Palou Pounces on Late Yellow to Steal Win in Long Beach

Alex Palou celebrates his third victory of 2026 at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. (Photo: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski)

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Cool, calculated, untouchable. No matter how you frame it, Alex Palou seems to find a way to make his competitors scratch their heads about how he does it.

Palou took advantage of a late-race caution and swift work by his crew to take the win in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday.

Palou went back-to-back for the first time in 2026 for his third victory of the season in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Honda, and the 22^nd of his impressive career by holding pace in the late stages over Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM MSR Honda by 3.966 seconds.

“It’s huge,” said Palou. “Super proud of everybody’s job but especially this crew. Incredible to finally win here at Long Beach.”

Palou regained the championship points lead by 17 points over Florida native Kyle Kirkwood, aiming for his fifth series title in six years.

Palou’s teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon completed the podium and gained his best result of the season with a third-place finish in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Kirkwood finished fourth in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold Andretti Global Honda, with fan-favorite Pato O’Ward rounding out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

After claiming his first NTT P1 Award on Friday afternoon, Rosenqvist set the pace early by leading the first 31 laps as Palou began to close at the end of their fuel run. The two darted to pit lane at the end of Lap 31 to bolt on their second required set of red alternate Firestone Firehawk tires, after starting the race on the same compound. The No. 60 MSR crew swiftly completed service and sent Rosenqvist out in front of Palou.

Following the first round of pit stops, Rosenqvist padded his lead by three seconds over Palou, as the Swede was looking to complete the weekend sweep for his MSR team in Long Beach.

The turning point of the 90-lap race occurred when a piece of bodywork fell in the racing path and triggered the first and only yellow flag on Lap 57, which bunched up the field for the final round of pit stops and ensuing restart.

The field piled onto pit road for the final time on Lap 59, as all eyes were on the crews of Rosenqvist and Palou as to who would be the first off pit lane. The tandem took on their one required set of primary black Firestone Firehawk tires, with Palou’s CGR team pulling off a blistering 7.3-second pit stop and surpassing the No. 60 MSR team off pit road.

That pit stop proved to be the move of the race for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing team as Palou distanced himself from Rosenqvist after the Lap 61 restart and continued to build on his lead as the field closed in on 10 laps to go.

“Yeah, incredible work by the team today,” said Palou. “I think we were fighting there with the 60, trying to match him on the soft tires. I think we could have fought a little bit, but he was a bit stronger than us today. We were just trying to figure it out, if we were going to be able to go one lap longer on fuel.”

Felix Rosenqvist tackles the hairpin Turn 11 on his way to his first podium of the season. (Photo: Penske Entertainment | Paul Hurley)

Rosenqvist gave it one last push for the lead as he began to slowly close the gap around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street course, but the No. 10 CGR team was just too much for Rosenqvist after leading a race-high 51 laps.

“Yeah, I’m proud of today,” said Rosenqvist. “I think everything we were working on kind of paid off today. I’ve been in this position many times before, being on pole or at the front, then something kind of fell short.”

“I feel like today we just had really, really solid pace. Actually, incredible pace on the reds, not as good as Alex on the blacks. I just kind of struggled a little bit on that last stint. It was going to be hard to pass him anyways.”

Next up for the NTT IndyCar Series is the kickoff to the Month of May with the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 9.

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