WASHINGTON, D.C. — When it comes to history in IndyCar, Alex Palou’s name is all over it.
Palou won his seventh pole of the season as he continues his drive to IndyCar Series championship No. 5 in 2026.
But this one was historic. It came on the streets of the National Mall in the Nation’s Capital for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington DC.
It was Palou’s 19th NTT P1 Award after he ran the fastest time in the Firestone Fast Six at 56.899 around the 1.7-mile, seven turn street course in the No. 10 Open AI Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“Incredible, man,” Palou said. “Such a privilege to be racing here. Spectacular place and spectacular fans as well. It’s been packed all day today. Incredible to put the Open AI car on pole. It was tough during qualifying with a lot of traffic, but I was happy there was no traffic in Fast Six.
“My car was on rails.
“Super fun lap. Super fun car to drive and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. It’s going to be a very long race, 250 miles, it’s going to be rough. I was leaving everything there. I want that trophy. It’s so beautiful, want to take it.”
Kirkwood was the first to make a single-lap attempt and raced to a time of 57.466 for the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda. He had a fantastic save on his lap and was still able to get a quick time.
Palou was the next on track and after putting heat in his tires on the warmup, hit the accelerator and was pacing ahead of Kirkwood’s lap. He recorded a dominant 56.899-second lap to take over provisional pole after two of the six drivers had made attempts.
Kirkwood ended up second, the outside of Row 1.
“The earlier you go, the more heat you have in the tires,” Kirkwood said. “Very thrilled to be driving this amazing race car around these amazing streets with these amazing fans here.
“Alex Palou is just a legend. He made us look silly out there. I thought I put in a stellar lap in, and he was about six-tenths clear. Hats off to them, but we are going to race him hard tomorrow.”
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was the third driver on course in the No 3 PPG Chevrolet. When he took the green flag, he was tracking behind Palou’s lap and needed to make up the difference. McLaughlin’s time was 57.620. McLaughlin will start third.
“We were struggling to get the tires up to temp on our first lap,” McLaughlin said. “We thought wrong. But even if I went out second, that was about the best lap I could do.
“I’m jacked for tomorrow.”Marcus Armstrong was the fourth on track in the Fast Six in the No. 66 Meyer Shank Honda. Armstrong struggled with his tires and turned a time of 58.814, the slowest of the four drivers so far. He will start fifth.
That left Team Penske’s David Malukas and ECR’s Christian Rasmussen as the only two drivers that could prevent Palou from winning the pole.
Malukas had a difficult time on his lap and finished 1:10.670 after locking up tires entering a turn and brushing the outside wall with the right rear. At that point, it was just a matter of finishing the lap and accepting the sixth place starting position.
For Rasmussen, it was an “all or nothing” lap and he was just the driver to try it. He didn’t knock off Palou from the pole, though, as he finished a lap at 57.889 and will start fourth.
“It was there from the beginning,” Rasmussen said. “We rolled off the truck super well this weekend and made a few improvements from P2 and was even better with the car.
“We tried to build as much temperature in the tires as well and I just shipped it into Turn 2 to see if I could. The biggest mistake was over the bump in Turn 5. I think we could have been third, but P4 is my best in IndyCar.
“We started with the right progression and stepped up the game, which is very important for us. Hopefully, we can have a good race on Sunday.”
