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Alex Palou, Long Beach

By the Numbers: The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

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The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach may not have been the most spectacular IndyCar race of the season, but there were still 69 on-track passes for position. With a pit stop that was nearly 0.8 seconds quicker, Alex Palou was able to take the lead and secure his 22nd IndyCar victory. That means the reigning champion has won 50% of the races since the opening race of last season! What else stood out? We break down the race weekend using a series of key numbers.

100 - Alexander Rossi’s ninth-place finish marked his 100th top-10 result in the IndyCar Series.

69 - A total of 69 passes for position were recorded during the race. No data is available from last year, but in 2024 there were significantly more: 107.

68.8328 - On lap 18, Josef Newgarden set the fastest lap of the race at 1:08.8328, or 68.8328 seconds. The drivers in second and third on the fastest lap chart also ran a three-stop strategy: Rinus VeeKay and Christian Lundgaard.

50 - Of the last 22 IndyCar races, Alex Palou has won 11 — exactly 50%!

38.0315 - Josef Newgarden’s crew delivered the fastest pit stop of the race. On his first stop, Newgarden spent 38.0315 seconds from pit entry to pit exit. That was one hundredth of a second faster than Rinus VeeKay’s crew and three tenths faster than Santino Ferrucci’s crew. The quickest stops came early in the race, when several drivers opted for a three-stop strategy and needed less fuel.

22 - Alex Palou’s win in Long Beach was his 22nd IndyCar victory. He now moves into a tie for 20th on the all-time IndyCar wins list, alongside Emerson Fittipaldi and Tony Bettenhausen.

17 - With his victory, Alex Palou turned a two-point deficit to Kyle Kirkwood into a 17-point championship lead.

13 - With an impressive charge through the field, Nolan Siegel gained the most positions of any driver. The McLaren driver started 25th and last, but finished 12th — a gain of 13 places.

11 - Dennis Hauger was the highest-finishing rookie in 11th place. He significantly outperformed Mick Schumacher (17th) and Caio Collet (22nd), the latter losing a strong result due to speeding in the pits.

9 - Josef Newgarden recorded the most passes in the race with nine. He comfortably led the field in this category, with Nolan Siegel second on six passes.

8 - Among the drivers who finished the race, Mick Schumacher was passed the most, being overtaken eight times. That made him a slightly bigger target than teammate Louis Foster, who was passed seven times.

5 - Kyle Kirkwood finished fourth, securing his fifth top-five finish in as many races. He remains the only driver to finish in the top five in every race this season, and also the only driver with five top-10 finishes.

4 - Four drivers led at least one lap during the race: Felix Rosenqvist (51 laps), Alex Palou (32 laps), Josef Newgarden (5 laps), and Will Power (2 laps).

4 - The race in Long Beach was a true Honda showcase: the manufacturer locked out the front row in qualifying and placed four cars in the top six, then went on to sweep the top four in the race. As a result, Honda extended its lead in the engine manufacturers’ championship by 38 points and now holds an 85-point advantage over Chevrolet.

2 - Only two penalties were issued during the race, both resulting from incidents during the final round of pit stops when the entire field pitted at once. Caio Collet was sent to the back of the field for the restart after speeding in the pit lane, while Will Power received a drive-through penalty for making contact with an AJ Foyt Racing crew member from Collet’s team.

2 - The two-stop strategy proved to be the superior approach in Long Beach, partly due to the race’s lone caution period aligning with the final round of pit stops. The entire top 12 completed only two stops. The highest-finishing driver on a three-stop strategy was Rinus VeeKay in 13th place.

1 - Despite his many victories, this marked Alex Palou’s first win in Long Beach.

0.7551 - Alex Palou effectively won the race in the pit lane by passing Felix Rosenqvist thanks to a quicker stop. How much quicker? From pit entry to pit exit, Palou was 0.7551 seconds faster.

0 - Kyle Kirkwood and Felix Rosenqvist had a very uneventful race: neither driver made a single on-track pass, nor were they overtaken by anyone.

PhotographyHonda Racing HPD
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