Five IndyCar things to watch for at Long Beach - MotorSportsTalk

The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach marks the fourth race on the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series calendar. So far, three different drivers have found Victory Lane, including rookie Colton Herta after his incredible run at Austin, and Barber winner Takuma Sato, who finished 12th in points last year.

Watch Sunday’s race at 4:30 pm ET on NBCSN or the NBC Sports app

There is a strong likelihood that Sunday will crown a fourth new winner. With his two runner-up finishes so far this season (St Petersburg and Barber), Scott Dixon has a great opportunity to narrow Josef Newgarden’s lead. Dixon won this race in 2015 and could become only the third driver to win two Long Beach Grand Prixs since IndyCar took over the sanction.

Since 2008, when the IndyCar Series began sanctioning this race, no one has ever been able to back up one Long Beach win with another. (Sebastien Bourdais scored three consecutive from 2005 through 2007 when the race was sanctioned by the Champ Car World Series.) Alexander Rossi has the potential to double down after a strong start to the season that includes two top-fives and a sweep of the top 10.
Until last year, the pole was not the place to start at Long Beach; Rossi was the first driver to ever win from the pole. And while pole sitters scored four podium finishes in the 10 races previous, they also finished 15th or worse three times (Ryan Hunter-Reay – 20th in 2014, Dario Franchitti – 15th in 2012, and Justin Wilson – 19th in 2008).
Josef Newgarden is the only driver so far this season to sweep the top five with his St. Petersburg victory, second-place finish at Circuit of the Americas and fourth at Barber. Keeping that mark will be a challenge because he has only one top-five at Long Beach (third in 2017) and has trended downward in three starts.
The pole may not be the place to start at Long Beach, but a driver needs to at least have a glimpse of clean air. Nine of 11 races have been won from the first two rows. Qualification is critical.
Are the 2019 rookies finally running out of steam? At St. Petersburg, three freshmen finished in the top 10 (Felix Rosenqvist in fourth, Colton Herta in eighth and Santino Ferruci ninth). Circuit of the Americas had two in the top 10 (Herta’s victory and Patricio O’Ward’s eighth). Last week, Marcus Ericsson’s seventh was the only rookie top 10.

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.