LONG BEACH, Calif. — A game of leapfrog during the pit sequences, an in-lap that went terribly wrong for the polesitter and a late-race caution turned IndyCar’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on its head multiple times Sunday.
When the dust settled, last month’s race-winner at Texas, Josef Newgarden, got the best of the defending series champ, Alex Palou, as well as Romain Grosjean, and took over the 2022 championship lead.
Here’s how Newgarden’s second win of the year unfolded.
Alex Palou wins the first pitstop game
After a relatively quite first sequence of the race, Palou seemingly came out of nowhere and jumped pole-sitter Colton Herta and front-row starter Newgarden on the first set of pitstops. Palou pitted Lap 28 from 3rd-place, two laps earlier than Herta and three sooner than Newgarden. When the No. 2 Team Penske Chevy came out and blended into the field, all eyes were on whether Newgarden would come out ahead of Herta or not.
He did but more than three seconds up the course sat Palou, whose undercut strategy by pitting early gave him some clean air to stretch his legs. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who narrowly took runner-up in the season’s first street race in St. Pete two months ago, rode his lead that ranged from just under two seconds to nearly four for the rest of that stint.
After Herta looked as if he had by far the dominant car, Palou became the unbeatable-looking one. Until…
Josef Newgarden jumps Alex Palou back
Palou pitted Lap 56, again ahead of Herta and Newgarden. Andretti’s Herta looked to be doing so the following lap when, on his in-lap, he clipped the wall in Turn 9 and smashed his car beyond repair. He was able to get it off the course and near pitlane via the alternate pit entrance, requiring only a local yellow. Curiously, IndyCar opted not to throw a full-course yellow flag for the debris Herta’s crash left on the track.
“Just a stupid mistake,” Herta said of his accident. “We were definitely in that thing and were keeping up with Alex and Josef. It’s just unfortunate. I feel really bad.”
Uncertain whether IndyCar would throw a yellow or not, Newgarden pitted on Lap 58 and did what Palou had done 30 laps prior — leapfrogging into the lead after a faster stop. Newgarden’s blend onto the track put him square in front of Palou, and the two had contact in the ensuing corners, but Newgarden held onto the lead. Two laps later, Simon Pagenaud spun after hitting the side of Takuma Sato around the fountain, and his car ended up turned around 180-degrees in the bushes.
More:IndyCar Long Beach: Pole winner Herta crashes from second; Pagenaud drives over flowers
A full-course caution came out, and it took the AMR safety team six laps to get the track cleaned before the race restarted on Lap 66 with 20 to go. On the restart, Marcus Ericsson, running 3rd up from starting 8th, lost the rear of his car in Turn 4, hit the wall, and then was run into by his teammate Scott Dixon in Turn 5.
Able to get his car off the track, the race remained green, and equipped with a push-to-pass advantage and the only car in the front pack on red tires to finish the race, Romain Grosjean overtook Palou to move into 2nd-place.
Newgarden holds on amid late chaos
By Lap 71, though, Grosjean had eaten up all his push to pass, and his red tires were starting to wear. Five laps later, Jimmie Johnson struggled on the brakes and smashed the wall for his third time this weekend in Turn 8. David Malukas couldn’t avoid him, causing another late caution, bunching up the field.
More:IndyCar: Johnson’s difficult weekend continues, Malukas dealt second DNF in three races
With no push-to-pass, Grosjean couldn’t muster a jump on the race-leader. Sato ended up in the wall moments before the white flag flew and the race ended under yellow, giving Newgarden his first Long Beach victory in his 11 years in the series after leading 32 of 85 laps.
“Very close, but just not close enough,” Grosjean said of his fourth IndyCar podium through 16 starts.
Newgarden’s victory meant three consecutive wins to start the season for Team Penske, the first time it has done so since they won Races 1-4 in 2012. Newgarden now holds a five-point lead on McLaughlin heading into next month’s race at Barber.
“This was a fight today, This was not an easy win. It might have looked simple on the outside, but I was working my butt off with Grosjean at the end there,” Newgarden said. “With the used reds, I hoped he would fade a bit towards the end, and I was hoping I could hold him off.
“I think Romain, overall, had a better shot at pulling this out (than Palou), and fortunately, we were able to hold on.”
Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.
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