Alex Palou entered the Washington D.C. race weekend with a 133-point lead, and secured pole position for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. However, an uncharacteristically messy day for Palou opened the door for Kyle Kirkwood to make big gains as he captured the checkered flag.
Kirkwood is now 91 points behind Palou with just three races left in the 2026 IndyCar season.
Christian Lundgaard jumped from fourth to third in points after his runner-up finish, 19 points behind Kirkwood. Yet another podium for Will Power has bumped him up into the top ten in the championship standings.
Scott McLaughlin's daring pass for the lead that ended with him in the wall cost him two positions in the standings, dropping him to ninth.
2026 IndyCar standings after Washington D.C. (Race 15 of 18)
| Pos. | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Alex Palou | 553 |
| 2 | Kyle Kirkwood | 462 |
| 3 | Christian Lundgaard | 443 |
| 4 | David Malukas | 411 |
| 5 | Pato O'Ward | 399 |
| 6 | Josef Newgarden | 376 |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson | 361 |
| 8 | Felix Rosenqvist | 355 |
| 9 | Scot McLaughlin | 354 |
| 10 | Will Power | 328 |
| 11 | Rinus VeeKay | 302 |
| 12 | Scott Dixon | 290 |
| 13 | Kyffin Simpson | 282 |
| 14 | Graham Rahal | 276 |
| 15 | Marcus Armstrong | 257 |
| 16 | Alexander Rossi | 236 |
| 17 | Santino Ferrucci | 234 |
| 18 | Romain Grosjean | 229 |
| 19 | Nolan Siegel | 223 |
| 20 | Louis Foster | 212 |
| 21 | Dennis Hauger (R) | 204 |
| 22 | Christian Rasmussen | 180 |
| 23 | Caio Collet (R) | 180 |
| 24 | Mick Schumacher (R) | 170 |
| 25 | Sting Ray Robb | 155 |
| 26 | Conor Daly | 24 |
| 27 | Takuma Sato | 20 |
| 28 | Jack Harvey | 8 |
| 29 | Jacob Abel (R) | 6 |
| 30 | Helio Castroneves | 5 |
| 31 | Ed Carpenter | 5 |
| 32 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 5 |
| 33 | Katherine Legge | 5 |
Photos from Washington D.C. - Sunday
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