Four Takeaways from INDYCAR's 2026 trip to Long Beach

EDDIE KALEGI - STAFF WRITER

Alex Palou celebrates his third win of 2026, and his first career victory at Long Beach. (Photo Credit: Penske Entertainment, April 19, 2026)

Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach had no shortage of drama, particularly on pit road and hours after the race. An underrated driver from an underrated team dominated qualifying and much of the proceedings, but INDYCAR’s star remained inevitable. Here are four takeaways from what we saw in round 5 of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR Series season.

#1: Alex Palou Perfection

For anyone who thought this season would go differently from last year after Alex Palou’s Phoenix crash? Think again. The four-time series champion has already vaulted himself back into the points lead, taking his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to the victory circle for the third time this season. Taking Phoenix out of the equation, Palou boasts an average finish of 1.3 through the other four events this spring. 

Once again, Palou performed without a blip after not exactly showing out in qualifying. Sure, he’s still a mainstay in the Fast 6, but fans praying for parity have been granted false confidence on several occasions over the last two seasons where Palou didn’t show elite speed in practice or qualifying, but simply executed to perfection in the race itself. It mirrors what Max Verstappen would do over the course of a Grand Prix weekend in Formula One during his dominant stretch with Red Bull.

One year after finally conquering an oval, and scoring his maiden Indianapolis 500 triumph, Palou has now won arguably the series’ second most-storied event for the first time, continuing to etch his name in every win column possible. He now has 22 wins in 103 INDYCAR starts, and heads into the ‘Month of May’ as the defending winner of both races. It’s time to stop talking about ‘Penske perfection,’ and start talking about ‘Palou perfection.’

#2: Another Heartbreak for Felix Rosenqvist

Ironically, Palou’s victory came at the expense of the former driver of his ride with Ganassi. Felix Rosenqvist and Meyer-Shank Racing did everything right for the first 75% of the weekend in Long Beach. The Swedish driver was speedy in practice, put himself on the pole, and led a career-high 51 laps, keeping Palou at bay. But in the pits, one tiny mistake on a left rear tire change cost Rosenqvist valuable time, giving way to Palou, who never looked back.

This certainly isn’t the first heartbreak for Rosenqvist, who has battled injuries and team turnover in the time since leaving Ganassi. He has been a contender on several occasions, but has not found the victory circle in six years. 

Rosenqvist seems to have found a home at Meyer-Shank Racing, and has a great dynamic with equally promising teammate Marcus Armstrong, ironically also a Ganassi cast-off, but Sunday was undoubtedly a missed opportunity.

#3: Push to Pass Continues to Cause Problems

The side plot of Sunday’s race didn’t come to fruition until hours after the checkered flag. Early Monday morning on the east coast, the INDYCAR Officiating Board released a statement saying that the push to pass system experienced a software failure ahead of lap 61 in the race. This failure gave the entire field access to the boost prior to the alternate start-finish line on the lap 62 restart, which is against the rules in INDYCAR. However, since it was deployed equally by 12 different cars, no changes in the postrace running order were made.

Obviously, this isn’t nearly as egregious as previous incidents with push to pass, particularly in 2024, when Team Penske manipulated the software themselves for race restart advantages, leading to Josef Newgarden having a win stripped from him at St. Petersburg a month after the race concluded. However, this is not the first time INDYCAR’s technology, including the new hybrid battery, have been of issue during a race. This is certainly something to monitor heading into the ‘Month of May.’

#4: Long Beach Pit Road Needs an Adjustment

This fourth takeaway is more of a nitpick on my part than anything else, but is certainly worth noting. Will Power nearly broke the foot of Caio Collet’s rear tire changer attempting to exit his pit box, and was subsequently penalized. This was not Power’s fault, and instead presents a larger issue. There is not nearly enough space on Long Beach’s pit road for cars and crews to operate, and it creates a significant advantage for teams who have empty pit boxes in front of or behind them. 

I’m not exactly sure how to amend this since space is certainly an issue, but this needs to be looked into. I am personally a huge fan of Detroit’s execution of a double lane pit road, and think that could be a solution if space allows at other street circuits.