Pre-RaceNotes: Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.| August 22-23, 2026
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES travels to the nation’s capital this weekend to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary with a street race through the heart of Washington, D.C. The temporary street circuit features a seven-turn (six left and one right turn), 1.7-mile counterclockwise layout that runs along Pennsylvania Avenue and through the National Mall.
The race will take place among some of the nation’s most iconic landmarks, including the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, National Gallery of Art and National Archives, creating a setting unlike any other on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule.
- Firestone is supplying 1,500 race tires for 25 entries taking part in Saturday’s practice and qualifying, including the Firestone Fast Six, as well as Sunday’s 147-lap (249.9-mile) race.
- Firestone continues its efforts to explore and accelerate the use of sustainable technologies in motorsports by providing Firehawk primary and alternate (red-sidewall) race tires for the Washington, D.C. street circuit that integrate Bridgestone global ENLITEN™ Technology.1 Components include the following materials2:
- Renewable soybean oil: Replaces petroleum-based oils traditionally used in tire compounds
- Recycled steel: Used for the bead wire that anchors a race tire to a wheel
- Recycled carbon black: Reinforcement material recovered from end-of-life tires
- New for street course races in 2026; Single-car qualifying for Firestone Fast Six:
- The fastest qualifier from Segment 2 will be the first to choose which position they would like to make their Fast Six qualifying run with subsequent choices made for the remaining positions based on the order of Segment 2 results.
- Once the qualifying order is determined, teams will make their tire selection – primary or alternate tires – prior to lining up in single-file and in order of their qualifying run, at pit out to await their qualifying attempt
- As per INDYCAR rules, each entry must use one set of primary and two sets of alternate tires for at least two laps in street course races.
- Firestone Racing provides a real-time tire tracker at Livetiming.net/firestone for media and fans to follow track tire strategies in qualifying and the race.
Each NTT INDYCAR SERIES entry will receive the following allocation of Firestone Firehawk race tires:
- Primary (black sidewall): 6 sets per entry (Rookies receive one extra set for Practice 1)
- Alternate (red sidewall): 5 sets per entry
- Rain (gray sidewall): 5 sets per entry
Notes from Cara Krstolic, Executive Director Motorsport Engineering and Production:
The primary Firestone Firehawk street course tires we’ve brought to Washington, D.C., have the same construction and compounds we’ve used for all 2026 street course events. The alternate (red sidewall) tires are expected to provide more grip and quicker drop-off over a stint than the primary tire. Overall durability for each type of tire is expected to be comparable to what we’ve seen on the previous street circuits this year.
It’s been a great challenge for our team to design and produce such a versatile street course tire for six very different city circuits (St. Petersburg, Arlington, Long Beach, Detroit, Markham and Washington, D. C.) with varying surfaces and conditions. Washington, D.C. marks the third new street course event this season, following Arlington and Markham, both of which produced highly competitive and exciting racing. We expect the Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. to deliver more of the same.
Learn more about Firestone at www.firestonetire.com/firestone-racing.
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