The path to victory was pretty well laid out for Felix Rosenqvist on Sunday at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Until it wasn’t.
After leading the field to the green flag, Rosenqvist was the class of the field, setting a career-high for laps led in a single NTT IndyCar Series event. But even pacing the field for 51 circuits at the iconic west-coast street course ended up being a moot point.
But that advantage evaporated on the 57th lap of the 90-lap event due to a caution for debris, and it was just the opening that Alex Palou needed after spending most of the day running second up to that point.
Palou, taking advantage of the first pit stall, won the race off of pit road and checked out from there, leading the rest of the way for his third victory of the season.
“It’s huge,” Palou said. “Super proud of everybody’s job but especially this crew. Incredible to finally win here at Long Beach.”
Rosenqvist finished 3.9663 seconds back in second place, followed by Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood, and Pato O’Ward.
“A little bit of a bittersweet race,” Rosenqvist said. “I lost a little bit on the stop. Alex is obviously going to be 10 out of 10 almost every stop, so I don’t think it was necessarily that our one was slow, but they probably had a great one, as well. That’s how it goes.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to celebrate this one. P2, plus the points and podium – that’s where I want to be.”
Palou left Sunday’s race leading Kirkwood by 17 points in the series points standings.
Scott McLaughlin took sixth ahead of David Malukas, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, and Kyffin Simpson.
Simpson’s top 10 gave Chip Ganassi Racing three top-ten finishes on Sunday at Long Beach as Dixon claimed third, his best finish since second last year at Iowa Speedway. It also marked Simpson’s best showing since fourth last year at Nashville Superway.
Rossi put on one of the more hard-charging showings on Sunday, battling nine positions forward after qualifying 18th.
Rosenqvist did indeed have the field covered early on, holding a lead of more than 8 seconds 30 laps into the race. Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 Team Penske took a swing at beating Rosenqvist early with an alternate pit strategy, opting to take on the red Alternate tires 12 laps into the race.
That resulted in a 15-second lead for the No. 2 driver as the leaders pitted about 20 laps later, but in a game plan that called for Newgarden to make up for a gap and pit once more, he would eventually fade, finishing 14th.
2026 IndyCar Long Beach Race Results
The NTT IndyCar Series accelerates into the Month of May for the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 9 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Tune into FOX for coverage of round six of the championship.
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.