capital.
President Donald Trump waved the green flag to start it — though not before needing a little help. Melania Trump and Command Sergeant Major Matt Williams helped him figure out how to hold the flag before he waved it, per The Guardian. Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser delivered the traditional command: "Drivers, to your cars!" Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy waved the checkered flag at the finish, USA Today reported.
The race capped a sprawling 250th anniversary celebration of US independence, one Trump launched by executive order to bring IndyCar to the capital. The celebration events ran from New Year's Eve 2025 through January 5, 2026, and continued across the country through the summer, the White House said. The Freedom 250 Grand Prix was the capstone event.
The circuit itself was a 1.7-mile street track laid through the city. Getting it race-ready required more than 200 manhole covers to be welded down around the course so the downforce of passing cars — the aerodynamic suction that can literally lift loose metal off the road — would not rip them upward, The Guardian reported. The National Gallery of Art studied how vibrations from the cars might affect its exhibits and shielded some outdoor sculptures as a precaution.
On track, the pace was tight. Alex Palou took pole position with a qualifying lap of 56.7729 seconds; Kirkwood lined up second, just over seven tenths back at 57.4661 seconds (IndyCar). Kirkwood had also been quickest overall in opening practice, clocking a 57-second lap in a 64-minute session split across three groups (IndyCar). Starting from the front row, he converted that pace into his second street-race win of the 2026 season, having already taken victory at Arlington.
Thousands of spectators lined the circuit, with the President and First Lady among them, CNN reported. Television coverage began on Fox at 11:30 a.m. ET, with the green flag scheduled for 1:13 p.m. (IndyStar).
For a sport that usually races on dedicated tracks or in established street venues, bringing IndyCar to the capital was always going to be as much a civic engineering project as a sporting one. The welded manhole covers and the National Gallery's sculpture shields tell you what it takes to run 200mph machinery past a city's plumbing and art collection. That the race delivered a close qualifying battle and a decisive but hard-earned win made the effort worthwhile.
