Penske and Chevy power. Click to Enlarge.
Josef Newgarden kept Team Penske and Chevy unbeaten in three NTT IndyCar Series races this season with his second consecutive win of 2022, capturing the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Newgarden earned his first career Long Beach victory in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, holding off Romain Grosjean in the No. 28 DHL Honda and reigning series champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Grosjean tied a career best by finishing second. The 2014 series champion Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
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 IndyCar team to start a season with three straight wins.
Unfortunately the race ended yellow lights and flags after Takuma Sato in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda tried to accelerate the tire barrier in Turn 8 on Lap 84 of the 85-lap race. The barrier beat him. Newgarden took the lead for good on Lap 55 when then 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 trying to win the drag race for the lead on Shoreline Drive.
The two former series champions went wheel-to-wheel in a fight for the lead on Newgarden’s out lap after his pit stop, making slight pod 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 riskier,” Newgarden said afterward. “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 quickly. Luck helped almost solve the wear problem. Grosjean saved 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 in the No. 51 Honda collided with the tire barrier on Lap 84 after a wrangle for position with Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Alzamend Neuro Chevrolet. 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 (raising the question yet again about his ability to transition to Indy Car from NASCAR) in Turn 8 on Lap 76 in his No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and collecting the No. 18 HMD Honda of rookie David Malukas. This collapsed the field for the last time. It gave Grosjean his best chance at passing Newgarden.
Newgarden did well on the restart, but 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 make one mistake, but I just couldn’t use it.”
Three-Peat for Penske at Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
Penske and Chevy power. Click to Enlarge.
Josef Newgarden kept Team Penske and Chevy unbeaten in three NTT IndyCar Series races this season with his second consecutive win of 2022, capturing the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Newgarden earned his first career Long Beach victory in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, holding off Romain Grosjean in the No. 28 DHL Honda and reigning series champion Alex Palou in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Grosjean tied a career best by finishing second. The 2014 series champion Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
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 IndyCar team to start a season with three straight wins.
Unfortunately the race ended yellow lights and flags after Takuma Sato in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda tried to accelerate the tire barrier in Turn 8 on Lap 84 of the 85-lap race. The barrier beat him. Newgarden took the lead for good on Lap 55 when then 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 trying to win the drag race for the lead on Shoreline Drive.
The two former series champions went wheel-to-wheel in a fight for the lead on Newgarden’s out lap after his pit stop, making slight pod 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 riskier,” Newgarden said afterward. “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 quickly. Luck helped almost solve the wear problem. Grosjean saved 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 in the No. 51 Honda collided with the tire barrier on Lap 84 after a wrangle for position with Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Alzamend Neuro Chevrolet. 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 (raising the question yet again about his ability to transition to Indy Car from NASCAR) in Turn 8 on Lap 76 in his No. 48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and collecting the No. 18 HMD Honda of rookie David Malukas. This collapsed the field for the last time. It gave Grosjean his best chance at passing Newgarden.
Newgarden did well on the restart, but 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 make one mistake, but I just couldn’t use it.”