First Impressions: Long Beach 2026

1. In one of the more pedestrian IndyCar races, Álex Palou won after catching a break he never needed. A piece of debris led to the only caution, and it fell right as the final pit window opened. After spending much of the race chasing Felix Rosenqvist, the race would come down to one pit stop. Palou's crew was about a second faster and that was all he needed. Palou emerged from the pit lane clear of Rosenqvist, and for the remainder of the race, he was never challenged.

Palou drove off into the sunset and took his third victory of the season.

What else can you say? It wasn't Palou's victory. This goes down to the pit crew. It goes down to Chip Ganassi Racing. It goes down to the best team in IndyCar over the last 30 years being the best team in IndyCar on this Sunday afternoon in Long Beach. Palou didn't do anything wrong in this race. He started third and found himself in second. Rosenqvist had a great start and he drove away. When the caution came out, the race turned into one trip down the pit lane. Chip Ganassi Racing has the best personnel. Team Penske has an argument, but when it came down to one pit stop to decide the race under caution, who were you going to back, Chip Ganassi Racing or Meyer Shank Racing?

Once ahead, Palou was gone. You didn't need to give him a clear racetrack. In a race where no one was making passes anywhere, it would have required another Mid-Ohio-esque brain fade for Palou to lose this race. Do we really think that was going to happen again?

It was a brief detour, but Palou is back in the championship lead. Do we think he is going to lose it again this season?

2. This is a bummer for Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing because they were near-flawless today. It wasn't even a poor pit stop that cost them. That pit stop under green flag conditions would have been perfect, job done, and Rosenqvist would have maintained the lead. Under caution, it was a dagger.

MSR and Rosenqvist have been close for three years. They have these races where they are in the top five, but it doesn't lead to more. They don't find that next level and jump from third to first. They don't maintain the top speed and hold on to win. Today, they did. This wasn't like two years ago when Rosenqvist started on pole position at Long Beach and then dropped down the order ultimately to finish ninth. The team was locked in today, it just didn't add up to a victory.

3. Scott Dixon's third-place finish also comes down to the final round of pit stops. It leaped him into a podium position after Dixon spent practically the entire race in the top five. Dixon got a gift. He didn't need it, but he got it, and it makes his first top five finish look a lot better.

4. Kyle Kirkwood started fourth and he finished fourth. I am not sure he spent a lap outside of fourth. The worst part of this day is Kirkwood lost the championship lead to Palou. Palou was a little better but I don't think Palou was three spots better. Palou got some breaks. Kirkwood didn't. The championship swung 19 points and it is now 17 points in Palou's favor instead of two in Kirkwood's.

For Kirkwood... ok, move on. Points were lost but this wasn't a "back to the drawing board" result. The team did well. It ended up being Palou's day. Turn your attention to the next race and go from there.

5. I am not sure you can say anything strongly positively or negatively about 21 drivers in this race. Few did anything great. Few did anything notably wrong. It was not a thrilling event. These races happen. They cannot always be classics. They aren't always this bland either. These races happen.

Is it frustrating that it seems like one year IndyCar has the tire wear where it should be and drivers and teams have to try and save the tire... and then the next it doesn't matter? Yes.

Tires didn't make a difference today. IndyCar made a rule where every team must use the alternate compound twice, but that still means races can be two-stop races. If it wants three stops and teams pushing, either make the alternate tire or primary tire junk way before a team reaches an empty fuel cell or make it so each team must use each tire compound twice. We have been saying this after each street course race this season.

6. Patricio O'Ward dropped from second to fifth. Yep. That happened. There is only one spot ahead of you when starting second and there are 23 behind you. You are more likely to drop than rise. O'Ward didn't quite have it for any of the Hondas.

7. Scott McLaughlin won the Team Penske class today, finishing sixth after starting eighth. David Malukas was seventh after starting fifth. Team Penske is stuck in the middle of the top ten if it isn't an oval. Has Team Penske been a threat anywhere but Phoenix this year? McLaughlin led the first 34 laps of the season but even at St. Petersburg it felt like the race was going away from Team Penske.

In a way, this is a good result for Malukas. He lost two spots, but he still ran in the top ten. He didn't look lost. He ran well. It is good that he is finishing in the top ten. This is something he was not doing on street courses on a regular basis in the first four seasons of his career.

