{"id":8459,"date":"2022-04-10T15:25:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T22:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/?p=50000003090"},"modified":"2022-04-10T16:08:51","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T23:08:51","slug":"long-beach-grand-prix-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/long-beach-grand-prix-winner","title":{"rendered":"American Josef Newgarden wins Long Beach Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s all coming together for Josef Newgarden.<\/p>\n

The 31 year-old Tennessee native took the checkered flag at the 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, winning a thrilling race that was action-packed from start to finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a fight today, this was not an easy race to win,\u201d said Newgarden after the champagne had been sprayed. \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to win a race here for 11 years, I\u2019m so happy to get it done\u2026Everyone looks at this place as the crown jewel of our sport along with the Indy 500. It means a lot to win here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newgarden was the runner-up in Long Beach at the last two Grand Prix, and has finished in the top 10 here every time the race has been run since 2015. It\u2019s his second IndyCar win in a row after taking the checkered flag in Texas as the series\u2019 last race a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Things are looking good off the track for Newgarden too\u2014the next time he takes the grid for an IndyCar race, May 1 in Alabama, he will most likely be a new father. Newgarden\u2019s wife Ashley is expecting their first child any day now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read into things too much\u2026but I will say that for whatever reason, when there\u2019s a lot of chaos going on in my life, we seem to do well,\u201d Newgarden said. \u201cWe\u2019re busy, there\u2019s a lot on my mind, and a lot we\u2019re doing. I\u2019m trying to keep my head in the game with what we\u2019re doing on the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newgarden was followed by Romain Grosjean, a French native who\u2019s been chasing his first IndyCar win closely, and reigning IndyCar series champ Alex Palou.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coming here, it\u2019s such a great location for racing,\u201d said Gorsjean. \u201cI couldn\u2019t quite get (Newgarden), we were good enough for P2 but not good enough for a win. Next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou has fond memories of Long Beach after clinching the IndyCar Series title here in September, but couldn\u2019t hang on after leading for a good chunk of the race following a smart pit strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good day for us, we had to be a bit aggressive and we came out of the pit in P1,\u201d said Palou. \u201cWe led for some laps but we were lacking a bit of speed compared to Josef. It was a good battle with him, on the limit, but he won today.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a lot of action on the course with several former champions crashing, including Simon Pagenaud and Takuma Sato; a notable \u201cdid not finish\u201d was reigning champion Colton Herta, who started in the pole position after a record-setting day at qualifying on Saturday. Herta\u2019s skill and recent success in Long Beach had him as an overwhelming favorite, with betting sites listing him as an odds-even bet, a rarity in autosports.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn LA Times writer asked yesterday at what point does Colton Herta check out tomorrow?\u201d said Newgarden after the win. \u201cI was totally offended this guy just assumed he was going to win. I went to bed last night and I said, \u2018That kid is not checking out tomorrow, there\u2019s just no way. And he didn\u2019t\u2014we came here to fight today.\u201d<\/p>\n

With seven former champions in the 26-car grid, it looked certain that Herta or another former champion would take the checkered flag Sunday, but as always the Long Beach race was action-packed. Dalton Kellett went into the tires at turn one on the fifth lap, as Herta raced out to a steady lead and held it for the first third of the race. Alexander Rossi (who won in 2018 and 2019) had contact with Felix Rosenqvist on lap 21 but was able to stay in the race, running in the top five.<\/p>\n

Alex Palou pulled out of the pits in the lead on lap 28, with Newgarden running second and Herta in third for the next 27 laps. Herta appeared to be biding his time, but went into the wall at the exit of turn nine. Herta was frustrated after the race that he couldn\u2019t meet the high expectations for his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI broke a little too late and locked the right front (tire) and that was all there was to it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a stupid mistake. We were definitely in that thing. It\u2019s unfortunate, I feel really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the end of the action, though, as Pagenaud ended up running side by side with Sato and then went into the flowers around the dolphin statue in front of the Aquarium of the Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone finally went into the garden there, that\u2019s never happened,\u201d Newgarden joked about Pagenaud\u2019s mishap.<\/p>\n

Jimmie Johnson\u2019s turn 8 crash forced a late yellow flag and restart, but Newgarden was able to keep Grosjean in his rearview. With Newgarden, Gorsjean, and Palou battling for the win in the last few laps, the NBC broadcasters were loving the action, shouting, \u201cIt could not be more tense!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, Sato crashed in turn 8 on lap 83, with Newgarden in the lead, and the race would end in caution with a yellow flag waving with a half lap to go, solidifying the win for Newgarden.<\/p>\n

The win was the 22nd of his career, and makes the first back-to-back victories of his career in five years. It was also Team Penske\u2019s 601st overall win as a team, and first in Long Beach since Pagenaud won in 2016 (which was also the last time Chevy beat Honda before Sunday\u2019s race).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to win here for the longest time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve run well here a number of times. I\u2019ve been racing here since 2011, I was in the lead in the Indy Lights race but I went into the tires with two turns to go. Today was special.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event saw a return to pre-pandemic crowd numbers (with exact attendance numbers not yet available) as well as the usual perfect seaside weather. The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will return next April for the 48th running of the city\u2019s premier sports event; race organizers recently inked a deal with the city to keep it going through 2028.<\/p>\n

The race traversed a 1.97-mile, 11-turn street circuit surrounding the Long Beach Convention Center and started at 12:45 p.m., broadcast live on NBC.<\/p>\n

The field consisted of drivers from 15 nations\u2014eight from the United States, two each from Canada, England, New Zealand and Sweden, and one each from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, France, Japan, Mexico,Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Josef Newgarden pumps his fist into the air as he exits his No. 2 Indycar after winning the 47th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 10, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Josef Newgarden lifts a leg with his crew after winning the 47th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 10, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Third place finisher Alex Palou sprays champagne along with Josef Newgarden after the 47th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 10, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Josef Newgarden wins the 47th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 10, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Josef Newgarden runs toward his crew as he sprays them with champagne after winning the 47th annual Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 10, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach winner Josef Newgarden celebrates with teammates inside victory circle, Sunday April 10, 2022.
Photo by Stephen Carr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach winner Josef Newgarden celebrates in victory circle, Sunday April 10, 2022. Photo by Stephen Carr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Newgarden was the runner-up in Long Beach at the last two Grand Prix, and has finished in the top 10 here every time the race has been run since 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":17245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2730],"class_list":["post-8459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-acura-grand-prix","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8459"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=8459"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}