- Presidential Fourth of July races go back to Thomas Jefferson — on July 4, 1801 he helped host horse racing and festivities just blocks from the White House.
- The Freedom 250 is the first NTT IndyCar race in Washington, D.C., brought by Donald Trump; the street course runs along Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues and past the Washington Monument.
- The race is Sunday, Aug. 23 (FOX pre-race 11:30 a.m. ET, green flag 1:13 p.m.), with Alex Palou leading the standings and a tight fight for second among Kirkwood, Malukas and Lundgaard.
The news, distilled into what matters.
- The Freedom 250 races through D.C. around the National Mall—cars blasting past iconic monuments for what should be some stunning, once‑in‑a‑lifetime visuals.
- It’s a 147‑lap, 250‑mile marathon in hot, humid street‑course conditions—physically brutal for drivers—and the winner will be the one and only Freedom 250 champion watched by ~100,000 fans and many VIPs.
- Teams are dealing with big unknowns (no laser‑scanned track), so lap‑time estimates vary wildly and setups/strategy are more unpredictable than usual.
- Jacob deGrom fanned 10 and recorded his 2,000th career strikeout in a vintage outing, helping the Rangers to a 2-0 win.
- A wild ninth in Cincinnati: the Cardinals erupted for a six-run rally (a sun-aided dropped catch was key) to stun the Reds 10-9.
- The Angels pummeled the Astros 18-2 — led by Zach Neto’s big night — a reminder the AL West lead keeps flipping.
- A Texas appeals court cut a $50 million judgment against Alex Jones to $1.5 million over his Sandy Hook “hoax” claims.
- The reduction doesn’t touch a separate $1.4 billion Connecticut judgment; Jones has appealed and is in bankruptcy proceedings.
- Jones has moved off the Infowars brand (conceded the shooting was real), and The Onion has begun parodying/taking over Infowars-style pages.
- Britain is showing surprising resilience — services growth hit a six‑month high and consumer confidence climbed to a two‑year peak, giving new PM Andy Burnham and finance minister John Healey an early boost.
- Investment in tech and AI equipment, plus stronger export orders, is helping lift growth and retail activity — the AI/tech boom is starting to show up in the data.
- Big risks remain: inflation looks likely to rise above 3% and the Iran war could push energy prices (and borrowing costs) higher, keeping public finances under pressure.
- INDYCAR’s inaugural Freedom 250 will race on D.C. streets Sunday — a 147‑lap, 1.7‑mile course that runs past the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument, with President Trump expected to wave the green flag and six military flyovers planned.
- Several drivers (including Scott McLaughlin, Alex Palou and Graham Rahal) toured the city and visited the White House and Capitol this week, even presenting a helmet to First Lady Melania Trump — many called racing in D.C. a special honor.
- FOX Sports and INDYCAR are donating $2 million to Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future” scholarship initiative, giving the event a charitable angle tied to the country’s 250th anniversary.
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