Alex Palou – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Chris Owens

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

With INDYCAR’s Month of May beckoning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Alex Palou is again threatening to take a wrecking ball to the championship point standings.

Alex Palou – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Paul Hurley

Palou earned his third victory in five races this season in Sunday’s 51^st Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to retake the point lead by 17 in an early bid for his fifth series title and NTT IndyCar Series record-tying fourth in a row.

Palou logged the 22nd victory of his career and first in America’s longest-running street race in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The mercurial, 28-year-old Spaniard beat the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda of NTT P1 Award-winner Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden to the finish by a comfortable 3.9663-seconds. In the process, Palou erased a two-point deficit to former leader Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global.

SEE: Race Results

The outcome nicely segues into IMS, where Palou figures to be the odds-on favorite to revisit Victory Circle after the 110^th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24. Recall that Palou won a series-high eight of 17 races last season, and certainly appears poised to either match or surpass that domination.

Felix Rosenqvist, Alex Palou and Scott Dixon – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Chris Owens

“Incredible,” said Palou, whose 22^nd victory tied him with Brazilian superstar Emerson Fittipaldi and Midwest legend Tony Bettenhausen on the all-time list. “Feel so, so lucky with the opportunity I had to win the 500 last year, the Long Beach GP this year…it just feels like I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness.

“Yeah, incredible work by the team today. I think we were fighting there with the No. 60 (of Rosenqvist), trying to match him on the soft (Firestone Firehawk) tires. I think we could have fighted a little bit, but he was a bit stronger than us today. We were just trying to figure it out, if we were going able to go one lap longer on fuel.”

Scott Dixon – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Paul Hurley

Six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand completed the podium with his best result of the season in the No. 9 PNC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, as CGR produced two of the top three finishers.

Kirkwood finished fourth in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global, with Pato O’Ward placing fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Pole-sitter Rosenqvist controlled the race from the green flag, leading the first 31 laps with Palou climbing from his third starting spot to second by passing O’Ward on Lap 2. Rosenqvist and Palou pitted for the first time in tandem at the end of Lap 31 of the 90-lapper, with the MSR crew helping Rosenqvist win the race out of the pits after both drivers started their second fuel stint with their mandatory second set of Firestone alternate tires.

Felix Rosenqvist – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Rosenqvist then built a three-second lead over Palou, who admitted he struggled on the softer Firestone alternate tire. But Palou got the break he needed on Lap 57, when a large piece of debris was spotted on track, triggering the only caution period on the 1.968-mile/11-turn Southern California layout.

The entire field pitted on Lap 59, led by Rosenqvist and Palou as a showdown loomed between the MSR and CGR crews. Rosenqvist and Palou each took four primary Firestone tires and fuel on their last stop, but Palou exited his pit box ahead of Rosenqvist to take the lead for the first time. CGR serviced Palou’s car in 7.3-seconds on the final stop, while MSR needed 8.4-seconds for Rosenqvist’s stop.

Alex Palou – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Joe Skibinski

Palou rocketed away from the field on the restart on Lap 61. It was checkout time, as he never trailed from that point.

“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,” Palou said. “From there, it was just managing the tires. We didn’t know how the primaries were going to be.”

The primary tire suited Palou fine, as Alex expanded his lead to 2.4-seconds on Lap 68, with the gap mushrooming to 5.5-seconds with 12 laps remaining. Palou played it safe during the final two trips around the circuit, but Rosenqvist never got close. Rosenqvist led a race-high 51 laps en route to earning his first podium finish since placing second in June 2025 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

Felix Rosenqvist – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Chris Owens

“A little bit of a bittersweet race,” said Rosenqvist, a 34-year-old native of Sweden. “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.

“Yeah, I’m proud of today. I think everything we were working on kind of paid off. I’ve been in this position many times before, being on-pole or at the front, then something kind of fell short. I feel like today we just had really, really solid pace. Actually incredible pace on the reds, not as good as Alex on the blacks. I just kind of struggled a little bit on that last stint. It was going to be hard to pass him anyways.

“Yeah, that last pit cycle was kind of the defining moment. I don’t even think we had that bad of a stop. We had to come around the No. 14 (of Santino Ferrucci). I don’t know if Alex had an open-in. Details like that matter. It didn’t seem like a super-slow stop, but he probably nailed it or his crew. That happens. 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.”

Scott Dixon and Jack Harvey – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Paul Hurley

Dixon noted the results played-out as a resounding success for CGR as well as a marketing hit for Honda, which swept the podium not far from its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

“Yeah, huge weekend for the Ganassi cars,” said Dixon, 45, the longest-tenured driver for team-owner Chip Ganassi. “I think probably one of the best for qualifying between all us, which was really good. It was nice just to have a clean weekend, no major issues, no damage, no mess-ups or anything like that. That was a lot of fun.

“The race itself for us was just a bit blah, to be honest. We kind of sat in the same position, tried to go long. Fuel mileage was really good, which Honda does a great job at. I think everybody is caught up a lot on figuring out what they need.

“Unfortunately for me the balance had a lot of understeer, so it was very difficult to roll the corner and roll off throttle to get that mileage. Yeah, interesting day. The last stop _ luckily for us we had an easy out. Looked like a lot of the people we were fighting had cars in front of them or behind them, which kind of paid off for us. Great weekend. Hopefully something we can build on and keep rolling.”

