Why 'inevitably' struck again in IndyCar as Palou won at Long Beach

Felix Rosenqvist put together arguably the most complete race of his IndyCar career at the Long Beach Grand Prix. He qualified on pole position and comfortably led through the first two stints…but it still wasn’t enough to beat reigning champion Alex Palou.

There’s not much Rosenqvist could have done better, because the difference between first and second place was a slight delay by Meyer Shank Racing on the left-rear corner during the Swede’s final pitstop of the race. As a form of demonstration, finishing behind Rosenqvist were six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood, winner of two of the last three races at Long Beach heading into Sunday.

Palou had never won before at Long Beach, but he also had never finished lower than fifth in five starts at the historic Californian street course. So even though Rosenqvist pulled out a 3.5-second gap on Palou as the field began to contemplate when they would make that crucial last pit, there was a sense of inevitability that Palou would somehow prevail again.

It's not like he needed one, but Palou caught a break when the caution flag flew for debris on the track on lap 57 of 90. That negated Rosenqvist’s cushion, and with the field bunched up for the ensuing pitstops, the slightest mistake would be magnified.

And Rosenqvist’s win slipped away. Victories have become almost inevitable for Palou, who has achieved 22 of them in his IndyCar career for better than a one-in-five take rate. He’s not quite at 50 percent in terms of podium finishes.

Palou’s latest win in Long Beach certainly felt inevitable, as he unobtrusively stalked Rosenqvist and put himself in position to take advantage of any small turn in fortune. He was quick to thank his Chip Ganassi Racing crew for this one. 

Although Rosenqvist gave it his best shot, Palou's IndyCar dominance continued over the weekend

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“They gave me the win today,” he said. “It was that yellow, it was that pitstop with these guys under pressure. The boys were able to execute it perfectly. Incredible to finally win here in Long Beach. It was going to be really, really, tough to beat him, but we did.”

Rosenqvist came away as the moral hero of the day. “I feel a little bit sad for Felix because I think he controlled most of the race,” said third place finisher Dixon. “But then after that last pitstop exchange, Alex came out on top. All of us have a lot of work to do to beat him.”

For his part, Rosenqvist looked at the Long Beach weekend as a glass half-full. “End of the day, it’s great,” he said. “Obviously, you want to win when you have the opportunity. We had a tough start to the year and came here trying to bounce back. A little bit of a bittersweet race, but I’m proud of today. I think everything we were working on kind of paid off today.”

“I think it's important mentally, mainly for me, but for everyone on the crew, to reset and show what we’ve got, kind of remind us why we’re here. The confidence boost is huge" Felix Rosenqvist

The rap on Rosenqvist throughout his American career is that he can’t close out races. Long Beach was his seventh pole, but he’s still searching for his second victory. This close call seemed different, the result determined more by circumstances than by any kind of failing by driver or team.

“I’ve been in this position many times before, being on pole or at the front, then something kind of fell short.” Rosenqvist said. “I feel like today we had really, really solid pace, but that last pit cycle was kind of the defining moment. That happens. End of the day I’ll gladly take a P2 today. We need to celebrate this - P2, points, podium - that’s where I want to be.”

Still, the metronome-like precision of Palou won out again. One trend that has emerged in 2026 is that the four-time champion is able to eke out better pace on the standard compound Firestone tyres than his rivals, even if their pace on the softer alternate compound is similar. Palou pulled out a four-second gap over Rosenqvist in the final stint. 

IndyCar's nearly man: Rosenqvist has just one win from seven poles

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“He was a bit stronger than us, and we were trying to figure out if we were going to go one lap longer on fuel,” said Palou. “The full course yellow put everything on that pitstop, and the guys did an incredible job once again.”

Could Palou have beaten Rosenqvist in a straight fight had the random debris caution not materialised?

“My confidence was high, but I think my chances were low,” he admitted. “The confidence was high, because the team has been doing an incredible job. One small mistake can drop you from second to seventh. It’s incredible the work they did under that pressure.”

There’s no shame in being beaten in a current generation Aeroscreen/hybrid IndyCar by Palou. He’s a four-time champion who has mastered this formula better than anyone. That’s why Rosenqvist takes encouragement - as did Christian Lundgaard, who finished second to Palou after a slow final pitstop at the previous IndyCar race at Barber = that the Spaniard truly can be beaten.

Lundgaard struggled to 20th at Long Beach, highlighting the challenge of stringing together a series of consistent results to pressure the always front-running Palou. On this weekend, Rosenqvist and Meyer Shank Racing were able to rise to the challenge – even if they ultimately fell short.

“I think as a team, we never had a shot like this,” Rosenqvist reflected. “You’ve got to take the good bits from it and remember the feeling you had, what led you to certain choices on set-up and stuff and just try to do it again. Going into the weekend we were just trying to do something a little bit different, try to reload a little bit and get the confidence back.

“I think it's important mentally, mainly for me, but for everyone on the crew, to reset and show what we’ve got, kind of remind us why we’re here. The confidence boost is huge.” 

Palou leads the IndyCar standings as he hunts for a fourth, straight crown

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