Kyle Kirkwood yesterday won the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, DC.* IndyCar driver Kirkwood was driving his No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda. [We are not making this up, But would change the name by adding Uncle in front of Sam – AutoCrat] Kirkwood posted a 3.0906-second victory over the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard on the seven-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street circuit. Kirkwood took his second victory of the season leading 128 of 147 laps after starting second.**

“As an American, there’s no race outside of the 500 I’d rather win, especially as a one-and-done deal. My Honda engine was giving me incredible power, but also great fuel economy, which was a really big part of the strategy today. Everything went perfect from our end on the Andretti side and also from the Honda side. What a great day!,” said Kirkwood afterwards.

Kirkwood raced with polesitter Alex Palou through Turn 1 before taking the lead in Turn 2. After that Kirkwood only trailed in the standings during pit stops. Kirkwood led the field by 16 seconds when he made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 112. However, there were two more restarts between Laps 128 and 134. Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet) tucked under Kirkwood in Turn 1 to take the lead on Lap 129 after a restart. McLaughlin was too fast though into the corner and was eliminated from the race when the right side of his car hit a tire barrier. McLaughlin has what is now a 33-race winless famine, the longest of his professional racing career.

Kirkwood on the final restart of the race on Lap 134, left the remaining field in his aerodynamic wake to take the checkered flag. Kirkwood trailed Palou by 133 points at the start. The gap is down to 91 with three races remaining after Palou finished 20th in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.