By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
Alex Palou put on another vintage performance Saturday afternoon, this time in the nation’s capital, claiming pole for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington D.C.
Palou put the No.10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in the top spot with a lap of 56.8993 seconds, besting Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood (57.4661) by over half-a-second. The Spaniard was also fastest in the first practice session held on Saturday morning.
“Incredible,” Palou said. “Such a privilege to be racing here. Spectacular place, spectacular fans, as well. My car was on rails. Super-fun lap, super-fun car to drive. Couldn’t be happier. Looking forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, man, 250 miles.”
Scott McLaughlin was the quickest Chevrolet in qualifications, setting a lap of 57.6200 seconds, good enough for third. McLaughlin is currently in a 32-race winless drought and will be hungry to deliver Roger Penske a win in D.C. in his 100th IndyCar start.
“The PPG Chevy felt good,” McLaughlin said. “Struggling to get the tires up to temp like some of the other cars. We’ll go to work on that. I think we’re in a good spot for tomorrow. To get to the Fast Six around here is great. We’ll focus on tomorrow. I think we’ve got a great race car.”
Christian Rasmussen (57.8892) starts a career best fourth place for Sunday’s race. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver is looking for a turn of good luck with multiple mechanical failures plaguing the Dane’s second-half of 2026. Rasmussen’s car rolled off the truck fast, giving the young driver optimism for a good race.
“It was there from the beginning,” Rasmussen said regarding the speed of the No.21 ECR Chevrolet. “We made a few improvements for the second practice and made a few improvements for qualifying. We improved the car; that’s just the name of the game. We started on the right progression and stepped up each time, which is very big for us. I’m very happy, putting the Splenda Stevia Chevy at the right end of the field is exciting.
Marcus Armstrong is also another driver looking to turn their fortunes around after finishing 20th and 24th at Portland and Markham, respectively. The driver from New Zealand put the No.66 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in fifth (58.8145).
David Malukas put his No.12 Chevrolet in sixth (1:10.6709), but made a mistake on his lone lap in the Firestone Fast Six. Malukas would struggle to get the brakes up to temperature and hit the wall, bending the toe-link very lightly.
SEE: Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington D.C. Starting Grid
One extra caveat of this weekend is the aspect of a two-day show, for the second weekend in-a-row. Usually a typical IndyCar race weekend on a road or street course consists of three days, with a practice session on Friday. For D.C, the weekend was shortened, giving drivers, crews, media and fans a very cramped Saturday schedule.
Practice started off at 9 a.m, followed by second practice at 1 p.m, then qualifying at 5 p.m. For Kirkwood, the Floridian prefers the three-day weekend, not just for himself but for his crew members as well.
“No, three days is the right number,” Kirkwood said. “I think this is exceptionally hard on the drivers, but even more so on the crew, right? They get here at 5:30 a.m., they’re going to be here till 9. Those are long hours. For them to show up to the race tomorrow with little sleep after getting up once again at 5:30 or 5 a.m. is very, very hard on them. I think from within the whole paddock, we would prefer three days, spread it out, allow people to sleep, eat, hydrate and be prepared.”
Palou will need to leave tomorrow’s race with a points gap of 165-point lead to second place. With a fifth IndyCar title firmly in sight for the Spaniard, he will have to navigate a longer race distance of 147 laps, the second-longest in IndyCar history, and tricky bumps along the 1.7-mile street circuit, but the race win is at the forefront tomorrow.
“Think the best thing is that we have this huge opportunity with the status of the championship to just focus on the race and try and make history,” Palou said. “Like, it’s going to be the first ever, last ever, Freedom 250. It’s going to be awesome. The trophy looks incredible. We want to win that. I think obviously I feel like if we can do one, probably it’s going to maybe take care of the other one. Never know. But yeah, I’m really thinking about the race more than the championship. Obviously getting both at the same time would be incredible.”