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| Ryan Hunter-Reay Looks for His Second Long Beach Victory While James Hinchcliffe Looks for His First. |
Rookie Jack Hawksworth starts fifth. Last year, Hawksworth started second in the Indy Lights race at Long Beach but was taken out in a three car accident before even reaching turn one. Simon Pagenaud joins Hawksworth on row three. Pagenaud finished second at Long Beach in 2012. Scott Dixon starts seventh. The defending champion has one top ten finish in seven Long Beach starts and his average finish at Long Beach is 15.4. Marco Andretti starts a career-best eighth at Long Beach. His best Long Beach finish is sixth in 2009. Helio Castroneves starts ninth with Justin Wilson rounding out the top ten.
Carlos Muñoz starts eleventh with Oriol Servià on the outside of row six. This is Servià first race of the 2014 season after missing the season opener at St. Petersburg. Tony Kanaan starts thirteenth with Will Power in fourteenth. This is Power's worst start in nine Long Beach appearance. Defending Long Beach winner Takuma Sato starts fifteenth with 1999 Long Beach winner Juan Pablo Montoya in sixteenth.
Mike Conway and Ryan Briscoe make up row seven. California-native Charlie Kimball starts nineteenth with rookie Mikhail Aleshin in twentieth. Carlos Huertas and Sebastián Saavedra make it an all Colombian row eleven with Graham Rahal starting in the twenty-third and final position on the grid.
This is the first race of the 2014 season that will use a standing start.
This is the 31st time IndyCar has race on Palm Sunday. Since 1946, IndyCar has had a race fall on Palm Sunday in 27 years for a total of 30 races at nine different tracks.
Here is a list of those Palm Sunday races:
1958- Trenton: Len Sutton (1st career win).
1960- Trenton: Rodger Ward
1964- Phoenix: AJ Foyt (1)
1968- Phoenix: Bobby Unser (1)
1973- Trenton: AJ Foyt (2), Mario Andretti (1). Two 150-mile heats.
1974- Trenton: Bobby Unser (2)
1979- Texas World: AJ Foyt (3)
1984- Phoenix: Tom Sneva
1987- Phoenix: Roberto Guerrero (1st career win).
1990- Phoenix: Rick Mears
1992- Long Beach: Danny Sullivan
1993- Phoenix: Mario Andretti (2) (Final career win).
1995- Long Beach: Al Unser, Jr.
1996- Surfers Paradise: Jimmy Vasser
1997- Phoenix: Jim Guthrie (1st and only career win)
1998- Long Beach: Alex Zanardi
1999- Phoenix: Scott Goodyear
2000- Long Beach: Paul Tracy (1)
2001- Long Beach: Helio Castroneves (1), Homestead: Sam Hornish, Jr. (1). CART/IRL Split.
2002- Homestead: Sam Hornish, Jr. (2)
2003- Motegi: Scott Sharp, Long Beach: Paul Tracy (2) CART/IRL Split.
2006- Long Beach: Sébastien Bourdais
2007- St. Petersburg: Helio Castroneves (2)
2009- St. Petersburg: Ryan Briscoe
2011- Long Beach: Mike Conway (1st career win).
2012- Barber: Will Power
2013- St. Petersburg: James Hinchcliffe (1st career win).
AJ Foyt has the most wins on Palm Sunday with three. The only other drivers will multiple Palm Sunday victories are Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Sam Hornish, Jr., Paul Tracy and Helio Castroneves.
Five drivers got their first career win on Palm Sunday (Len Sutton, Roberto Guerrero, Jim Guthrie, Mike Conway and James Hinchcliffe). Two drivers got their final career win on Palm Sunday (Mario Andretti and Jim Guthrie).
Five drivers got their first career win on Palm Sunday (Len Sutton, Roberto Guerrero, Jim Guthrie, Mike Conway and James Hinchcliffe). Two drivers got their final career win on Palm Sunday (Mario Andretti and Jim Guthrie).
Entering today, Long Beach and Phoenix are tied hosting 8 Palm Sunday races apiece. Trenton hosted 5 Palm Sunday races. St. Petersburg has hosted Palm Sunday races on three occasions. Homestead has hosted Palm Sunday races twice. Barber, Motegi, Surfers Paradise and Texas World each hosted one race on Palm Sunday.
IndyCar morning warm-up will take place at noon ET. NBCSN's coverage from Long Beach begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with the Indy Lights races. Immediately following the Indy Lights race will be coverage for the Verizon IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Long Beach beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET with green flag at 4:50 p.m. ET.
