Andretti Global Charges Forward With Kirkwood Freedom 250 Grand Prix Victory After Markham Momentum

FREEDOM 250 Grand Prix Podium >>> CONGRATULATIONS to Kyle Kirkwood - Andretti Global P1, Christian Lundgaard - Arrow McLaren P2, and Will Power - Andretti Global P3 (complete with Bald Eagle) for making HISTORY as the PODIUM of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix! Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via FOX Sports and Gemini AI (2026)

Andretti Global Charges Forward With Kirkwood Freedom 250 Grand Prix Victory After Markham Momentum 

The Freedom 250 GP could not have been a better race. This race actually surpassed Markham, and that is saying a lot. It may never happen, but this venue needs to be a regular on the annual schedule - if for no other reason, to take some of the politics out of the impression of Washington DC as a city.

Freedom 250 Grand Prix starts heading down Pennsylvania Avenue - which was wide enough to be both the track - left - and pit lane - right, with the nation's capitol in the background, in a celebration event to honor the 250th birthday of the formation of The United States Of America. This race event may be the only one of these INDYCAR SERIES events (which would be a shame). Image Credit: James Black - NICS (2026)

Andretti Global arrived in the nation’s capital already carrying serious late-season momentum. Just one week earlier in Markham, Ontario, Marcus Ericsson had delivered a victory while teammate Will Power clawed from last on the grid all the way to third. That Canadian double-podium set the stage. On the brand-new 1.6-mile street circuit threading past the Capitol, museums, and Pennsylvania Avenue, the team completed the statement: Kyle Kirkwood dominated for the win, Power finished third, and Ericsson fourth. Three of the top four positions. The organization’s 80th all-time IndyCar victory. A sweep of the year’s new street courses.

Kirkwood made the day look almost effortless from the outside, leading 128 of 147 laps. Inside the cockpit it was a different story. The Florida native later noted that his biceps were fine, but his hands and left calf were the ones complaining after nearly two hours and forty minutes of absolute maximum braking into every corner. He called the victory “huge,” especially after mistakes the previous weekend that “flipped a switch.” Those errors, he said, pushed him to work harder in preparation than he ever had. The payoff arrived on a morning when he woke with his heart already racing, the same sensation he feels only at the Indianapolis 500. “Outside of the Indy 500, I don’t think there’s another race that you’d want to win,” Kirkwood observed. As an American driver taking the Freedom 250, he added that the win “might top the first win for me.”

Focus was non-negotiable. A hundred laps in he caught himself thinking about the victory and forced a reset. Even on the final lap, with a four-and-a-half-second cushion, he allowed himself only a measured breath. The late restart, when Scott McLaughlin launched a dive-bomb while Kirkwood sat alone among the top six on primary tires, tested that discipline. Wheelspin on the primes, a momentary concession of the line, then a cross-over on exit to hold off Christian Lundgaard - execution under fire. “If last weekend is any indicator,” Kirkwood said, “as soon as you lose a little bit of focus, small mistakes are very consequential.”

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Team principal Ron Ruzewski spoke of a group that had begun to gel, drivers pushing one another, engineers and crew delivering the tools. The pit-lane stumbles of earlier months had been systematically addressed. 

Love this shot just at race end when Will Power is out of the car and was asked, "What do you think?" - He turned his head and waved his hand behind him while looking at the Capitol dome, then turned back to the camera and said (paraphrased), "Yeah, what about this?" Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via FOX Sports screengrab (2026)

Power, collecting his third consecutive podium, described the progression plainly: weaknesses were being eliminated, strength was appearing everywhere, and the expectation each weekend was now to fight for the podium or the win. “It’s just becoming normal for us to do this,” the Australian said. From a small town in Toowoomba to standing with an American president before racing past the Capitol ... he called the entire experience “surreal.”

"From Horse Race To Horsepower On Pennsylvania Avenue"
THEME SONG

Lundgaard, who finished second for Arrow McLaren, admitted he had only a couple of laps where he was genuinely faster than the leader. The Dane still called the weekend the best background he had ever experienced on a racetrack and declared the result better than expected. He was simply happy, he smiled, to see Alex Palou not win for once. Both Lundgaard and Power agreed the circuit should return; the racing was real, the on-track passes plentiful (155 in total), and the spectacle unmatched. Power noted that President Trump was still watching when the cars returned to the grid - evidence, he felt, that the race itself had stayed engaging.

