One week after crashing in Markham, Kyle Kirkwood reminded everybody why his nickname is indeed the "King of the Streets" on Sunday afternoon on the streets of Washington, D.C., dominating the Freedom 250 Grand Prix from the front row to earn his seventh career victory, sixth on a street course, and second of the year.
The win pulled him from 133 points to 91 points behind championship leader Alex Palou with three races remaining on the 18-race 2026 NTT IndyCar Series schedule, after Palou had an opportunity to clinch his fifth title and fourth in a row on Sunday.
It was a disastrous day for Palou, who lost the lead at the start of the race, did not lead a lap from pole, was penalized for hitting Mick Schumacher's tire in the pits, was sent from his pit box on the ensuing stop before his front left tire was secure, and then ultimately crashed on his own.
In other words, about five things happened to Palou, who had three wins in five street races this year entering Sunday, in one race that you don't expect to see happen to him over a single season.
But that's exactly why he shouldn't be sweating the fact that his points lead was cut by 42 points, and it's probably why he's comfortable telling himself to "suck it up, buttercup" on social media.
It wasn’t our day. Too many mistakes, and I’m sorry to all our fans. Thank you for the incredible atmosphere this weekend.
— Alex Palou Montalbo (@AlexPalou) August 23, 2026
Suck it up, buttercup. Onto Milwaukee!!! 💪 pic.twitter.com/ib3a0rfraU
Alex Palou is still more than comfortable, even with "only" a 91-point lead
Much has been made about the fact that the championship battle is not over, and mathematically speaking, it's not. And it's true that you probably feel better about a 91-point lead if you started the day up 49, rather than up 133.
But this was just the third time in 84 races that Kirkwood and Palou have run together that resulted in Kirkwood outscoring Palou by at least 30 points.
It happened on the streets of Detroit in 2025, when Kirkwood won after Palou was crashed into by David Malukas, and it happened at Phoenix Raceway earlier this season, when Kirkwood finished second after Palou crashed due to early contact with Rinus VeeKay.
Sunday's race is the only such instance in which Kirkwood won the race and Palou still finished. In other words, you probably don't want to bank on that kind of result happening in three more consecutive races from now until the end of the season.
Palou has already clinched the tiebreaker over Kirkwood with his six wins, since Kirkwood can't get to more than five before the season concludes, so the driver of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda needs to make up 92 points over the driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in those three races.
He doesn't technically need to make up 30+ points in three straight races, since he could take a bigger chunk out of it like he did in D.C., but looking at next weekend at the Milwaukee Mile doubleheader alone, he needs to make up 44 points over two races just to stay in the fight, assuming Palou simply shows up for the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
A driver can score no more than 54 points in a single race, and all drivers who compete score five, so if Kirkwood isn't within 48 points by the time the season finale rolls around, Palou would still be in line to clinch a championship before the end of the season for the third time in four years, after it hadn't happened in the series since 2005.
With all of that in mind, it's not hard to imagine why he's willing to accept one bad race.
Kirkwood has never finished higher than eighth in three starts at Milwaukee, while Palou dominated the race from pole a year ago, only losing the win due to a late drizzle that shook up the tire strategy and allowed Christian Rasmussem to come roaring to the front.
And at Laguna Seca, Kirkwood has just one finish higher than 15th in four career starts (fifth), while Palou's five starts there have produced three wins, a runner-up finish, and a third place finish.
Palou has recorded back-to-back finishes outside of the top 10 just once since the start of the 2022 season.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of both Milwaukee races, the first on Saturday, August 29 at 2:30 p.m. ET and the second on Sunday, August 30 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the 16th and 17th races on the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series calendar!
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