WASHINGTON (AP) — Even for well-traveled IndyCar drivers, a track with the U.S. Capitol in the background is a little awe inspiring.

“We get to race at a lot of cool cities, but this one is by far the best that we've ever had, and I can say that very truthfully," Kyle Kirkwood said Friday. "Going by the Capitol building, the views here, all the architecture of all the buildings around here, all the museums, it's stuff that you dream of.

"It's a serious honor and privilege.”

This weekend's Freedom 250 Grand Prix is the second big sporting event staged by President Donald Trump in Washington as part of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration. The first was a UFC fight card on the White House’s South Lawn in June.

IndyCar racing — an open-wheel counterpart to NASCAR — doesn’t have quite the same association with the right-wing “manosphere” or the MAGA movement, but series owner Roger Penske received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump in 2019 and led the effort to put together this race in the District of Columbia.

For the drivers, it’s a welcome moment in the spotlight.

“What’s been the coolest part of this week? Honestly, the media covering us,” Kirkwood said. “It’s cool to see IndyCar in this light. We don’t get these opportunities very often outside of the Indy 500, and to have an event that is sought after as much as the 500 is something that’s special.”

Washington has little history with high-level motorsports. In 2002, the parking lot at RFK Stadium on the city's east side was transformed into a course for an American Le Mans Series event.

The Freedom 250 is downtown in one of D.C.'s prime tourist areas. If you're not in a race car, it's not the greatest weekend to be driving around the area given all the road closures, but if the weather holds up, the setting has the potential to be spectacular.

“As a boy from the Netherlands that just got his green card, it is really cool,” said Rinus VeeKay, who has six top-10 finishes this season. “We didn't get too much U.S. history in school ... but learning so much about it here, seeing all the monuments and museums and just how every building kind of has a special purpose here around the city, is very cool. Getting to see the White House, this is stuff you see in movies.”

The White House is not part of the D.C. course, although after Turn 1, the track does include a lengthy straightaway along Pennsylvania Avenue, heading northwest away from the Capitol. Then there's a sharp left turn between the National Archives and the main Justice Department building, followed by a couple quick 90-degree turns as the track navigates the city's grid system.

After a straightaway takes drivers across the National Mall, they turn left onto Independence Avenue, passing the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum. and the Eisenhower Memorial before heading north on 3rd Street to the finish line, which is just west of the Capitol.

“I think it's more exciting when you actually get on the grounds and see what you're about to do. I mean, when is this ever going to happen again?" said Josef Newgarden, a driver for Team Penske. “I hope it's great visibility. That's probably the biggest thing that it could bring to us — is visibility to people that aren't maybe as familiar with IndyCar racing."

IndyCar practice and qualifying are scheduled for Saturday, along with an IROC race. The IndyCar race is Sunday and set for 250 miles (147 laps) — the second-longest street circuit race in IndyCar history.

The 1.7-mile track includes seven turns in all. The Air & Space Museum and National Gallery of Art are both inside the course's perimeter, with a fan zone between them. The track is shorter and has fewer turns than several others on the IndyCar schedule, but it's not much different from the 1.6-mile, nine-turn circuit used in downtown Detroit.

“It’s short and snappy, but you know what? We don't know. We haven't driven on it yet," driver Marcus Armstrong said. “We'll find out tomorrow. It might even be wet tomorrow. There's a lot of crosswalks, a lot of paint on the track, so that could be super slippery.”

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

Inter Milan head coach Christian Chivu has on Friday spoken out on the speculation linking star striker and captain Lautaro Martínez with a move to Spain with Barcelona.

The name of frontman Lautaro has of course emerged as an altogether prominent one in the media headlines in Catalunya’s capital across the week to date.

Amid ongoing frustration in their pursuit of first-choice centre-forward target Julián Alvarez, the Barcelona brass are understood to have shifted focus towards a potential deal for his fellow countryman.

Lautaro is fresh off another productive campaign in Italy, giving rise to 28 direct goal contributions as Inter Milan secured the club’s latest Scudetto crown.

With his side’s talisman on the shortlist of those in the boardroom at the Spotify Camp Nou, the aforementioned Christian Chivu was on Friday therefore drawn on Lautaro’s immediate future.

And Inter’s headmaster went on to explain:

“Lautaro is our captain and we keep him with us. I think he will stay here for a very long time. Then the transfer market is a bastard… so I’m not gonna reply. For sure, we want Lautaro to stay here.”

Conor Laird – GSFN

In my day job, I am an English professor. This is relevant because in my hobby of writing about football, I frequently encounter people who forget that words mean things. ESPN just released a ranking of NFL positional groups that includes this statement: “you would be surprised by what you can learn sitting down and objectively grading and/or ranking each positional unit of all 32 teams.”

