Kirkwood Dominates Freedom 250

By Dennis Krause

One week after crashing out of the inaugural street race in Markham, Ontario, and possibly taking himself out of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship mix, Kyle Kirkwood absolutely dominated Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.

Driving the No. 27 Sam’s Club Andretti Global Honda, Kirkwood took the lead into the first corner from the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of pole-sitter and championship leader Alex Palou and led for 128 of the 147 laps around the seven-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street course on his way to an historic win.

“That was huge, right? After last weekend, my mistakes there, kind of flipped a switch where I was like these mistakes feel terrible. I hadn't had one of those in a very long time.

“Sometimes those are actually good for me because all this week I feel like I've worked harder than I ever have in preparation for this event,” Kirkwood allowed. “I think those preparations paid off this weekend.

“it was a great feeling to rebound after last weekend, to get here, to see all the fans, 100,000 people on both days is absolutely incredible. The whole place there's people, rows of five in the pace laps, all the way around the track, 1.7-miles. Super cool to see.

“To be able to win in what will be considered probably my home race, right, being the Freedom 250 as an American, is something very special. I'll cherish this moment for a very long time.”

Photo: Travis Hinkle/Penske Entertainment

Kirkwood’s 3.0906 second margin of victory over the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard wasn’t indicative of the dominance he displayed in Sunday’s race. Kirkwood had leads of 14,15-seconds during the middle portion of the race until two late race cautions bunched the field. While way out front without any pressure from behind, Kirkwood said he had to fight to keep his mind from wandering several times.

“It wasn't easy, I'm not going to lie to you. There's times where it's like a hundred laps in, I'm thinking about winning this race, right? I have to, like, block it out, try and be like refocus, reset. I just told myself to reset.

“Even in the last few laps, once it got to the last lap, I could let myself breathe a little bit, soak it in a little bit because we had about a four-and-a-half-second lead. Kind of chilled out in that lap.

“If last weekend is any indicator, as soon as you lose a little bit of focus, small mistakes are very consequential. Did everything in my power to not let myself drift away in any sense.”

The magnitude of the event, of racing around the National Mall and the iconic buildings and monuments of the nation’s capitol, was not lost on Kirkwood, something he realized very early on Sunday.

“This morning when I woke up, quite honestly. You know there's an instinct that you have when you wake up and your heart is already racing. I only get that one other place, and that's the Indy 500. Just that sensation, it gives it its own energy. That's what this place had.

“This was a very special day. We were very prepared for it. Outside of the Indy 500, I don't think there's another race that you'd want to win.”

Kirkwood’s win, and Palou’s uncharacteristic, mistake-filled day, tightened the championship fight with three races remaining. On lap 38, Palou clipped a tire in Mick Schumacher’s pit box while exiting from his first stop of the day which resulted in a drive through penalty, a miscue from which he was never able to recover. Later in the race, Palou had a slow pit stop when his left front wheel wasn’t attached properly and finally, the championship leader crashed after contact with a barrier and was credited with a 20th place finish.

With the gap to Palou now down to 91 points from 133, Kirkwood still has a chance with three races remaining, including next weekend’s doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile.

“I mean, we're doing what we talked about, right? I'm just going to go out there and try and win every single race and see where it goes from there. It's starting to pan out.

“I can't control what Palou does,” Kirkwood added. “Maybe in very small circumstances you can. In the sense of where he finished today or where he was going to finish today, there is no controlling that because you're in the lead. We just had a very fortunate day in the points championship.”

Likely a one-and-done event, would Kirkwood like to see the Freedom 250 return to the schedule?

“I mean, there's two ways to look at it, right? I'm going to be super biased, two opinions:

“Either no, I never want to come back here because I'll be the only winner of this thing, or biased in that direction, too, yes, let's come back here because I want to win it again. Just depends how you look at it.”

For Kirkwood, his seventh career win may have been the biggest of his career to date.

“This likely is the most satisfying win that I've had, just the magnitude of it. It's huge. This one and my first are pretty similar.

“Getting your first win in INDYCAR is a very special moment, kind of solidifies that your dreams have come true. As a little kid growing up in go-karts, wanting to do this your whole career, finally winning against guys you've watched on TV and admired for so long, being able to beat them is very satisfactory.

“Also here, when you think about the magnitude, what this means, having this race here in DC, being the Freedom 250, as an American, it might top the first win for me.”

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute.

Palou Wins Pole for Historic Freedom 250