It was overcast and humid when the green flag dropped on the Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, not exactly ideal conditions for an afternoon drive along the beach. But by the time the sun came out, Kyle Kirkwood had made the race his own, steering his Honda to an easy victory in the 50th running of the iconic IndyCar race.
It was Kirkwood’s second victory in three years at Long Beach and third IndyCar win overall — and it wasn’t really close, with Kirkwood leading for 46 of the 90 laps around the Long Beach Convention Center. All three of Kirkwood’s IndyCar Series wins have come on street courses.
Spanish driver Alex Palou, who won the first two races this season for Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second, giving Honda the top two spots on the podium. Christian Lundgaard of Denmark, driving a Chevy, finished third, passing Felix Rosenqvist with five laps remaining. Rosenqvist finished fourth. Will Power, a two-time Long Beach champion, finished fifth in the clean, caution-free race.
The three days of racing in Long Beach, which was capped by Sunday’s race, drew an estimated 200,000 fans.
Kirkwood, who won at Long Beach two years ago after qualifying first, started on the pole again Sunday, lining up next to Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta of Santa Clarita. But that’s not the perk it would seem since Kirkwood is the only driver to win an IndyCar race from the pole since the 2019 Indy 500.
At 177 miles, Sunday’s race was five laps and 10 miles longer than last year’s. That made fuel conservation, in addition to tire strategy, a concern. So was passing, which can be challenging on the narrow street course.
As a result, there were just nine lead changes among six drivers and most of them took place in the pits, not on the track.
Kirkwood, sixth in the IndyCar Series driver standings last year, held the lead until the eighth lap Sunday, when he pitted to dump his softer alternate tires, which provide grip but wear down quickly. He charged out of the pits on the harder primary tires and surged back into the lead a third of the way into the race before having to pit again seven laps later.
It would be a scenario that would be repeated all afternoon.
Tire strategy would prove key early in the race with 24 of the 27 drivers pitting twice in the first 40 laps, mainly for tires. That allowed Sting Ray Robb and rookie Robert Shwartzman, who started on the hard tires and stuck with them, to stay out on the track, building a huge lead by the halfway mark.
But when Robb and Shwartzman pitted, Kirkwood went to the front again with Palou filling up his rearview mirror. Kirkwood had another quick pit stop, his third of the race, on Lap 66, coming out ahead of Palou’s Honda but behind the Honda of Kyffin Simpson, Palou’s teammate with Chip Ganassi Racing.
When Simpson pitted, Kirkwood went back in front to stay.
Herta fades from second to finished seventh, one place ahead of defending champion Scott Dixon. It was Herta’s second top-10 finish of the season.