8. Graham Rahal stayed in the top ten all day and finished eighth. Good. Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing needs these kinds of days. RLLR struggled everywhere not long ago. Rahal had finished 18th in the first two street course races this season. Eighth is a healthy leap forward.

9. Alexander Rossi went from 18th to ninth to get Ed Carpenter Racing its first top ten finish at Long Beach since 2017. Rossi did make some passes to get a few spots. He was pushing Rahal at the finish for eighth. Not a fantastic day but it could have been worse.

10. Kyffin Simpson didn't do anything flashy, and he finished tenth. Good for him.

11. We can breeze through much of the field.

Dennis Hauger drove a clean race and finished 11th. Nolan Siegel did nothing wrong and finished 12th. Both these guys also ran a two-stopper. The top 12 finishers all ran two stoppers. We saw this two years ago when the top 14 finishers all were two-stoppers. One fewer pit stop is an easy way to make up some spots when it is not quicker to stop three times.

12. Speaking of the three-stoppers, Rinus VeeKay committed early, and it is rather impressive he recovered to finish 13th. Josef Newgarden jumped onto the three-stopper and it allowed him to lead a handful of laps. For a moment, it looked like it could work in Newgarden's favor, but once he was back in traffic after his second stop, Newgarden stalled out and this strategy left him dead to rights. He was not going to turn it into some sort of run into the top five. Newgarden could not work his magic on slightly fresher tires.

Once the caution came out, Newgarden's race was over. He wasn't going to crack the top ten. He finished where he started in14th.

Christian Rasmussen also ran a three-stop race and was 15th. That is all.

13. The only driver I think who had a truly bad day was Louis Foster, and maybe Will Power because Power lost a possible top five finisher due to a penalty for hitting a Caio Collet crew member during the final pit cycle. I guess Collet's crew member also had a bad day.

Foster was positioned to get his first career top ten finish, and then he lost speed in the final stint. It sounded like he was battling some kind of mechanical issue. He was losing time, and he dropped like a rock. If the car let him down it is brutal because Foster put himself in the spot for the top ten. This result was not indicative of how Foster raced today.

14. Mick Schumacher got to complete every lap. He was 17th. It is good he ran every lap.

Santino Ferrucci was 18th and didn't get noticed.

It is a typical Will Power day where he lost a promising finish in a crazy manner. Add "hit another team's crew member" to the list. It is a shame because Power drove well. He has left a lot of points on the table this season.

Christian Lundgaard had a bad day. The three-stop strategy didn't work. He was not a factor in this one. Lundgaard and Arrow McLaren had these races last year. When they were not on it, they could not figure it out. That is a problem when Álex Palou keeps winning and Kyle Kirkwood keeps finishing in the top five.

15. Romain Grosjean didn't have a great weekend. I am sure he isn't pleased. There was the practice accident on Saturday that set him back. The pace wasn't all that blistering before the accident. It is Dale Coyne Racing. You can only work so many miracles.

I don't know if the pit crew incident with Will Power hurt Caio Collet's day at all. I don't recall hearing him at all prior to that. He was 22nd. That is where rookies finish.

Sting Ray Robb was 23rd. Robb has gone from three consecutive 21st-place finishes to 22nd to 23rd. He is heading in the wrong direction.

16. Marcus Armstrong had to make an unscheduled pit stop late and it cost him a better finish than 24th, one-lap down.

Marcus Ericsson had hybrid issues end his day early.

Not a good day to be a Marcus.

17. Not the greatest race in the world. It is easy to over-react. We touched upon the tires above, but how about all these people, who were probably upset and calling it a snoozer as Rosenqvist was running away with it only to get a caution to hopefully liven up the race and it turned into be what handed Palou another victory? Yeah, I am sure that is what they wanted to see. Be careful of what you wish for.

Also, the worst time for a caution is right when the final pit window opens. Everyone is going to come! There is no strategy there. Everyone is going to do the same thing, and there is never a straight-up battle that is spectacular.

18. And onto another two-week break. There will be testing on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval during this spell. It is something to keep us busy. It is all Indianapolis from now until May 29. I guess it is that time of the year.