Alex Palou claimed his first-ever victory at Long Beach on Sunday, winning the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from third on the grid to lead the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship by 17 points after five rounds, as a 7.3-second final pit stop from the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crew proved decisive in a race that Felix Rosenqvist had led for 51 of 90 laps. Rosenqvist, starting from pole in the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Meyer Shank Racing Honda, controlled the race until a debris caution on Lap 57 brought the field to pit lane simultaneously, and Palou’s crew beat Rosenqvist’s MSR team by 1.1 seconds to flip the lead. Palou then pulled clear on primary tyres to win by 3.9663 seconds, his third victory in five races this season and the 22nd of his career, tying him with Emerson Fittipaldi and Tony Bettenhausen in the all-time INDYCAR list.
Key Points: IndyCar Long Beach 2026 Race Result
- Palou wins from P3. First career Long Beach win in his sixth start at the circuit. Three wins in five races in 2026. 22nd career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory, tying Emerson Fittipaldi and Tony Bettenhausen. Championship lead of 17 points over Kirkwood.
- Rosenqvist P2. Led a race-high 51 laps from pole. First podium since Road America in June 2025. Best career finish at Long Beach. Eighth career podium. Lost the win in the pits by 1.1 seconds on the final stop.
- Dixon P3. First podium of the 2026 season. Career record extended to 156 podiums, the most in INDYCAR SERIES history. Ganassi one-two on the day, their 148th organisational win.
- Kirkwood P4. Championship swing: Kirkwood led by two going in, trails by 17 coming out. Palou 205 points, Kirkwood 188 after Round 5.
- One caution. Debris at Turn 4, Lap 57. Four caution laps. Field pitted Lap 59. CGR serviced Palou in 7.3 seconds, MSR needed 8.4 for Rosenqvist.
- Four lead changes among five drivers. Rosenqvist led 51 laps, Palou 32, Newgarden 5, Power 2. Fastest lap: Newgarden, 102.928 mph on Lap 18. Ericsson the only retirement, mechanical on Lap 38.
The Race Rosenqvist Built, the Race Palou Won
Rosenqvist earned pole on Saturday and drove it hard on Sunday. He led from the green flag, managed the gap to Palou at between one and two seconds through the opening stint, and was controlling the race exactly as a pole-sitter should on a street circuit where passing is difficult. Palou had passed Pato O’Ward on Lap 2 to move into second and had been hunting the leader from there, but Rosenqvist was not under serious pressure.
Both drivers pitted at the end of Lap 31 for their mandatory second set of Firestone alternate tyres. Rosenqvist won that pit sequence to stay ahead, and then extended his advantage through the second stint. By Lap 55 the gap was around three seconds. The race was Rosenqvist’s to lose.
“I had a bit of a cushion, I had like 2.3 seconds or something,” Rosenqvist said afterwards. “I felt like even with a bad stop, we’ll probably stay ahead.”
Then the caution came. Debris at Turn 4 on Lap 57. The entire field pitted under the yellow on Lap 59. Both Rosenqvist and Palou took four primary tyres and fuel. CGR serviced Palou in 7.3 seconds. MSR needed 8.4 seconds for Rosenqvist. Palou exited his pit box ahead for the first time all race.
“That last pit cycle was kind of the defining moment,” Rosenqvist said. “I don’t even think we had that bad of a stop. I don’t know if Alex had an open in. Details like that matter.”
Palou restarted on Lap 61 in clear air for the first time all afternoon. He built the gap to 2.4 seconds by Lap 68, to 5.5 seconds with 12 laps remaining, and managed it home from there. Rosenqvist never threatened again.
What the Stop Meant to Palou
Palou was clear about where this win was won and lost. In the pit box.
“That yellow, that pit stop… they executed it perfectly. From there, it was just managing the tires.”
Alex Palou, No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
“The OpenAI car was super, super fast, but it was that yellow, that pit stop with all the pressure that these boys were able to do it and execute it perfectly,” he said.
Barry Wanser, the long-time team manager of the No. 10 car, was equally direct.
“Today that was the win,” he said. “You just need to be smooth and consistent. That’s what they were.”