Pato O’Ward – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Joe Skibinski

O’Ward led Team Chevy with his fifth-place result after starting second in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Dallara. And Pato sent a warning to Chevrolet’s INDYCAR engineering staff as the series prepares for its annual invasion of the Circle City of Indianapolis.

“We don’t have enough (horsepower) right now to take it to the guys that are charging forward in the championship,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “It was just another weekend to close-out a top-five, but we need to start fighting for podiums and wins.”

Track action at “The Brickyard” is scheduled to begin with an Open Test on the famed 2.5-mile oval on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28 and 29. Drivers will be on-track from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (EDT) Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday.

On Tuesday, series veterans will take to the oval from 10:05 a.m. to noon, with Rookie Orientation Program and refresher tests from noon to 2 p.m. and all participants on track from 2 to 6 p.m. All cars are scheduled to be on track from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Activity will then move to the 2.439-mile/14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course on Saturday, May 9, before returning to the oval for “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing” on May 24th. The Open Test will be available to stream on the series’ YouTube channel, with both races airing on FOX.

“Thankfully, our favorite is coming up, which is the Indy 500, right after the Indy Road-Course,” O’Ward said. “That’s really our main focal point, and I’m going to really try to maximize that. Right now, we just need to keep working and try to make it better to minimize damage in the first part of the season to see if we can recover toward the end to find something _ because we’re missing it.”

Larry Foyt and Santino Ferrucci – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – Photo by Paul Hurley

The two-car entry of Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing was paced by Santino Ferrucci’s 18^th-place result, with rookie teammate Caio Collet finishing 22^nd.

Ferrucci was encouraged after the morning warmup session, when he was ninth-quickest in the No. 14 Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet. However, he struggled with the car’s handling during the race.

“Just overall a rough weekend,” said Ferrucci, a 27-year-old resident of Dallas who last year rallied from last to finish 11^th in this event. Ferrucci was philosophical about Sunday’s underwhelming result. “The car’s in one piece and we’re gonna roll it back up on the trailer,” Ferrucci said. “It was just really tough to drive, hard to find a balance. Moving on to the Indy GP and the Month of May.”

Caio Collet – Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

Collet believed he was on-pace for a top-12 finish in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet in his first appearance on the Streets of Long Beach. Unfortunately, the caution for track debris on lap 57 set up a chain of events that ruined his chance of either tying or improving upon his best finish to-date (12th). The caution flew in the fuel window which saw the full field pit, making pit lane a crowded affair.

Collet pitted and got off cleanly, but his outside rear tire changer _ Ryan Marzec _ was struck by Will Power’s No. 26 Andretti Global Honda exiting his pit box. Incredibly, Marzec finished changing the tire before crawling to safety as Collet exited the pit box. Marzec was transported to the infield care center and released after X-rays revealed no broken bones.

Adding insult to injury, Collet was penalized for a pit lane speed violation en route to his stall and was ordered to the back of the line for the restart.

“I have to look again and see what exactly happened if it was my mistake, or I just pushed too hard on the pit-in. I don’t know,” said Collet, a 24-year-old native of Brazil. “We’ll see what happened exactly on data, why we had a penalty. But I think regardless, we were looking quite good for a top-12, maybe top-10 there. It’s really frustrating, but we’ll move on.

“I’m glad that Ryan is going to be OK. When you pit under yellow, it’s always very, very tight and you need to look out for the guys.”

NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 205; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 188; 3, David Malukas, Team Penske, 142; 4, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 136; 5, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 131; 6, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 130; 7, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 127; 8, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 120; 9, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 109; 10, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 106; 

11, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 105; 12, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 104; 13, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 104; 14, Will Power, Andretti Global, 89; 15, Rinus VeeKay, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 79; 16, Dennis Hauger, Dale Coyne Racing, 76; 17, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 75; 18, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 74; 19, Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing, 60; 20, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 60;

21, Caio Collet, A.J. Foyt Racing, 59; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 59; 23, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 56; 24, Mick Schumacher, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 44; 25, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 42.

FOX SPORTS’ 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE/(RACE WINNER)

Note _ All times Eastern

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, March 7 _ Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Ariz., (Josef Newgarden, Team Penske)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Sunday, April 19 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif., (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course, 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 24 _ 110^th Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval, 10 a.m.

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill., 9 p.m.

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., 2 p.m.

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, 12:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn., TBA

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway, 4 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 16 _ Streets of Markham, Canada, Noon

Sunday, Aug. 23 _ Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., TBA

Saturday, Aug. 29 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 1, West Allis, Wis., 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile Race 2, West Allis, Wis., 1 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., 2:30 p.m.

Note _ Dates and times subject to change.

2026 INDYCAR NXT BY FIRESTONE SCHEDULE/(RACE-WINNER)

Sunday, March 1 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 15 _ Streets of Arlington, Texas, (Max Taylor, Andretti Global)

Saturday, March 28 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Nikita Johnson, Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR)

Sunday, March 29 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala., (Alessandro de Tullio, A.J. Foyt Racing)

Friday, May 8 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 1

Saturday, May 9 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course Race 2

Sunday, May 31 _ Streets of Detroit

Sunday, June 7 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill.

Saturday, June 20 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 1

Sunday, June 21 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis., Race 2

Saturday, July 4 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 1

Sunday, July 5 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, Race 2

Sunday, July 19 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn.

Sunday, Aug. 9 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway

Sunday, Aug. 30 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis.

Saturday, Sept. 5 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 1

Sunday, Sept. 6 _ Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif., Race 2