LONG BEACH, CA – Joseph Newgarden gained his first on the streets of downtown Lengthy Seashore, bashing Roman Grosjean on Sunday to make Workforce Penske 3-for-3 to open the IndyCar season.
Newgarden led 32 laps within the race to win the second race in a row. Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin gained the opening recreation in St Petersburg, then Newgarden in Texas and now Lengthy Seashore to bump McLaughlin for the highest spot.
Workforce Penske opened IndyCar’s final season with three straight wins in 2012, when the staff gained the primary 4 races.
Newgarden has been challenged for the final 15 laps by Grosjean, the previous Formulation 1 driver who’s searching for his first IndyCar win. Jimmy Johnson, who broke his hand in a crash on Friday and raced a carbon fiber crew, crashed with 10 laps left to point out the warning and gave Grosjean and IndyCar champ Alex Palou a shot on the newest restart.
The race went into the inexperienced with 5 laps remaining, and Grosjean acquired many attractiveness inside Newgarden however could not even pull to attempt a profitable move. Takuma Sato crashed with lap remaining for one final warning and Newgarden gained underneath warning.
“I used to be working with Grosjean on the finish there,” stated Newgarden, who gained his tenth profession begin at the most well-liked avenue race in the US.
The victory gave Basic Motors a sweep in Lengthy Seashore; Saturday’s Cadillac went 1-2 within the IMSA Sports activities Automotive Race and Newgarden gained a Chevrolet.
Grosjean completed second with Andretti Autosport, who was chasing his fourth win in a row at Lengthy Seashore. Andretti drivers Alexander Rossi gained in 2018 and 2019, Colton Herta gained in 2023 and began from pole place on Sunday.
He drove 28 laps however relinquished the result in Newgarden when Hertha crashed out of the race with 29 laps left. He stated he was pushing laborious when he crashed.
“It is only a silly mistake,” Herta stated. “We had been undoubtedly into this factor.” “It is unlucky. I really feel actually dangerous. The automobile was nice. Simply acquired previous it somewhat bit in the present day.”
Palu completed third to complete tenth on the rostrum in 19 races since becoming a member of Chip Ganassi Racing in the beginning of final 12 months.
Penske’s Will Energy completed fourth and Pato O’Ward saved his soiled begin to the season by ending fifth. The Arrow McLaren SP driver is meant to be a contender for the championship however he made errors in every of the primary three race weekends and is admittedly distracted by his need for a brand new contract.
Scott Dixon completed sixth with Janassi, adopted by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal after which Rossi. Helio Castroneves completed ninth within the Mayer Shank whereas Kyle Kirkwood completed tenth within the AJ Voight Racing Workforce.
Johnson completed twentieth to shut out one of many worst weekends of his profession. He broke his hand in Friday’s crash, crashed once more in coaching on Saturday, was penalized with the quickest two laps in qualifying for interfering with Rahal, then was knocked out of the race on Sunday.
“They’ve had (dangerous weekends) earlier than,” Johnson stated. “But it surely comes with it. I undoubtedly really feel dangerous for placing the staff on this state of affairs. This deal is not straightforward. You must stay on the sting of a razor blade in avenue racing and there is no margin for error. Attempting to be quicker, making an attempt to be extra aggressive, I made some Errors on the weekends and I will be taught from them.”
