Newgarden Wins Second Straight in Wild Long Beach Finish

Josef Newgarden picked up his second straight win of the season, holding off Romain Grosjean the last 20 laps to win at Long Beach. Alex Palou finished third to complete the podium, followed by both Power and O’Ward. The top ten was rounded out by Dixon, Rahal, Rossi, Castroneves, and the rookie Kyle Kirkwood. Much of the race was led by Colton Herta, who took pole and appeared to have the fastest car, but locked up entering turn 9 and slid into the wall hard. Another late wreck took Marcus Ericsson out of podium contention, as he lost the rear exiting turn 4 and hit the wall.

Grosjean made an impressive late charge on red tires, but ultimately stalled out just short of Newgarden. Newgarden took the lead on the second round of pit stops, pulling an undercut on Alex Palou and Colton Herta. This was after Palou had pulled the same move on Herta and Newgarden in the first round of pit stops. Alex Rossi was in the Top 5 late, but an issue on the second round of pit stops pushed him back to P8. Andretti as a whole suffered again, with Herta and DeFrancesco crashing, and Rossi having pit issues. Championship leader Scott McLaughlin had an engine change between warmup and the race, and then hit the wall in the hairpin, pushing him back to 14th at race end. He fell to second in the championship, as Josef Newgarden took a 5 point lead. Alex Palou now sits 10 points behind McLaughlin in 3rd, with Power only 1 point behind. 5th place is occupied by Scott Dixon, 19 points behind Will Power.