Just hours ahead of President Donald Trump’s IndyCar race in Washington, D.C., NBC News’ Sahil Kapur flagged a potentially dangerous problem that could pose a risk to drivers.
Dubbed the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the race has been touted by Trump as D.C.’s first-ever IndyCar race, with the president expected to attend. Drivers hit the course Saturday for practice and qualifying races, but as flagged by Fox Sports, already ran into trouble. A bump in the course sent a number of racers into a runoff area after briefly losing control of their vehicles, as seen in a video compilation shared by “IndyCar on Fox.”
“It’s not an authentic DC street track without bumps!” wrote Kapur, NBC News’ senior national political reporter, in a social media post on X Saturday night. “That said, this is a big one in a flat-out section that caused a bunch of IndyCar drivers problems today – and will be a thing in tomorrow’s race.”
Trump’s big race has already received scrutiny from countless critics, some of whom called the event a “terrible idea” given D.C.’s “very bumpy” roads.
Even former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, a Trump-aligned ex-congressional candidate who lost his primary race earlier this month, warned that the race could pose serious issues for drivers.
“The BUMPS are most certainly going to be the talk of the Freedom 250 in DC,” Sessler wrote in a social media post on X. “The track is VERY bumpy! Not just bumps but cars jumping off the ground sort of bumps!”
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix marks the first-ever IndyCar street race held in the nation's capital, run on a 1.66-mile, seven-turn temporary circuit weaving past the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument. Trump formally established the race through a Jan. 30, 2026, executive order directing the Departments of Transportation and Interior to designate a race route through the National Mall and surrounding city streets, in honor of the United States Semiquincentennial.
It’s not an authentic DC street track without bumps! That said, this is a big one in a flat-out section that caused a bunch of IndyCar drivers problems today — and will be a thing in tomorrow’s race. pic.twitter.com/5COA7xSvDK
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 23, 2026