FOX Sports averaged 3.282 million viewers for IndyCar’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix on the streets of Washington D.C. this past weekend. The viewership peaked between 2:30 and 2:45pm EST with 3.482 million viewers. These numbers come from Nielsen Media Research.
Those numbers make it the highest-viewed non-Indy 500 IndyCar race since before the 2008 reunification of IndyCar/Champ Car.
President Donald Trump was present at the event, taking a lap around the track in the ‘Beast’ and waving the green flag from his suite on the frontstretch. The 1.7-mile course passed by several iconic landmarks, filing down Pennsylvania Avenue and Independence Avenue, and all with the U.S. Capitol Building in the background.
The Beast drives by the IndyCar field with President Donald Trump
Photo by: Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images
According to FOX Sports PR, that number is up +279% from last year’s average for non-Indy 500 races, which averaged around 867,000 viewers.
This is part of an upward trend for IndyCar on FOX, with the entire season so far averaging 1.875 million viewers, up +32% from the 2025 average of 1.416 million.
Kyle Kirkwood won the 147-lap race for Andretti Global with Christian Lundgaard second and Will Power third. Alex Palou had hoped to clinch the title this past weekend, but a difficult race kept the championship alive after Round 15 of 18.
IndyCar now heads to the Milwaukee Mile for a double-header weekend on the oval, before concluding the 2026 season at Laguna Seca.