The magnitude hit the podium finishers at different moments. For Kirkwood it was that early-morning pulse. For Power and Lundgaard it came in the truck on the way to the track, the pageantry already carrying an Indy 500 vibe. Views from the cockpit stayed with Kirkwood long after the burnout: walls of fans five deep, the bombers overhead, the wall he faced after a less-than-perfect celebratory spin.

Andretti Global leaves Washington with the points gap to Palou still large - ninety-one - but with tangible belief. Ruzewski’s message remains straightforward: put all three cars in front of the championship leader every week. Kirkwood’s approach is simpler still - win every race possible and let the math sort itself out. 

After Markham’s resilience and DC’s dominance, the charge is no longer theoretical. It is visible, measurable, and gathering speed as the series turns toward Milwaukee and the final stretch.

The Freedom 250 delivered more than a race. It delivered a statement of place, of preparation, and of a team that has found its late-season gear.

... notes from The EDJE

FOOTNOTE:

"Front Page" - Image Credit: Andretti INDYCAR & INDY NXT via GEMINI - for blue sky (2026)

TAGS: #IndyCar, #Freedom250, #AndrettiGlobal, #KyleKirkwood, #WillPower, #MarcusEricsson, #ChristianLundgaard, #WashingtonDC, #MarkhamOntario, #StreetCourse, #LateSeasonCharge, #IndyCarOnFOX, TheEDJE, MotorsportsJournal

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Mark'em, err, Markham Came Off With Excitement & Hitches

First ever race start for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on the streets of a town just North of Toronto,
Markham, Ontario, Canada. Qualifications were impacted by many on track incidences where walls bit cars (as Foster would later say, "like Crocodile teeth") leaving RLL Racing's No. 45 Louis Foster to lead the 25 contenders to the Start/Finish Line for the Green Flag. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks Oil Painting of FOX Broadcast TV program (2026)

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Mark'em, err, Markham Came Off With Excitement & Hitches

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES race, long a fixture at Exhibition Place in Toronto, shifted to a newly constructed temporary street circuit in downtown Markham, Ontario, for the 2026 season. Organizers pointed to the logistical pressures of Toronto’s FIFA World Cup hosting duties at BMO Field, ongoing development, aging infrastructure, and limited expansion options at the old lakeshore site. Those realities made continued one-year deals there impractical. Promoters instead secured a five-year commitment with Markham covering 2026 through 2030, drawn by better highway and GO Station access, proximity to much of the existing fan base across the Greater Toronto Area, and room for a fresh 12-turn, 2.19-mile layout.

The inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham unfolded August 14–16 with both excitement and unmistakable ... hitches. 

Start-up difficulties on the brand-new circuit complicated opening day. Track construction, especially tire barriers and related safety elements, lagged. The Friday practice session, first set for mid-afternoon, was postponed later into the evening and then cancelled outright. All series activity shifted to Saturday, where two practices and qualifying were compressed into one extended program once officials cleared the circuit. Anyone familiar with the highest levels of motorsports competition recognized how that squeeze, on an entirely new street venue, amplified challenges for teams and drivers alike.

It was not a gentle introduction for several first-year series drivers. AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet made contact with Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian on the opening lap, while Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Mick Schumacher brought out the first caution on Lap 15 after pounding the Turn 4 wall.

The new circuit delivered the expected mix of action and reaction, producing 258 on-track passes, 242 of them for position—the highest total in an event dating to 1986. Turn 5’s hairpin proved a particular hotspot. Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel dove too deep into the braking zone and struck Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, drawing a penalty for avoidable contact. Dale Coyne Racing rookie Dennis Hauger, the previous year’s INDY NXT by Firestone champion, started fifth and was still there when a two-lap slide began: Alex Palou passed him, then David Malukas, and soon he sat 20th. Later Hauger clipped the rear tire of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who in turn hit Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen, triggering a caution. Hauger’s Lap 20 contact with Rasmussen and then Pato O’Ward formed part of that fade through the field.

Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson pose for a Power Selfie as this team is beginning to gel after a fairly rough start to the 2026 season. Image Credit: Andretti Global via FB/META (2026)

That same section claimed Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, running third behind his two teammates, in a fierce impact that left him 21st. Moments earlier, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster had suffered a sudden end to his afternoon. Starting from the pole for only the second time in his career - the previous occasion at Road America the year before - Foster built a lead of nearly three seconds while leading the first 32 laps. A caution shuffled him to 12th after the other frontrunners had pitted a couple of laps earlier. Undeterred, he charged back, gaining eight positions and stalking Marcus Ericsson for third when they reached Turn 3 on Lap 43. Foster went to the inside, clipped the left-side wall, and was shot straight into the concrete barrier on the right in a virtually head-on shunt. Fortunately he escaped injury.

Kirkwood’s result allowed series points leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing to stretch his advantage still further in pursuit of a fourth consecutive championship and fifth in six seasons, despite starting outside the top 10 for the first time in 30 races. With four rounds remaining, Palou now leads Kirkwood by a nearly insurmountable 133 points, with Team Penske’s David Malukas third, 137 points back after finishing a lap down in 17th.

Biggest Mover Award - Fully Earned - Image Credit: Andretti Global (2026)

Romain Grosjean settled for second ... his best result since Barber Motorsports Park in 2023, while Will Power took third - starting P24 of 25 cars on the grid, Palou fourth and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward fifth. Grosjean, who led 28 laps and recorded his first top-five of 2026, later reflected that the team had done everything possible. He had hoped to keep Palou at bay with a safe gap, only for Ericsson to arrive and turn the day against them. Several other drivers could say the same.

Ontario INDY unveiled its all-new Herend Canada Official Ontario Honda Dealers Indy trophy at Markham trophies. Image Credit: Ontario INDY via FB/META (2026)

Ericsson’s victory arrived 10 days after confirmation of his return to Andretti Global for a fourth season and ended a 63-race drought dating to his 2023 season-opening win in St. Petersburg. It marked his fifth career NTT INDYCAR SERIES triumph and denied Grosjean a first, leaving the latter one step short of the top of the podium for the sixth time. 

Coincidentally, Grosjean’s last win of any kind had come in a GP2 race in Hungary in 2011, a race in which Ericsson finished fifth. Ericsson, the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner, now owns four street-course victories; he had previously emerged from a trouble-filled 2021 Nashville street race in similar fashion, even after his car went airborne.

In the post-race interview his voice cracked, which he attributed to screaming after the checkered flag. He described a bold and aggressive drive over the challenging street-course laps, insisting the car had been the fastest all day. Multiple cautions forced a longer final stint, yet the gamble of staying out paid off. 

Emerging seventh after the Lap 69 stop, Ericsson used the car’s pace to slice through the leaders. That charge included contact in the Turn 5 hairpin with Andretti Global teammate Will Power while fighting for third. Ericsson called the hard bump unfortunate but necessary; Power indicated he understood. Ericsson later noted that one never wants such contact, yet he knew the race was there to be won. 

Mark'em, or Markham ... you make the call.

... notes from The EDJE

NEXT RACE >>> Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington DC

FREEDOM 250 Grand Prix - Theme 

The last race to officially take place on Pennsylvania Avenue was a Horse Race in the sweltering summer of 1801. This was the idea of President Thomas Jefferson. 

Fast-forward 225 years to January 30, 2026. President Donald Trump, flanked by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and racing impresario Roger Penske, signed an executive order launching the Freedom 250 Grand Prix - an IndyCar street race set for August 23, 2026, as the centerpiece of America250 celebrations marking a quarter-millennium of independence.

