WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Nation’s Capital has become the Capital of Speed this weekend, as the NTT IndyCar Series officially hit the streets of the National Mall for Saturday morning’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix practice.
The dream of Roger Penske, Bud Denker and FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks has become a reality.
While this race was once a grandiose dream, the reality is Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Palou were the two fastest drivers in the split group sessions with speeds in the 57-second range.
Kirkwood was the fastest in the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda at 57.374 followed by Palou’s 57.612 in the No. 10 Open AI Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, Dennis Hauger’s 57.738 in the No. 19 Honda, David Malukas of Team Penske in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet at 57.745 and Marcus Ericsson’s 57.800 in the No. 28 Honda.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was sixth in the No. 2 Chevrolet at 57.982.
Early morning sprinkles created a damp race course before the sun started to shine through the overcast skies. Because of the moisture affecting the communication lines in the marshalling area the beginning of the 9:05 a.m. practice was on hold as areas of the track were tended to.
One part of the track that was fixed overnight was past the flag stand and was discovered during Friday’s Track Walk from several drivers, including Rinus VeeKay and Caio Collet. It was a domed cover for a gas line in the asphalt that was raised between one to 1.5 inches from the rest of the racing surface.
IndyCar officials were notified and the meter cover was replaced and covered with concrete for the race weekend only. It will return to use once this course is torn down.
Rain tires were placed on the Indy cars on pit lane, but those cars sat silent during the delay.
Race Control targeted a start time for 9:20 a.m. Eastern Time.
The green flag waved and the cars charged off pit lane, onto the 1.7-mile, seven-turn street course. As the cars rolled off pit lane, Penske Corporation President Bud Denker and the Chairman of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington DC, captured it on iPhone video while he was fighting back emotion.
Denker was the driving force behind getting this event to become a reality along with FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks.
Although the brainchild for this race began several years ago, the campaigning for this event in August 2025.
“It’s emotional,” Denker said. “It’s been the journey of my life. To see it come true with Roger Penske’s support. I’ve got an amazing team of people that made this happen.
“This track was not here three weeks ago. Not one bridge, not one wall, not one fence. The planning for it has taken seven months. Normally, it would take two years. I’ve got the most incredible group of people, but also the partners in DC, the Mayor, the President, the Cabinet Members, everybody that made this happen.
“If we can find other places with partners like we have here, it’s a real model we can learn from and take to other places, our group can do this anywhere in the world.”
Zak Brown, McLaren Racing CEO, was in pit lane instead of the Dutch Grand Prix Formula 1 race.
“It’s self-explanatory,” Brown said. “It’s a massive event for IndyCar. Commercially awesome. We have great fans that love our racing, but this is going to bring a lot of awareness to IndyCar for new fans. When they tune in, they are going to love it. The amount of executives we have here is phenomenal.
“I’m already hoping there is a Year 2, but let’s get through Year 1 first.
“I think we are going to build a bigger fan base off this event. When you have a bigger fan base, the sport is all about fans, you will end up attracting more sponsor partners. This is going to be really healthy. Grow our fan base and our sponsorship base. The amount of people we have out is fantastic. The track looks amazing.
“I’ve traveled all over the world, and I can’t think of a cooler setting than looking at the Capitol in the background. I’m excited for the race.”
Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing took laps early and gave his assessment of the race course.
“The conditions are not easy right now, we have a few corners that are completely dry and a few corners that are completely wet,” Grosjean said. “You almost want to make a pit stop halfway through the lap.
“It’s good to be racing here. It definitely has a few more bumps than last week, a few less corners, but generally there are some really good flowing sections.”
All three Andretti Global drivers were in the top four for practice speeds with 15 minutes remaining led by Will Power’s No. 26 Honda at 1:05.069 with Kyle Kirkwood second at 1:05.187 in the No. 27 Honda. Last week’s winner, Marcus Ericsson, was fourth at 1:06.167 in the No. 28. Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren was third at 1:05.939 in the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing took over the fastest lap at the 13-minute mark at 1:04.767 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. One minute later, Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren was the fastest at 1:02.025 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Lundgaard lowered that to 1:00.121 with 8:46 left in the all-cars session.
As the racing surface was dry, every driver duck onto pit road to take off the wet, grooved tires and put on the racing slicks for the dry pavement.
With everybody on the racing slicks, the times dropped below 60 seconds and with 2:12 left in the all-cars session, Rinus VeeKay of Juncos Hollinger Racing was the fastest at 59.436 in the No. 76 Chevrolet followed by Power’s 59.500.
Dennis Hauger of Dale Coyne Racing was third in the No. 19 Honda at 59.636 followed by Alex Palou’s No. 10 Open AI Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing at 59.726.
Lundgaard spun out in Turn 6 after brushing the wall toward the end of the all-cars session.
“It was honestly just fun, I was enjoying the view trying to find some grip and the track was dry,” Lundgaard said. “Turns 6 and 7 were a little damp as I discovered at the end. I’m not so worried about the timing sheet right now, but we’re ready to go for practice 2.
“Everybody kept stacking up in Turn 6. Once I had a go at it, it didn’t quite go so well.”
Alexander Rossi of ECR nabbed the fastest speed in the closing seconds with a lap at 58.606 in the No. 20 Chevrolet followed by VeeKay’s No. 76 Chevrolet at 58.851, Power’s No. 26 Honda at 58.939, Palou’s 59.174 and Felix Rosenqvist’s 59.279 in the No. 60 Honda.
The slowest car in the field was Caio Collet’s 1:08.761 in the No. 4 Chevrolet.
Group sessions followed with two groups split into 12-minute practices.
Group 1 didn’t get off to a great start for Andretti Global as Will Power hit the wall in Turn 5, braking a toe-link in his rear suspension.
The good news for Andretti Global is Kyle Kirkwood topped the first group with a lap at 57.374 followed by teammate Ericsson at 57.800. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was third at 57.982 in the No. 2 Chevrolet followed by Dennis Hauger’s No. 19 Honda at 57.998 and VeeKay’s 58.166.
Group 2 was next and Christian Rasmussen went into the runoff after hitting some bumps but was able to return to the race course.
When that session concluded, Palou was the fastest at 57.6123 followed by Hauger’s 57.7381, David Malukas in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske at 57.7457, Kyffin Simpson’s No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at 58.0623 and Alexander Rossi’s No. 20 ECR Chevrolet at 58.1306.
