1. Scott Dixon may be the best we have ever seen. I have felt that after each of Dixon's previous three victories. It is strengthen today as Dixon ran a pair of 34-lap stints to close the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and held off the charging trio of Colton Herta, Álex Palou and Josef Newgarden to win for the 57th victory of Dixon's career, and his 20th consecutive season with a victory.
After Dixon won on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last August, I broke down the lap times and how Dixon won that race. This performance deserves the same treatment. It is one thing to make it to the finish saving fuel on a 34-lap stint. It is another thing to do it at the pace Dixon ran. Will Power was on the same strategy and was manhandling this race prior to the lap 15 caution for Christian Rasmussen's accident. Power ended up 15.7639 seconds behind Dixon in sixth.
Oh! And Power was ahead of Dixon after the pivotal pit stops under caution on lap 17. Dixon didn't waste time and took the position early from Power as both drivers were conserving fuel. Only Dixon could save and go quicker.
With the pace Josef Newgarden showed after his final pit stop with 27 laps remaining, it felt inevitable Newgarden would pass Dixon, who stopped seven laps earlier. Yet, Dixon held off Newgarden, and slight contact from Colton Herta knocked Newgarden out of a second and allowed Herta to go on the charge.
Once Dixon was leading coming to the white flag, it was curtains. Other than the 2007 season finale at Chicagoland, when has Dixon fallen a lap short on fuel? Dixon had plenty for the final lap and then some, but tire wear was in his favor. Those who stopped around 25-27 laps to go had worn their tires and could not power pass Dixon. Dixon could keep it wide and was not to be outmuscled in the closing laps.
This race could not have happened if it wasn't for the lap 15 caution, and it looked like staying out and running out the stint distance was the right call. You look at the top five and four of those drivers did that. The only guy that didn't was the winner. I am not sure you could ask for a better split-strategy race, but if that is what it comes down to, roll with what Scott Dixon is doing.
2. Colton Herta was fortunate to finish second, but he was going to be on the podium no matter what. As for the contact with Newgarden, Herta said he got the corner wrong and didn't intent to bump Newgarden, which sent Newgarden into anti-stall, but it is overbearing if that is a penalty.
Yes, Newgarden lost positions and it could have been much worse. Slight bumps like that can break a gearbox, but if that is a penalty, especially in the hairpin at Long Beach, there are going to be nine penalties a race.
Herta didn't drill Newgarden with reckless abandon. It is a bump at 30 miles per hour. The location of the gearbox plays a role as well. That is something neither driver can control and IndyCar isn't going to redesign the car to re-position the gearbox. I think it is a racing incident though one that is more harsh than others.
As for Herta's drive, he hadn't had consecutive top five finishes in over two years. He looked good today. Newgarden had a better car and did better in traffic, but Herta was there.
3. Extend the streak to 20. Álex Palou's podium finish is his 20th consecutive top ten finish. And this one wasn't all that remarkable either. Palou ran well the entire race, but this wasn't like 2022 where Palou was in the mix and was one of the contenders. He was behind Newgarden and Herta for majority of this race, and he was behind Ericsson for a bit. Palou doesn't put a wheel wrong and he gets great results. It was another podium. Until he stumbles, everyone is in trouble.
4. Josef Newgarden has a right to be frustrated. Newgarden has no way to defend himself from the contact from Herta. It was a tricky point in the race. The top four were pretty much all nose-to-tail entering the hairpin, and Dixon was directly behind four back markers. I don't think eight cars had been that close since the start of the race. That was another circumstance that played into the contact.
Newgarden drove phenomenal today. He has already been driving motivated this year, but add this fuel to the fire after what felt like a possible victory lost, and at least a runner-up finish, he could go on a lethal tear.
5. Marcus Ericsson needed a solid day and he got it. Ericsson was destined to finish fifth today. The issues at St. Petersburg weren't his fault, but a good result was pertinent for the Swede in race two with Andretti Global. Many likely think leaving Chip Ganassi Racing will be a detriment to his career. A day like today confirms Ericsson's ability regardless of team.
6. And now we hit Will Power. Power led the first 16 laps and was over six seconds clear of the field. That will be forgotten from today. Because Dixon won the race, most are going to say stopping on lap 17 was the right call and it was clearly better than staying out and running the stint out. But Power was on the same strategy and wound up over 15.7 seconds off winning the race.
The strategy worked for Dixon. Considering Power was clear of the field, almost in a different zip code to Dixon in the early stint and the roles ended up completely reverse, this strategy was not a good call for Power. With Newgarden as close as he was to Dixon, you must think Power would have been better suited to win staying out on lap 17, and maybe he would have been able to topple Dixon.
7. Kyle Kirkwood was on the same strategy as Dixon and company, and Kirkwood went a lap longer than Dixon and Power before that final stop. It got Kirkwood seventh. For Andretti Global, having all three cars in the top seven and those cars get there over a split strategy in the team is a great sign. We haven't seen many of these days play out in Andretti's favor. Also, solid race for Kirkwood. Didn't overstep and looked competitive even on an alternate strategy.
8. I have no clue how Romain Grosjean ended up eighth other than he did not stop under the Rasmussen caution. Grosjean after that pit cycle under caution was about eighth, and he finished eighth. I don't know if there is a better illustration that staying out was the better strategy other than for Scott Dixon. For everyone else, they didn't gain ground from stopping early. Grosjean did gain ground staying out.
Good result for Grosjean and Juncos Hollinger Racing. You take them however you can get them.
