The 2024 NTT IndyCar Series season resumes this weekend by taking a trip to the California coast for the 40th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Five weeks before, the season kicked off in the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for the Firestone Grand Prix. Starting from the pole, Josef Newgarden dominated the day, pacing the field for 92 of the event’s 100 laps to notch his 30th career IndyCar victory, passing the legendary Rick Mears for 13th on the all-time wins list.
The IndyCar drivers and teams rolled into Thermal Club in California for an exhibition called the 1 Million Dollar Showdown, which would later be won by Alex Palou.
While the race did help patch up the month-long hiatus between races 1 & 2, the event drew the ire of many in the IndyCar community, receiving paltry ratings and tremendous pushback on social media.
The Long Beach Grand Prix also received a ton of headlines in the interim as a 50% stake in the event hit the market. Penske Entertainment didn’t exactly seize the opportunity, allowing NASCAR to enter the negotiation process to acquire the valued street race.
A collective sigh of relief came over the open-wheel community when it was announced Gerald Forsythe, the other 50% stakeholder and former CART team owner, bought out the other half of the event. He would later declare that Long Beach will remain an IndyCar race in perpetuity.
Now that the dust has settled, let’s acquaint ourselves with this hallowed circuit.
The start-finish line sits on East Shoreline Drive and winds to the right before entering the braking zone for the ever-treacherous left-hander of turn 1.
From there, drivers dash down Aquarium Way before meeting up with the Three Dolphins Fountain in from of the Aquarium of the Pacific. After deftly navigating around the fountain, the field will take a pair of tight right handers before re-emerging on West Shoreline Drive.
The track finally begins to open up as the cars head for the left-hand turn 6 that bleeds into the bend of turn 7. Winding to the left for what feels like an eternity, the drivers must navigate the notorious tire barriers of turn 8 that seemingly jump out and grab unlikely souls who dare to be in its midst.
If the car makes it through there unscathed, the cars will drag race down East Seaside Drive until mashing on the brakes at a moment’s notice for the right-hander of turn 9.
Drivers must make a clean getaway because the exit of turn 10 might mean everything to your next lap. Cars will stay as close to the wall on their left as it curves, at last arriving at the dreaded Hairpin.
Drivers gently guide their machines to the left through turn 10 until mashing the brakes and manhandling the wheel to get the car to rotate before the main straightaway opens back up on corner exit.
Now that we’re all familiar with the layout, let’s have a look to see what part Mother Nature might play in how this weekend’s festivities pan out.
The Weather & Fast Facts
Every week, I sample the race weekend’s temperatures over the last 10 race days to give you the most accurate weather you might encounter at the track.
This week looked to be a relative breeze historically as there have been no rainy days on the third Sunday of April in the past decade, with the average high being a beautiful 74°F and the average low being 56°F.
This weekend’s forecast appears to be hovering above the averages around race time at 12:45pm Pacific Time. The Sun will poke through the clouds to start the race and glare down at 77°F towards the end of the race that’s averaged a runtime of exactly one hour and 45 minutes to complete the race’s 85 laps.
The event experiences between 2 and 3 cautions every visit over the last 10 years slowing the field down for an average of 10 laps. The Acura Long Beach GP also sees the lead change hands roughly six times per visit, with a caution-free race in 2016 even maintaining the average.
One thing is for certain heading into this weekend: IndyCar is poised to put on one of its best showcases of the season on the southern California coast, so let’s see some of Vegas’ favorites.
The Odds
After a quick peek through the favorites over at DraftKings, we’re going to dive into some of their top picks and look at each driver’s history in the LBC.
Alex Palou (+800) rolls off sixth on Sunday afternoon and is on the hunt for his first win at the famed street circuit. The defending series champion makes his fourth start at the track where he’s had moderate success.
Last year’s race ended with Palou crossing the line fifth, his worst result at the circuit. The Spaniard’s lone Long Beach podium came the year before in 2022 when he scored the #10 team a bronze-medal finish.
Chip Ganassi Racing wants to remind the world of last year’s domination early and often. Tomorrow is a golden opportunity for Palou to drive off alone into the sunset.
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta (+400) starts a row ahead of Palou in the fourth spot. The American wunderkind pulled off a solid fifth-place run in the season opener at St. Petersburg.
Even those solid runs were harder to come by last season where the Honda driver picked up a lone podium in Toronto, ranking 10th in the final standings.
Andretti reduced their force to three cars for 2024, and the team hopes to put Herta’s #26 back in Long Beach victory lane like they did in 2021.
St. Pete winner Josef Newgarden (+400) starts beside Herta in the second row in his #2 Hitachi Chevy. The two-time champ inserted his name into the title conversation early after his dominant performance in Florida.
Newgarden’s 2023 included five oval wins, the most important coming at the Indy 500, but the Tennessean faltered on the winding left and right turns of road courses, posting one podium at Road America
Team Penske’s top driver put the open-wheel world on notice coming into the season, stating he was “locked-in”. Locking up a pair of wins on the coastal streets would be quite a warning shot to the competition.
A pleasant surprise in St. Pete was Meyer Shank Racing’s new addition Felix Rosenqvist (+330) nabbing the outside pole and finishing a modest seventh.
Rosenqvist’s team brought those good vibes from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Rim by putting his #60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda on pole for the Long Beach GP.
The embattled Swede faced much adversity over the past few seasons, being replaced by future champion Palou at CGR and playing the third wheel at Arrow McLaren last season.
Replacing the legendary Simon Pagenaud is no simple task, but Rosenqvist appears to have developed a great relationship with his new team. Earning their second wins at Long Beach together would solidify an already-budding bond between Meyer Shank and Rosenqvist.
Last of the five is Kyle Kirkwood (+1200). The Californian returns to his home state as the defending winner of this race, trouncing the field from the pole with 53 laps led on the day en route to his first career victory.
This year, Kirkwood’s #27 AutoNation Honda must fight to the front from a bit deeper in the field today, concluding qualifying with a pedestrian 10th-place effort.
Long Beach served as the host to Kirkwood’s first top-10 and first victory. The Andretti pilot commands attention, even if he’s starting back in the fifth row.
Writer’s Pick
A team that needs a shot in the arm after a frustrating 2023 teamed up with a driver that had an equally-frustrating season.
The combination is ripe for success, and Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist will reap the fruits of his labor in the sunny shores of Long Beach, California.
There is not a single driver in the field hungrier for a win than Felix, currently creeping up on the fourth anniversary of his first win at Road America while driving for Chip Ganassi.
His three long years with Zak Brown at Arrow McLaren bore little fruit; eventually, the grapes turned sour.
Maybe it’s bananas of me to think that the driver who used to sport McLaren’s papaya orange and curacao blue would contend so soon, but I believe the Swede takes a bite out of the competition with a smooth, easy victory.
(Top Photo Credit: Alex Gallardo/Associated Press)
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