After six attempts, IndyCar’s most dominant active driver finally got a win around the streets of Long Beach.
The Spaniard had never finished worse than fifth in Southern California, but the top step of the podium at IndyCar’s most prestigious street race eluded him until today.
“With the opportunity I had winning the 500 last year, the Long Beach GP this year, it just feels like I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness,” Palou said.
Since the start of last season, Palou (No. 10) has won 11 races. That’s half the schedule. He’s now won at all but five tracks on the 2026 schedule, with his yet-unconquered venues consisting of four ovals and Arlington, where Palou finished the inaugural race second. He’s podiumed everywhere but Gateway, the oval near St. Louis.
“It’s Alex Palou, man,” commentator Will Buxton said at the end of the first stint. “We know the script. We know what he does.”
New IndyCar rules mandate using softer tires twice on street circuits, a rule change which should hurt Palou. He’s, usuallyregularly by far the fastest driver on hards. Some in the paddock entertained the idea of a three-stop strategy this weekend. Few attempted it. Many expected to.
“Everybody was waiting for the top four to struggle… and then nobody degraded,” third-place Scott Dixon (No. 9) said after the race.
“Warm-up, we had no idea. We all felt [the alternate tires] were going to go to pieces,” polesitter and second-place finisher Felix Rosenqvist (No. 60) said.
Much of the early race coverage focused on Josef Newgarden’s (No. 2) effort to make three stops work. It almost looked like he’d manage it as he was almost immediately half a second faster than the rest of the field, and that rapidly became a full second.
As Rosenqvist, then leading, drifted above the 1:10 mark, Newgarden got faster still, dropping 1:08.8 second laps.
The softs weren’t degrading that much though, even if drivers weren’t happy with them. Newgarden’s second-and-a-half faster pace was remarkable to watch, but it sent him into traffic towards the end of the two-stoppers’ first stint.
McLaren’s Pato O’Ward (No. 5) was the first of the top five to box, on lap 30. The next lap, the rest followed.
Rosenqvist, who led from pole, stayed narrowly ahead of reigning champ Palou.
He did not, however, retain the lead on the road. Newgarden, on his alternate strategy, had an 11 second advantage.
Those new tires for the primary strategy did not bring better pace than what Newgarden continued to show. The two-time champion was still a second faster than the rest of the field.
While his three-stop attempt was electric, it hadn’t yet paid off.
Newgarden, who started 14th, left the pits 14th. With a lighter, less-fueled car and fresh tires, Newgarden had to continue his relentless push. This time with cars in front of him.
Shortly after getting back on track, Newgarden lunged to the inside of Marcus Armstrong (No. 66), the leader’s teammate, at turn one. He got through cleanly, but not unscathed, severely locking his left front and causing visible vibrations on the No. 2 car.
It didn’t force the Nashville native to pit early and turn their strategy into a four-stop, but his pace dropped off precipitously in the rest of the stint, dropping back to 14th.
Then, on lap 57, the first caution at Long Beach since 2024. Every car pitted — it was perfect timing for the two-stoppers anyway. Fuel loads only lasted around 30 laps — it’d been 27 since most stopped and there were 33 laps until the checkered flag.
This time, Rosenqvist could not come out on top. Palou left with the lead, fitted with the harder, black-walled tires, which he was nearly a full second faster on than the rest of the field in practice. Without the yellow, Palou intimated, Rosenqvist likely would’ve run away with the race win.
“I think it would have been really, really tough,” Palou said. “My confidence was high, but I think my chances were low.”
Even without green flag laps, the second round of pit stops jumbled the field significantly, most dramatically with Dixon moving up to third and David Malukas (No. 12) dropping from fourth down to eighth.
As the lead car on soft tires, Dixon hassled Rosenqvist for second, but never found a way through. Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27) and O’Ward rounded out the top five.
Quick hits:
Early in the weekend, it looked like Will Power (No. 26) had a shot at taking his first win since leaving Team Penske. He’s had success around Long Beach historically — the site of his first IndyCar win (discounting his time in the Champ Car series) — and Andretti is regularly the best team around street circuits.
Qualifying seventh was disappointing, but his race didn’t go off the rails until he was penalized for running over the feet of one of Caio Collet’s engineers. Power could only get back in front of Sting Ray Robb (No. 77) and Armstrong.
Dennis Hauger (No. 19) and Mick Schumacher (No. 47) had solid drives in their first visits to Long Beach. Hauger narrowly missed out on his second career top 10 finish, settling in 11th after a 19th-place start. Schumacher rose from 21st to 17th, his best finish so far in his brief IndyCar career.
Nolan Siegel (No. 6) started 25th — last — and finished 12th. The young American driver has struggled early in his career, with calls for McLaren to replace him relatively commonplace online. This is the kind of recovery drive he needed.
Upgrades to the Ed Carpenter Racing car look good for Alexander Rossi (No. 20). After the California native was inducted into the race’s Hall of Fame Thursday, qualifying 18th was a disappointment for the former F1 driver. He made up for that in the race, though, moving up to ninth, without benefiting massively from the pit cycle.
IndyCar will return May 9 at the Sonsio Grand Prix around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.