"From Horse Race To Horsepower On Pennsylvania Avenue"

TAGS: #IndyCar, #Markham, #OntarioHondaDealersIndy, #EricssonWins, #Palou, #Grosjean, #StreetCircuit, #IndyMarkham, #NTTIndyCar, #HondaIndy, #MarcusEricsson, #AlexPalou, #WillPower, #PatoOWard, #NewTrack, #IndyCar2026

Peter Brock Delivers Most Valuable American Car - $39 Million Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe At Pebble Beach

Congratulations to Peter Brock for designing the most valuable American car in the World! $39 Million not including buyer's fee. Image Credit: BRE Gayle-Peter Brock via FB/META (2026)

Peter Brock Delivers Most Valuable American Car - $39 Million Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe At Pebble Beach

In the sun-drenched swirl of Pebble Beach auctions, where fortunes change hands faster than a Cobra on the back straight, one particular American thoroughbred has just galloped into the history books with a thunderous $39 million hammer price (buyer's fee not included, of course - because why spoil the pure drama?). Chassis CSX2300, one of only six legendary 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes, now stands as the most valuable American car ever sold at public auction. And the man who shaped its sleek, record-breaking form? Designer Peter Brock, whose vision turned a roadster into a world-beater.

Picture the scene: young Brock, armed with little more than sharp instincts and a stack of dusty German aerodynamic papers from 1937, decides the open Cobra needs a proper roof and a truncated “Kamm tail.” The result was pure aerodynamic sorcery - a fastback body that sliced through the air, pushed past 180 mph, and left Ferrari’s vaunted 250 GTO eating dust. Those six coupes went on to help Shelby American claim the 1965 FIA World Sportscar Championship, the only time an American manufacturer has ever seized the World GT title. CSX2300 itself raced at Daytona, Sebring, and the Nürburgring before landing in Carroll Shelby’s own private collection from 1975 to 1998 (the only one of the half-dozen that the great man kept for himself).

Yet the path from sketch to legend was hardly smooth. Brock later recalled the early skepticism with a chuckle: “For a while, they refused to work on it, thought it was ugly, called it ‘Brock’s Folly’ or ‘that piece of shit.’ But then it was 3.5 seconds faster [than the Cobra roadster] at Riverside. Carroll said, ‘I want everyone to dive in and help build this car for Daytona.’ That’s how it got its name - it was just ‘the Daytona car.’” Even the Italians in Modena, who built the next five, weren’t impressed at first: “The Italians said to me, ‘That’s a terrible-looking thing.’”

The secret sauce, Brock explained, came from those wartime German studies that never made it into production: “I actually got the idea from some Germans who had figured the thing out in 1937. They never got the chance to put it in production because of World War II, and I discovered some drawings that gave me the idea … Shelby’s engineers, and even Ferrari who said ‘Aerodynamics are for those that can’t design engines,’ were all focused on the engine. There just wasn’t a real understanding about how difficult the physics were above 180 mph.”

And that chopped-off tail? Pure practical genius. “Many car designs were trying to cheat turbulence with long, tapered teardrop tails, but you can’t make it long enough to keep the air attached. So you keep the roof line as flat as possible, and then chop it right off at the point where the air would begin turbulating… It’s not ideal, but it’s better than a phony, long tail.” The influence endures: “Now all modern cars are really chopped off in the back end. If you look back at the way they were done with a tapered back end, you’ll see there’s been quite a change. So the Daytona has really had quite an influence on automotive design.”

Brock is equally quick to share the credit. Of the shop-floor wizards who made CSX2300 real, he said: “This was the last era where race cars were designed by the collective experience of the guys on the shop floor. You could come in with the idea, but it was their ability to take an idea and build it without a full set of drawings … I couldn’t have done it at GM because they would have required a full set of engineering drawings. There would have been a committee to study it; they would have called in aerodynamic experts who would have said it wouldn’t have worked.” He has long championed those unsung heroes: “There’s far more to this book than the history of a single Daytona Coupe … [The author’s] first-hand accounts bring into focus so many of the guys on the crew who have never had the recognition they deserved.”

Decades later, sliding into sister car CSX2299 still felt surreal: “It was a very strange experience getting in basically a brand-new car - a car that I’d never driven, on a track that I hadn’t been on in 25 years, and knowing that I’m in a $50 million car.”

At the Rolex Reunion at Laguna Seca, veteran racer John Morton, who had piloted CSX2300 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, was left utterly speechless by the sale price. His jaw, by all accounts, remains somewhere on the paddock floor.

So there it is: a car once dismissed as “Brock’s Folly,” born of shop-floor grit and a designer’s stubborn belief in aerodynamics, now the crown jewel of American automotive history. Thirty-nine million dollars for a race car? Impossible … or is it? Tee-Hee.