Palou had admitted before the caution that catching Rosenqvist without it was unlikely. He was struggling slightly more on the soft alternate compound. Rosenqvist was faster on the reds. The caution collapsed a three-second gap to a dead-equal pit stop battle. Palou knew his crew would deliver under pressure. They did.
“My confidence was high but I think my chances were low,” Palou said of the pre-caution situation. “I know without that pit stop I would probably not be here now.”
Rosenqvist: The Win That Got Away
Felix Rosenqvist had the fastest car on race day. He led 51 laps from pole, his alternate tyre pace was the best in the field, and he had the race managed until a debris caution reset the field.
His eighth career podium. His best result at Long Beach. His first podium since Road America in June 2025.
“A little bit bittersweet,” he said in the post-race press conference. “Obviously you want to win when you have the opportunity.”
He was honest about the final stint. He thought he could hold Palou on primary tyres if it went green. The caution changed the nature of the fight from a track battle to a pit battle, and MSR lost that version of it by 1.1 seconds. He watched Palou clear the pit exit ahead of him and had nothing he could do about it.
“There’s nothing you can do. You’re sitting there on the pit limiter doing 50 miles an hour. Yeah, it’s heartbreaking.“
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Dixon and a Podium Record
Scott Dixon finished third. It was his first podium of the 2026 season and it came with a history footnote. The podium was his 156th career finish in the top three in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, extending his own all-time record.
Dixon put it bluntly straight away.
“The race itself for us was just a bit blah, to be honest,” he said. “The balance had a lot of understeer, so it was very difficult to roll the corner and roll off throttle to get that mileage.”
He had been in Rosenqvist’s gearbox for a spell early in the final stint, on alternate tyres against Rosenqvist’s primaries, and admitted he had to decide whether to push and risk the tyres or manage and protect the position. He managed it, and the clean final pit stop delivered third.
Chip Ganassi Racing took first and third. Their 148th organisational win. Honda swept the podium.
Kirkwood and the Championship Swing
Kyle Kirkwood finished fourth. He had led this championship by two points going into Long Beach. He leaves it trailing Palou by 17. Palou 205, Kirkwood 188 after Round 5.
That is a 19-point swing in a single race on a circuit where Kirkwood qualified fourth and ran a clean two-stop race. He did nothing wrong at Long Beach. Palou was just better, and Palou’s crew was better when it counted.
Lundgaard and a Different Kind of Long Beach
Christian Lundgaard arrived at Long Beach having told media earlier in the week, including Coffee Corner Motorsport that Arrow McLaren’s race pace was stronger than Kirkwood and Palou on Sundays, and that qualifying was the gap closing off the results the team deserved. Long Beach did not contradict that diagnosis. He started 11th, made three pit stops including an additional stop at Lap 49, and finished 20th. The three-stop strategy put him on the wrong side of the two-stop versus three-stop equation on a race day when the alternate tyre held up better than anyone expected and the leading runners closed the window cleanly under caution.
Lundgaard picked up 10 points. He sits fifth in the championship on 131 points. Arrow McLaren had O’Ward in fifth and Lundgaard in 20th, a split result that reflects the tactical difficulty of executing on a weekend when the alternate tyre held up better than anticipated. Will Power’s afternoon was worse. He started seventh, picked up a drive-through penalty on Lap 65 for making contact with opposing team personnel, and finished 19th. Three stops, 90 laps, one more difficult Sunday for Andretti Global’s Will Power.
Rookies at Long Beach
Dennis Hauger finished 11th, his best result of the 2026 season to this point. Two stops, Laps 30 and 59, 90 laps completed. Clean race, solid execution on a circuit that punishes mistakes. He scored 19 points and now sits 16th in the championship on 76 points.
Mick Schumacher finished 17th, two stops at Laps 31 and 59, 90 laps completed. Started 21st, gained four positions across the race. Consistent race distance banking continues.
Caio Collet finished 22nd, two stops at Laps 30 and 59 from 20th on the grid. His race was complicated by a pit speed violation penalty on Lap 61, which sent him to the back of the field on the restart. Still running at the flag. 59 points total, 21st in the standings.
