Felix Rosenqvist will start 10th in the No. 60 Honda for Sunday’s Freedom 250 Grand Prix after qualifying on August 22, 2026, giving Meyer Shank Racing a solid position for the inaugural race on the streets of Washington, D.C.
The 10th-place run was Rosenqvist’s eighth top-10 qualifying effort of the 2026 season, a sharp response after the team described a challenging start to the weekend. It also set him just outside the Firestone Fast 6, where Marcus Armstrong went fifth for the No. 66 Honda after advancing to the final round.
The result matters because the Freedom 250 Grand Prix is not being held on a permanent circuit. Drivers are learning a 1.7-mile temporary street course that runs past the Washington Monument, the U.S. Capitol and the National Gallery of Art, and the opening practice session already showed how quickly the pace is building when the one-minute barrier fell. In that kind of setting, qualifying is less about style and more about how cleanly a driver finds speed on a surface that gives back little.
There was still some mess in Armstrong’s side of the garage. After brushing the wall in the Fast 12, he had to switch to another set of Firestone alternate tires before the final round, a reminder that the margins on this circuit are thin enough to punish even one small mistake. Rosenqvist did not have that kind of headline in his session, but the difference between practice and qualifying is usually measured in fractions, and his jump to 10th was enough to restore the team’s Saturday after the early struggle.
For Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing, the next task is straightforward: turn a top-10 grid spot into track position when the green flag falls Sunday at 1:15 p.m. ET. The race will air live on FOX with an extended pre-race show beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET, and live radio coverage will be available on SiriusXM channel 218.
