Newgarden Keeps Penske Perfect With Long Beach Win

Josef Newgarden celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race on the streets of Long Beach. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Chris Jones

Josef Newgarden kept Team Penske unbeaten in three NTT IndyCar Series races this season with his second consecutive win of 2022, capturing the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in a taut, three-way tussle under brilliant Southern California sunshine Sunday.

Newgarden earned his first career Long Beach victory in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, holding off Romain Grosjean and reigning series champion Alex Palou. Grosjean tied a career best by finishing second, with Palou rounding out the podium finishers in third.

The race ended under caution after Takuma Sato speared the tire barrier in turn 8 on lap 84 of the 85-lap race.

“This was a fight today,” Newgarden said. “This was not an easy race to win. I was working my butt off with Grosjean at the end there on the used reds (Firestone alternate tires). This Hitachi car was on it. I’ve been trying to win a race here for 11 years, so I’m so happy to get it done.”

Will Power finished fourth as Team Penske has claimed at least two of the first four spots at the finish in all three races this season. The last time Team Penske won the first three races of the season was 2012, and Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020 was the last NTT IndyCar Series team to open a season with three straight wins.

Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five, his first top-10 result of the season.

Newgarden took the series points lead with his 22nd career series victory. He leads teammate Scott McLaughlin, who won the season opener at St. Petersburg, 118-113. McLaughlin finished 14th.

Newgarden took the lead for good on lap 55 when leader Palou made his final pit stop for fuel and primary Firestone tires. Newgarden pitted for the last time two laps later, also taking fuel and Firestone primary tires, and upon pit exit narrowly stayed ahead of Palou, who was screaming down the main straightaway on Shoreline Drive trying to win a drag race for the lead.

The two series champions went side by side in a duel for the lead on Newgarden’s out lap after his pit stop, making slight hip check contact in turn 5 of the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit. But Newgarden stayed in front.

“I think the out lap with Palou was more risky,” Newgarden said. “We got together in T5 going in deep, and that almost didn’t work out when we were side by side in that corner. We were side by side in turn 6.

“That was the difficult battle. But I think Grosjean, overall, just had a better shot of getting it done. But fortunately, we just held on.”

Grosjean was on a different strategy than all the other leading cars, as he took Firestone alternate tires on his final pit stop on lap 56, the lap between Palou and Newgarden’s last stops. The “red” tires offer more traction with their softer rubber, but they wear more quickly.

Still, Grosjean was able to save his grippier but less durable tires over the final stint because two of the race’s four caution periods took place between his final stop and the race-ending caution after Sato collided with the tire barrier on lap 84 after a joust for position with Rinus VeeKay.

Grosjean took advantage of the extended tire wear to pass Palou with an outside move into turn 1 on lap 70. He then set his sights on Newgarden, pulling close while using all his available push-to-pass boost.

A caution triggered by Jimmie Johnson spinning into the tire barriers in turn 8 on lap 76 and collecting rookie David Malukas bunched the field one last time and gave Grosjean his best chance at passing Newgarden.

Newgarden got a strong jump on the restart, but an alert Grosjean also got a great restart and stayed on Newgarden’s gearbox, with Palou in tow. But Grosjean never got close enough before the race-ending caution.

“Very close, but not close enough,” Grosjean said. “That was fun. With the right tire strategy and with the last caution, I thought it was going to be great. He (Newgarden) did one mistake, but I just couldn’t use it.”

NTT P1 Award winner Colton Herta led 28 laps – just four shy of Newgarden’s race-high total of 32 – but was eliminated from the race in a crash in turn 9 while running third on his in lap to the pits on lap 56.

NTT IndyCar Series
Streets of Long Beach – Long Beach, CA
Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – April 10, 2022

1. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
2. (6) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 85, Running
3. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 85, Running
4. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
5. (11) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (16) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
7. (13) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
8. (5) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 85, Running
9. (14) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 85, Running
10. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 85, Running
11. (4) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
12. (17) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 85, Running
13. (15) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (9) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
15. (20) Jack Harvey, Honda, 85, Running
16. (26) Tatiana Calderon, Chevrolet, 84, Running
17. (22) Takuma Sato, Honda, 83, Contact
18. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 83, Running
19. (10) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 81, Running
20. (25) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 73, Contact
21. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 72, Contact
22. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 66, Contact
23. (1) Colton Herta, Honda, 55, Contact
24. (21) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 55, Contact
25. (23) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 35, Contact
26. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 5, Contact