This is probably true. The author of the article should try it some time. “Objectively,” per Merriam-Webster, involves “evaluation with a basis in observable facts rather than feelings or opinions.” He then proceeds to just rattle off a bunch of rank lists without actually providing any criteria for how the lists were composed. To be clear–this is an author writing to the standard of “trust me bro” and vibes, and it says a lot about the state of ESPN and sports journalism in general.

Because a detailed analysis of everything wrong with the article would take framing and analysis that exceeds what the low quality of its argumentation deserves, I am simply going to focus on three Bears-centric rankings that make me wonder whether or not the author was even bothering.

ESPN ranks Chicago’s running back room as 24th in the NFL. In 2025, Chicago had the 4th-best rushing attack in the league by EPA/run, and it was one of only ten teams in the league that had positive value in EPA per run. Not only was Chicago third in total rushing yards, it was one of only three teams in the league with two running backs (Swift and Monangai) with at least 25 attempts in the top twenty in terms of success rate and EPA per rush. Those two were 12th and 21st in terms of yards per carry in terms for backs with at least 50 rush attempts, and 3rd and 19th in terms of total EPA. 

Either would be the basis of a rushing attack above 24th in the league, and Chicago has both of them. By any objective standard, Chicago has a 1-2 punch at running back that is near the top of the league. If the concern is that Chicago’s third running back is going to bring down the rest of the group, we would need to believe that 23 teams in the NFL have third-string running backs sufficient to make up the difference over this pairing.

Apparently, Chicago also has the 24th-best wide receiver room in the league, which makes me think that the author simply ranked a few teams and sort of just copy-pasted tables otherwise. Yes, DJ Moore has left Chicago. It is absolutely okay to have feelings about that. But remember, ESPN claims to be giving us an objective evaluation. 

Luther Burden was 4th in yards per route run in 2025, and their next three receivers (Odunze, Walker, and Raymond) also placed above 97th-place DJ Moore (traded away). Moore was productive, but he was the 61st-highest target share in the league but his production per route did not match that. Thus, Chicago’s 9th-best league passing attack in terms of EPA per pass did lose a high-volume receiver, but to suggest that they are in the lower third of the league seems to come down to a writer who went by big names and not actual production.

It is not simply homerism that causes me to push back against ESPN, though, because somehow they believe Chicago has the 22nd-best edge rusher room in the league. I. Martzing. Wish. 

Montez Sweat was 31st in total pressures in the league, and even among edge defenders he himself wasn’t even 22nd. But it’s about the entire room, and that’s where it gets even more bleak. Austin Booker wasn’t even in the top fifty. The Bears didn’t have another edge after him in the top hundred. It gets better in sacks, because there, at least, Sweat is in the top twenty. True, there’s a cliff after that before getting to Booker (again outside of the top fifty), but this is the closest to factual that this analysis can get. After those two men in rotation? Dayo Odeyingbo, who is paid like a quality starter and who plays like Dayo Odeyingbo. Also there’s Shemar Turner, who might or might not be healthy enough at some point to learn a new position. There seems to be no consistency to the ranking system, because if Sweat is enough to keep the Bears edge rushers out of the cellar, then Burden and Swift should elevate the receivers and running backs more.

Chicago did record the 21st-most sacks per game, which makes it possible that ESPN simply used that as the basis of this ranking, but if so they seem to have forgotten that sacks come from places besides the edge and that sacks matter little if the next time the passer is allowed to complete without pressure or if the other team can run to the outside.

Stay in school, kids. At worst, use an AI engine–or a dictionary–to define some key words. Maybe trust in more than vibes to make an argument. Most importantly, remember that just because someone claims to be making an objective review or providing fact-based content doesn’t make it true. 

2028 four-star defensive back Zion Dobson is a key target for the Florida State Seminoles. They didn't offer him until May, but he came to a camp a few weeks later, and he's since gotten close with FSU's cornerbacks coach Blue Adams.

Their communication has been so strong that it's put the Seminoles in an exclusive club when it comes to Dobson's recruitment. The 6-foot, 160-pounder says that FSU is one of the schools that has been the most consistent with their efforts in getting him to commit.

"South Carolina, Florida State, LSU, Virginia Tech are the schools really contacting me a lot and keeping up with me," Dobson said via 247Sports.

Dobson is the No. 164 player nationally, the No. 12 safety, and the No. 7 prospect in North Carolina according to 247Sports composite rankings. Rivals industry rankings have Dobson as the No. 205 player, the No. 20 cornerback, and the No. 9 recruit in North Carolina.

He has locked in a game visit with FSU for their Halloween showdown with the Clemson Tigers. There's also game visits with the California Bears (Sept. 5), South Carolina Gamecocks (Oct. 3), Virginia Cavaliers (Oct. 17), LSU Tigers (Nov. 7), and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Nov. 21) scheduled for Dobson. So, they can't afford to slack off in their approach with him.

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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: Florida State is increasing their efforts in recruiting blue-chip DB