News

Grand Prix of Long Beach
Long Beach, California - April 21, 2024

JOSEF NEWGARDEN No. 2 HITACHI CHEVROLET

START: 3RD  
FINISH: 4TH  
POINTS: 1ST 
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet team looked to be in prime position to capitalize on their strategy and score another win in the Grand Prix of Long Beach before late-race contact dropped them to fourth at the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon. After a clean sweep of the pole position and race win in the season opener at St. Petersburg, Newgarden narrowly missed out on the NTT P1 Award on Saturday afternoon, qualifying third in a tight time trials. Following a lap 15 caution period that saw leader and teammate, Will Power, elect to visit pit lane, Newgarden found himself as the race leader. The 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner made his first pit stop of the day on lap 30 and exited the pits as the first car on his pit strategy behind those that pitted under the lap 15 caution. One of those drivers was eventual race winner Scott Dixon, who seemingly needed to run the remaining laps in fuel save mode as Newgarden feverishly chased him down. He made it to the rear wing of Dixon with no fuel restrictions and plenty of laps remaining to pass for the lead before he was contacted from the rear by the No. 26 of Colton Herta while coming off the last corner on lap 77. The contact lifted Newgarden's rear tires off the ground as his No. 2 Chevy briefly entered anti-stall mode. This let Herta and the No. 10 of Alex Palou past before he could settle back into the fourth position with too few laps remaining to make a charge back toward the front. 

NEWGARDEN'S THOUGHTS: "It seemed pretty obvious to me, he just misjudged it, ran into me. Once I got lifted and went into anti-stall. I got lifted off the ground a foot or two, and I had to wait for the clutch to disengage so you can get the thing reset.   I'm not going to say we were going to get (Scott) Dixon.  It was actually very difficult for me to get the run I need to.  I think traffic was going to provide me an opportunity to make a run right there with a fast Hitachi Chevy.  I was really excited about that because that might have been my last chance. You never know if I could have pulled it off. Maybe not.  He was really quick.  I don't know how they were going as far as they were."

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. 3 ODYSSEY BATTERY CHEVROLET

START: 11TH  
FINISH: 26TH 
POINTS: 10TH (-47)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet team fought through a tough Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday afternoon, finishing in the 26th position. The New Zealand driver was happy with his Chevy after both weekend practice sessions, but a slight mistake in a tight qualifying session resulted in an 11th-place starting position. When the only full-course caution flag flew on lap 15, McLaughlin's team brought him to pit lane with several other competitors, including race winner Scott Dixon. This strategy put in him a great position to finish solidly inside the top 10 before a gearbox issue on lap 70 forced him to retire early from the 85-lap event. McLaughlin will head to next weekend's race a Barber Motorsports Park as the defending winner on the Alabama circuit. 

MCLAUGHLIN'S THOUGHTS: "Obviously very disappointing to DNF with an Odyssey Battery Chevy that was so fast. I got us off on the wrong foot by missing a key corner in qualifying, losing a couple of tenths of a second. We were much better than an 11th-place car in qualifying. Then you look at the race and we were on the same strategy as (Scott) Dixon and looked to be in a good spot for a solid day. The gearbox issue that ended our day was just the final straw. Again, disappointing to say the least but we head to Barber next looking for a second win there."

WILL POWER No. 12 VERIZON CHEVROLET

START: 2ND  
FINISH: 6TH 
POINTS: 5TH (-26)
 

RACE RUNDOWN: Will Power and the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet team finished sixth in a dramatic Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday afternoon. The career leader in NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole positions, Power nearly picked up his 71st top starting position on Saturday afternoon, losing out by .004 seconds. He and his team elected to start Sunday's race on the Firestone alternate tires - one of the only teams to do so - and put them to use on the first lap as he quickly grabbed the lead after the green flag waved. As with several other top-finishing competitors, Power came down pit lane on lap 15 during the race's only full-course caution of the day. This placed him on a different strategy than many of the others in the field and forced him to be mindful of his fuel over the remaining laps of the race. As the race played out the strategy proved to be successful as Power found himself near the front of the field late in the event. Unfortunately, his No. 12 Chevy could not produce the speed necessary to score a top-five while also making sure he had enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag as he finished the race on the Firestone primary tires, resulting in a sixth-place finish. 

POWER'S THOUGHTS: "We had an incredibly fast Verizon Chevy. Had a choice to take the yellow and take tires and have massive fuel save and go hard, but we made the most of what we had there. We didn't have any green tires to run in those fuel save stints, so we didn't have any defense against (Scott) Dixon. Otherwise, it would have been fine to do exactly what he did. Disappointing with how far we started up, but still a top-six. All you can do is maximize each day and move on to the next one."

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES will compete on back-to-back weekends for the first time this season as the series heads to picturesque Barber Motorsports Park for the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday, April 28.