Surging Andretti global trio puts pressure on leader Palou

Here is the thing about Alex Palou: even when he makes a rare error, he is still the man everyone is chasing. The four-time series champion—on the verge of matching Sébastien Bourdais by taking four consecutive titles—stumbled in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. After taking his seventh NTT P1 Award of the season and topping the practice charts alongside teammate runs, Palou committed a pit-lane penalty on his first stop and smacked the Turn 4 wall on Lap 123. A 20th-place finish is a disaster by his lofty standards, yet he still holds a 91-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood with just three races remaining.

Speaking of Kirkwood, what a machine. He put together a near-perfect weekend in Washington, taking first or second in both practice sessions, qualifying second, and dominating the 250-mile race by leading 128 of the 147 laps. It is the seventh career NTT Indycar Series victory for the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda driver, his second win of the season, and his sixth career triumph on street courses. That masterclass anchors a wild surge from Andretti Global, which shoved three of its drivers into the top four of the final classification.

Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) kept his momentum rolling with a stunning charge from ninth on the grid to finish as runner-up. It is Lundgaard's third runner-up finish of the season to go with his wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, keeping him fifth in the rankings. More importantly, he stands alone as the only driver in the series this year to finish every single race on the lead lap. His teammate Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) wasn't so lucky, dropping from seventh to 16th and finally slipping off the lead lap for the first time all year.

The Andretti wave continues right behind the podium places with Marcus Ericsson (No. 28 Acura Honda) taking fourth for his fourth consecutive top-six finish, backed by his previous oval heroics at World Wide Technology Raceway. Will Power (No. 26 TWG AI Honda) sits right there at third in the rankings despite an 18-race winless drought stretching back to August 2025 at Portland International Raceway. The two-time series champion is grinding out results with incredible consistency, claiming third place in four of his last six outings.