Simon Pagenaud takes controversial first Penske win in Long Beach

Pagenaud, who claimed second in the opening two races of the season, grabbed the lead from Scott Dixon and Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves in the final pit phase, but his race-deciding exit from the pitlane raised eyebrows from the Chip Ganassi Racing stable.

Dixon dived into the pits attempting the undercut on Castroneves from second after the leaders caught up with lapped traffic on lap 50 out of 80.

Polesitter Castroneves then followed a lap later, but the reigning champion's tactic paid off, and Castroeneves wasn't able to keep on Dixon's rear wing with his colder tyres.

That left Pagenaud leading, before he pitted a lap later. At the end of the pitlane, the Frenchman appeared to cut part of the yellow line from the pit exit in order to maintain track position ahead of Dixon.

Race officials investigated the incident but Pagenaud escaped punishment with only a warning.

Dixon put in a personal best lap to cut the gap from 0.7s to 0.3s, and tried a pass on the outside at the end of the pit straight, but Pagenaud kept his car wide enough to maintain the position.

Dixon attempted a last gasp move as the chequered flag waved but couldn't get past and finished just 0.3032s down on Pagenaud.

The win represents Pagenaud's first win since Houston in 2014.

Despite maintaining the lead from pole and leading the first 47 laps, Castroneves wasn't able to better third, in a Long Beach race featuring no caution periods for the first time since 1989 and that was classified as the fastest ever IndyCar race at the track.

Juan Pablo Montoya continued his strong start to the season to finish a largely anonymous race in fourth.

The Penske driver's Dallara-Chevrolet was challenged in the dying stages by the Honda-powered AJ Foyt Dallara of Takuma Sato.

The 2013 race winner finished top of the Honda runners in fifth, thanks to having seven push-to-passes remaining after the final pitstops.

That allowed Sato to scythe through the pack, and he just ran out of time to snatch fourth from Montoya.

RESULTS - 80 LAPS

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