... notes from The EDJE

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Rosenqvist Eyes Portland Challenge After Indy 500 Glory Ahead Of Arrow Mclaren Reunion With Dixon

Felix Rosenqvist (P7 in points) looks to close out the season with a title as do any of the drivers in the top 10 with an INDY500 under their belt. The bigger story may be what we will be treated to in the 2027 season. Image Credit: NICS (2026)

Rosenqvist Eyes Portland Challenge After Indy 500 Glory Ahead Of Arrow Mclaren Reunion With Dixon  

Felix Rosenqvist sat before the microphones on a midsummer Tuesday, the weight of a championship stretch still ahead and the glow of May’s ultimate prize still fresh, as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES prepared to dive into six races across five weekends. The Swedish driver, fresh off his first Indianapolis 500 triumph in the closest finish the Brickyard has ever witnessed, spoke with the calm assurance of a man who had finally drunk the milk after years of near-misses, yet remained hungry for more ordinary race-day victories with Meyer Shank Racing before the chapter closed.

Portland International Raceway has long been a friendly harbor for Rosenqvist. Two podiums already this season, multiple strong qualifying runs, and a personal affinity for the track’s flowing first sector and the blistering quick corners through the back section have made the Pacific Northwest stop one of his most consistent venues. He noted the circuit’s resemblance to the road courses of his European upbringing, the straightforward strategy, and the welcome cooler weather that often arrives in August. Swedish flags wave more freely in the grandstands there than almost anywhere else on the calendar, a quiet cultural echo that never fails to lift his spirits. Yet the challenge remains: last year’s promising start from the front row dissolved when an early pit decision under yellow left him buried in traffic. This time the focus is cleaner execution, converting that familiar pace into a result that matches the car’s potential on a track he simply enjoys driving.

The Indy 500 victory has altered the internal ledger more than the day-to-day approach. Rosenqvist described it as a profound career relief, the kind that settles the soul when a driver contemplates hanging up the helmet someday. It boosts confidence without rewriting the physics of other venues. Nothing from the oval’s unique demands truly translates, he cautioned with a smile, adding that drinking the milk would offer no particular help when the series next arrives at Mid-Ohio. That light-hearted observation carried an extra layer of resonance, for Mid-Ohio is precisely where one of the earliest and most telling chapters of his career unfolded, and where the foundation of a pivotal future partnership was first laid in public view.

That trajectory now points elsewhere, and the hardest decision of Rosenqvist’s career carries special weight because of one name above all others. His return to Arrow McLaren for 2027 and beyond reunites him not only with longtime friend Pato O’Ward - the man who served as best man at his wedding - but, most significantly, with six-time series champion Scott Dixon, his former Chip Ganassi Racing teammate from 2019-2020. It was at Mid-Ohio, during those shared Ganassi days, that the two first captured widespread attention by running side-by-side through the circuit’s tight, demanding confines. 

The wheel-to-wheel exchange announced the young Swede’s arrival as a serious contender, his aggressive yet precise style matching the established master’s every move in a moment that still stands as one of the clearest early signals of Rosenqvist’s potential. 

Their earlier partnership produced a genuine, uncomplicated working relationship built on mutual respect and open communication; Rosenqvist recalled how the pair simply shared information and let the quicker car on any given day take the edge. Now both men are stepping away from long-term homes - Dixon after a quarter-century at Ganassi - to form the experienced core of a revitalized McLaren lineup. That matured reunion, forged in the heat of those Mid-Ohio moments and refined by years of separate growth, promises an even richer chemistry than before, amplifying the collective wisdom available as the new-generation car arrives and the papaya squad chases its next chapter of success. Rosenqvist made clear he looks forward to applying the sharper race craft and leadership he has developed since their last stint together, precisely because Dixon’s presence elevates the entire garage and turns that shared Mid-Ohio history into a competitive advantage.

With Portland’s challenges waiting and the final stretch demanding both physical sharpness and mental resilience, Rosenqvist left the call focused on extracting everything possible from the remaining weekends. The 500 win stands as permanent relief. The McLaren alliance, anchored by the meaningful and matured reunion with Dixon that first flickered into view at Mid-Ohio, stands as the next horizon. 

Between them all - Pato, Scott, & Felix - lies the work still left to do.

... notes from The EDJE

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