Palou Claims His 19th Career Pole Position at IndyCar's Debut in Washington

Alex Palou was fastest in qualifying for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington D.C., the first IndyCar race on the streets of the U.S. capital, with a lap of under 57 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six that gives him his seventh pole of the season and the nineteenth of his IndyCar career. Kyle Kirkwood qualified second, six tenths behind, while David Malukas ended up sixth after hitting the wall with his right-rear tire at turn one, an impact that damaged the alignment of his No. 12 Chevrolet.

Photo By Penske Entertainment

Kirkwood had set the fastest time of the first round, a lap that stood as the best of the weekend up to that point, but he locked his front tire under braking on his final lap of the Fast Six. Even with that mistake, Kirkwood said it would have been difficult to beat Palou anyway that afternoon. Palou expressed satisfaction with the handling of his Honda and with the opportunity to start from the front on Sunday, when the race will cover 147 laps on a seven-turn, 1.7-mile circuit laid out around the National Mall.

Scott McLaughlin was the fastest Chevrolet driver and finished third in the No. 3 Penske, which is running a special livery this weekend featuring the U.S. flag. Christian Rasmussen claimed fourth place, his best qualifying result since joining the series. Marcus Armstrong qualified fifth, his best result after having started 20th or worse in three of the last four races.

The first round eliminated three former series champions: Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Josef Newgarden, along with Marcus Ericsson, who had won the previous week at Markham, Ontario, and qualified 15th.

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The gap between Palou and Kirkwood in the championship stands at 133 points, the largest since the series unified under the NTT IndyCar Series name in 2008. Before this season, the average leader's advantage with four races remaining was 35.7 points. The largest comeback by a champion during that period was 59 points, achieved by Dario Franchitti in 2010. Scott Dixon overcame a 54-point deficit against Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015.

The margin grew at the previous race in Markham, where Ericsson scored his first win in 63 races and Kirkwood finished out of the points due to a crash at turn three. Palou, in that same session, had hit the wall twice during qualifying and snapped a streak of thirty consecutive top-ten qualifying appearances dating back to late 2024, although he started fourth in the race and maintained his advantage over Kirkwood heading into this round.

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Nine drivers remain mathematically in title contention: Palou, Kirkwood, David Malukas, Christian Lundgaard, Pato O'Ward, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin, Felix Rosenqvist, and Marcus Ericsson. Anyone who falls 162 points or more behind the leader after Sunday's race will be eliminated from contention. Washington D.C. closes out the six street-course races on the 2026 calendar, following rounds at St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Detroit, Arlington, and Markham, with four races remaining before the season finale. The race starts at 1:13 p.m. ET, following a warm-up practice at 9:15 a.m.

Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington DC - Combined Qualifying

Pos	#	driver	team	best
1	10	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	0:56.899
2	27	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian	0:57.466
3	3	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	0:57.620
4	21	Christian Rasmussen	ECR	0:57.889
5	66	Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	0:58.815
6	12	David Malukas	Team Penske	1:10.671
7	5	Pato O'Ward	Arrow McLaren	0:57.306
8	19	Dennis Hauger	Dale Coyne Racing	0:57.420
9	7	Christian Lundgaard	Arrow McLaren	0:57.442
10	60	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank w/ Curb-Agajanian	0:57.512
11	4	Caio Collet	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	0:57.741
12	6	Nolan Siegel	Arrow McLaren	0:58.070
13	26	Will Power	Andretti Global	0:57.092
14	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	0:57.578
15	28	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global	0:57.280
16	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	0:57.633
17	20	Alexander Rossi	ECR	0:57.479
18	45	Louis Foster	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	0:57.746
19	76	Rinus VeeKay	Juncos Hollinger Racing	0:57.495
20	47	Mick Schumacher	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	0:57.840
21	18	Romain Grosjean	Dale Coyne Racing	0:57.508
22	14	Santino Ferrucci	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	0:57.962
23	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	0:57.870
24	77	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Hollinger Racing	0:58.483
25	8	Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing	0:59.165