Washington, D.C. traded its usual gridlock for actual race cars this weekend as the Freedom 250 Grand Prix became the first IndyCar street race ever run through the nation's capital, sending open-wheel machines past the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol at speeds nearing 200 mph.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump opened the festivities Sunday by riding a ceremonial lap around the 1.7-mile, seven-turn circuit in the presidential limousine before Trump waved the green flag to start the 147-lap, 250-mile race. A trained bald eagle was released near the starting line, a B-2 stealth bomber and the Qatar-gifted Air Force One roared overhead escorted by fighter jets, and tenor Christopher Macchio sang the national anthem, according to PBS NewsHour.

"Their beautiful cars are going to make freedom roar," Trump told the crowd. "This will be a freedom that's roaring like never before."

Kirkwood Wins, Palou's Title Lead Nearly Vanishes

On track, Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood led 128 of 147 laps to win the inaugural race, holding off Christian Lundgaard and Will Power for the podium, per Motorsport.com's official results. The bigger story was in the championship standings: pole-sitter and points leader Álex Palou finished a disastrous 20th, three laps down, after contact and penalties wrecked his day. His cushion over Kirkwood shrank from 133 points to just 91 with three races left on the calendar — while Lundgaard's runner-up finish vaulted him to third in the standings, only 19 points back.

"If Rasmussen's around, you know you're going to crash," driver Rinus VeeKay said of the race's aggressive early going, which included a Turn 4 debris caution and crashes for David Malukas and Sting Ray Robb.

The race capped a build that started, fittingly, with an AI-generated video Trump posted in January proposing a D.C. race, followed by an executive order directing federal agencies to fast-track the permits. Roger Penske — the IndyCar series owner, a Trump ally and 2019 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient — closed the deal with the president in what Trump described as about 15 minutes, ending roughly two decades of on-and-off attempts to bring racing to the capital. Penske Corporation covered the "vast majority" of costs, including welding shut more than 200 street manhole covers so cars wouldn't suck them loose at speed, race chair Bud Denker told PBS.

The buildup wasn't without controversy. Days before the green flag, IndyCar pulled a $50 "One Nation, One Race" T-shirt — depicting Abraham Lincoln in a racing suit — from its online store after backlash that the slogan echoed white-supremacist rhetoric, NBC Washington reported. "A shirt was removed from INDYCAR's online store following feedback from customers," the series said in a statement, adding it had "remedied the situation."

Race organizers have not said whether the Freedom 250 will return to Washington's streets in 2027, though the event was pitched as part of a yearlong string of celebrations marking America's 250th anniversary. IndyCar's championship now heads into its final three races with Palou still on top but suddenly vulnerable, and D.C. officials will be watching to see whether Sunday's street-racing experiment becomes an annual fixture or a one-off spectacle.