Tyre Story: IndyCar Long Beach 2026
Long Beach 2026 ran as a strict two-stopper for the leading runners. The Firestone alternate compound held up better than most teams anticipated. In warm-up the expectation across the paddock was that the reds would degrade, which is why the majority of the field started on primary tyres. The alternates lasted. That shaped everything that followed.
The standard race structure was alternates for Stints 1 and 2, primaries for the final phase. Rosenqvist and Palou followed that blueprint exactly, pitting together at the end of Lap 31 for their mandatory second set of alternates, then switching to four primary tyres on the caution stop at Lap 59.
The compound difference between the two leaders was the key tactical thread through the middle of the race. Rosenqvist was faster on the alternate. Palou admitted he struggled on the softer compound during the second stint, which is why Rosenqvist was able to build his lead to three seconds before the caution arrived. On the primaries after the final stop Palou was the stronger driver. The three-stoppers including Lundgaard, Newgarden and VeeKay could not make the additional stop pay on a race day when the two-stop window closed cleanly under caution for the whole field simultaneously. Those who gambled early on an offset did not get the differential they needed.
“We didn’t know how the primaries were going to be,” Palou said after the race. “From there, it was just managing the tires.”
Final Classification: IndyCar Long Beach 2026 Race Result
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship: After Round 5, Long Beach
Standings Snapshot
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship – After Round 5, Long Beach
- Alex Palou – 205 pts
- Kyle Kirkwood – 188 pts
- David Malukas – 142 pts
- Pato O’Ward – 136 pts
- Christian Lundgaard – 131 pts
- Josef Newgarden – 130 pts
- Scott McLaughlin – 127 pts
- Scott Dixon – 120 pts
- Felix Rosenqvist – 109 pts
- Graham Rahal – 106 pts
- Alexander Rossi – 105 pts
- Marcus Ericsson – 104 pts
- Marcus Armstrong – 104 pts
- Will Power – 89 pts
- Rinus VeeKay – 79 pts
- Dennis Hauger – 76 pts
- Kyffin Simpson – 75 pts
- Santino Ferrucci – 74 pts
- Louis Foster – 60 pts
- Romain Grosjean – 60 pts
- Christian Rasmussen – 59 pts
- Caio Collet – 59 pts
- Nolan Siegel – 56 pts
- Mick Schumacher – 44 pts
- Sting Ray Robb – 42 pts
Coffee Corner Take
Felix Rosenqvist drove a near-perfect race and still did not win. That is not a criticism. It is a summary of how Long Beach 2026 worked.
He had the fastest car on reds, controlled the lead from pole, and was managing a three-second cushion with 35 laps to go. The debris caution was not his fault. The 1.1-second gap in the pits was not a disaster from MSR. CGR just executed better under maximum pressure. One second is almost nothing in absolute terms. In racing it is everything.
Palou meanwhile continues to be what he has been since 2021: the hardest man in INDYCAR to beat when his team is firing. He admitted he probably could not have passed Rosenqvist on track. He did not need to. His crew gave him the race. Champions need to be in the position to capitalise when the opportunity presents. Palou was. That is the difference.
The championship picture is now very clear. Palou leads by 17. Three wins in five races. Kirkwood has been consistent and smart and has nothing obvious to fix. The problem is Palou is not giving him anything back. Fourteen rounds left. Month of May next: the Indy GP road course, then the 500 itself, where Palou is the defending champion. If Kirkwood does not take points back in May, this could be done by July.
Rosenqvist’s afternoon is the human story from Long Beach. MSR needed a result like this. The confidence from a pole and 51 laps led is real and deserved. Whether they can replicate it at circuits that do not suit them as cleanly is the harder question. But Sunday was a good day for a team that has had too few of them recently.
Palou wins for the first time at Long Beach and moves back into the championship lead.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Official
Join the Coffee Corner Motorsport Community
Dive into full race reports, data stories, and behind-the-scenes features
across Formula 1, Formula 2, and beyond.
If this helped, you can support this work by buying me a coffee.