9. For whatever reason, Felix Rosenqvist started on used primary tires today, and he went backward immediately! That was a waste of pole position. Rosenqvist might not have been able to hold off Power on alternate tires for the lead into turn one but new primary tires likely would have kept him from sliding to sixth before you blinked.
This has been a good start for Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing. A pair of top ten finishes and a pair of front row starting positions is something MSR could not have dreamt last year, but this is another case of MSR getting strategy wrong and costing the team a result. It happened with Jack Harvey at the team. You can change the drivers all you want but if MSR continues making the same bad strategy choices then it doesn't matter who is driving.
10. Alexander Rossi likely thought he wasn't going to finish in the top ten today after about lap ten after Patricio O'Ward drilled Rossi from behind entering the fountain section, puncturing Rossi's left rear tire (that's a penalty, not Herta's contact on Newgarden). However, the way the caution fell in relation to Rossi's stop, played into his hand.
Rossi stayed out. He ended up in the top ten ahead of Power and Dixon with basically new tires and then Rossi decided to stop as if he never made a pit stop. If Rossi had decided to run the same strategy of conserving fuel, he likely finishes 20th. In an odd way, and we see this happen at least once a season in IndyCar, a untimely pit stop turned into a timely pit stop for a driver due to a caution and saved the day.
11. We are going to cover the next three drivers in one shot because Théo Pourchaire ended up 11th on the normal strategy ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist on the long final stint strategy. Pourchaire didn't do anything special but complete every lap. The team didn't put him on a fuel-save strategy on debut with only two days in the car prior tot he race. That was a great call for the team.
Pourchaire is a contemporary to Armstrong based on their Formula Two past, and Lundqvist is a fellow rookie. This wasn't a case of Pourchaire walked in and stomped the field, but he got up to speed quickly. I hope we see him at Barber Motorsports Park next week.
12. I don't think Rinus VeeKay didn't anything particularly outstanding today to wind up 14th. Other than not stopping under the Rasmussen caution, I don't think VeeKay did more than just not stop early to get this result. The same can be said for Agustín Canapino in 15th. For Juncos Hollinger Racing, it is a great day to have both cars in the top fifteen. It doesn't mean it is a sign of things to come.
13. After his penalty, Patricio O'Ward rallied to 16th. I am not sure you can call it a rally when you didn't end up in the top half of the field. It lost O'Ward a lot of time and it didn't seem to matter what strategy he chose would get him out of that hole. That contact happened outside the top ten. Arrow McLaren was not starting this race in a great place. That is more of a sign to be worried about.
14. We are going to cover the three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing cars here, because Graham Rahal was the best driver in 17th, but the team wasn't that bad today. Rahal had a botched final pit stop where the fuel hose was not working properly. Rahal stopped under the Rasmussen caution and was running fifth when he made his final stop. Of those drivers who ran a long final stint, the fifth best finisher of those drivers was Lundqvist in 12th.
That one issue cost Rahal about five spots. Maybe he would have ended up 11th. That is still a hell of a lot better than 17th.
Christian Lundgaard was on the same strategy and got an unsafe release penalty after contact with Kyle Kirkwood. That was the right call and it knocked Lundgaard out of a possible top ten finish. To add insult to injury, Lundgaard had to stop for a splash of fuel on the final lap. Perhaps it would not have mattered.
I am not sure what happened to Pietro Fittipaldi, but at one point I saw him lose about four positions on one lap and he had run a lap in the 72-second bracket, and this was mid-race.
Lundgaard and Rahal should have been contending for top ten finishes. Fittipaldi wasn't that close though.
15. Sting Ray Robb was 15th. That is it.
16. We don't often see cars get lapped at Long Beach on the track at race pace, but that is what happened to Kyffin Simpson, Nolan Siegel, Santino Ferrucci and Tom Blomqvist. Simpson and Blomqvist was on the long final stint strategy, Siegel was on the normal strategy, and Ferrucci made his final stop with 16 laps to go, so I don't know what he was doing.
17. Jack Harvey was in the wrong place and was clipped when Christian Rasmussen spun. It damaged the left side pod for Harvey and he couldn't overcome that damage. Rasmussen slightly brushed the wall a few corners before he spun exiting turn four. It wasn't an obvious mistake. It has happened to every driver. It is the kind of mistake Rasmussen doesn't want to make in race two of his career.
18. We never got word of what happened to Scott McLaughlin, but he slowed while clutching to the top ten with about 15 laps to go. McLaughlin was on the long final stint strategy. I don't know if he was going to finish better than tenth. He might have lost a few spots and ended up 11th or 12th, but this is still a blow for McLaughlin. It is tough to overcome a 26th place finish in contemporary IndyCar.
19. Things have to fall in place for great races to happen. Everything fell the right way today. The Rasmussen caution could not have come at a better time. If it happens two laps earlier, nobody makes a pit stop. If it happens five laps later, everyone would have made pit stops. That split the strategies and it helps that the fuel windows are a decent size at Long Beach, despite being a two-stop race. You can go about 25-30 laps on. It allows wiggle room.
Another caution falling was crucial. One caution at any point erases what we saw. There was a brief moment at lap 45 where if a caution fell nothing would have changed, at least in terms of pit stops. It would have changed intervals and shaken things up, but a caution at lap 50 and then everyone would have stopped and Dixon likely wins while the best Newgarden and Herta are racing for is ninth.
Credit to the field for running about 65 laps without any major incidents despite the differences in strategy and lap times. Even though one team owner thinks we need about three to five fewer drivers on the grid, the abundance of competitors didn't hurt today's race.
20. After 42 days between championship races for IndyCar, we have seven days until Barber Motorsports Park. Goody!
