Felix Rosenqvist led more laps than any other driver at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, pocketed his first podium of the 2026 IndyCar season and pulled a crowd-pleasing Green Day tribute livery around the streets of Southern California. And he still left the track chewing on what might have been.
The Arrow McLaren driver set the pace all weekend, rolling from pole to lead the early running and spending 51 of the race's 85 laps out front. But a late yellow and the ensuing pit-stop exchange gifted Alex Palou the undercut, and Rosenqvist had to settle for a bittersweet runner-up finish behind the Spaniard's Open AI Chip Ganassi Honda.
"End of the day it's great, you know, tough start of the year, came back here, tried to bounce back. Got a pole, P2," Rosenqvist told the IndyCar on Fox broadcast after climbing out of the car. "Yeah, I mean a little bit of a bittersweet race."
Rosenqvist was measured about what actually swung the race. Arrow McLaren's crew were not slow on the critical stop that coincided with the caution, but Ganassi simply executed one of their trademark high-pressure stops to perfection.
"I'm not sure exactly what happened. We lost a little bit in the stop," the Swede said. "Alex is obviously going to be 10 out of 10 almost every stop. So, I don't think it was necessarily that our one was slow, but they probably had a a great one as well. But anyways, that's that's how it goes."
The driver of the number 6 Arrow McLaren made a point of thanking the partners who allowed the team to run a one-off Green Day-inspired paint scheme on the streets of Long Beach, a livery that drew heavy attention in the paddock and on social media across the weekend.
"Big thank you to Acura, Honda and Green Day. I loved rocking this livery. Maybe we'll do it again someday," Rosenqvist said. "End of the day we got to celebrate this one. P2, lots of points, podium. That's where I want to be."
Palou was in no hurry to downplay the challenge Rosenqvist posed from the lead.
"He was close. He was very close. I was struggling a little bit on the soft tires. I was a little more confident on the harder tires at the end. I don't know, I think we would have been really close," Palou admitted. "I think Felix was doing a hell of a job. I could see that he was just kept going. He kept just doing more mileage than us and going fast. So it was going to be really really tough for us to beat him, but yeah, we did."
The 2025 Indianapolis 500 winner put the victory on the crew rather than the car. Palou's Chip Ganassi outfit rolled the dice on the caution timing and converted, which is exactly what Long Beach rewards on a one-stop short-track street race.
"Super proud of everybody's job, but especially these guys, this crew that gave me the win today. The Open AI car was super super fast, but it was that yellow. It was that pit stop with all the pressure that these boys were able to do it and execute it perfectly," Palou said. "So, yeah, from there it was just managing the tires. We didn't know how the primary was going to be. So, incredible incredible to finally win here in Long Beach."
Sharing the podium with his team-mate was Scott Dixon, who recovered from a tough start to the 2026 season to register his first podium of the year in the PNC Bank Honda.
"I was so bummed about St. Pete and a few of the other weekends that we've had. We just had you know, kind of small misses," the six-time IndyCar champion told Fox. "So, congrats to Alex. Obviously, you know, I feel a little bit sad for Felix cuz I think he controlled most of the race at least from where I was sitting. And then that last caution and pit stop exchange, you know, they came up out top. So, congrats to CGR, everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing."
Long Beach extends Palou's grip on the 2026 standings and confirms that Chip Ganassi Racing's combination of Palou-plus-Dixon remains the benchmark to beat. For Rosenqvist, the weekend proved Arrow McLaren can fight for wins on the street circuits after a slow start to the year. For both teams, the next round at Barber Motorsports Park will test whether that street-circuit form carries to a permanent road course where tyre management is a very different science.
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