Winners and losers from IndyCar’s 2025 Grand Prix of Lengthy Seashore

Typically, a road circuit can show chaoticand flip right into a battle of attrition. On different events, it may possibly run caution-free and switch right into a observe place problem. 

Sunday’s race in Lengthy Seashore was clearly the latter. On a day with no crashes, excellent climate and few passing alternatives, little moments made all of the distinction. The timing of a pit cease or a beginning tire choice might be what separates a podium from a mid-pack run. 

We’re selecting at these little variations at present. Listed here are the winners and losers from the Acura Grand Prix of Lengthy Seashore. 

Winner: Kyle Kirkwood 

He referred to as his shot. 

“I stated earlier than this weekend: That is the place we flip it round,” Kyle Kirkwood stated after his win at Lengthy Seashore. 

Kirkwood entered Sunday sixth within the championship standings, however in want of a lift to grow to be a transparent contender. It’s secure to say profitable from pole was simply what his No. 27 group wanted. Now the Floridian sits second within the standings, proper within the combine for his first title getting into IndyCar’s most essential month.

Loser: Unfastened belt lands Newgarden in final

Josef Newgarden, Workforce Penske

Picture by: Penske Leisure

Often, when a title contender finishes deep within the discipline, it’s due to a crash or mechanical challenge that impacts the efficiency of the automotive. However Josef Newgarden’s Lengthy Seashore run was undone by his seat belt.

The 2-time champion was poised to problem for a top-five after rallying from fifteenth with an aggressive undercut technique on pit highway. However on his last scheduled cease, a crewmember was seen reaching into the cockpit. That led to suspicion of free belts, which had been confirmed the next lap when Newgarden returned to pit highway for an unscheduled cease.

In a caution-free race that ran with out attrition, that cease was the dying knell for Newgarden’s run. He re-emerged a lap down, caught the tip of the tire barrier making an attempt to push the tempo and ended up final (twenty seventh) at race’s finish.

Paired with a Thirteenth-place run on the Thermal Membership, Newgarden’s early outcomes are going to depart him in a steep championship gap. It’d take a third-straight Indianapolis 500 win to push the Tennessean again into the title dialog.

Winner: Alex Palou simply retains succeeding

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

Picture by: Penske Leisure

If the two-time defending champ Alex Palou retains this up, Newgarden’s outcomes won’t matter – or anybody else’s for that matter. 

After profitable the opening two races, IndyCar’s present dominator was the antagonist for Kirkwood on Sunday. He pushed the Andretti star and managed to get proper to his rear wing after last stops, however finally settled for second when Kirkwood pulled away within the closing laps.

IndyCar is a collection liable to unpredictability given the problem of the automobiles and circuits, together with the potential for an premature warning to ship anybody’s day awry. However Palou has a mean end of 1.33 by three races, and already sits practically a full race’s level allotment forward of anybody aside from Kirkwood getting into the Month of Could. 

If he can get by Barber and Indy with out challenge, Palou’s going to be robust to catch by the summer season. 

Loser: Colton Herta comes up quick

Colton Herta, Andretti World

Picture by: Penske Leisure

For all the difficulty he had, Sunday appeared like a promising day for California’s personal Colton Herta in Lengthy Seashore. He’d slapped the wall in Saturday’s group qualifying spherical and needed to run with out a prep lap after bother within the Quick 6 qualifying spherical, however rolled into race day with a second-place begin. 

That proved to be the excessive level for Herta’s day. He clattered into Jacob Abel within the morning warmup, obtained caught out by the technique and an inconsistent automotive in Sunday’s race, and wound up sixth when the checkered flag flew. 

Is that unhealthy? No. However contemplating his entrance row-sharing teammate Kyle Kirkwood took the victory from pole, it’s truthful to say the outcome was slightly underwhelming. Possibly IndyCar’s win predictor will cease jinxing him transferring ahead.

Winner: Driver’s Eye lives as much as the hype

FOX Sports activities and the Racing Drive Group introduced the Driver’s Eye digicam to IndyCar for the primary time all through the weekend in Lengthy Seashore. The distinctive setup, which sees a tiny digicam positioned in between the driving force’s head and the shell of their helmet, has beforehand been seen in Method 1 and NASCAR. 

It’s the most recent in an ever-evolving string of cockpit digicam setups used to convey followers nearer to the motion. And it’s onerous to think about it getting a lot nearer than this.

Loser: Nolan Siegel struggles by illness

Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren

Picture by: Penske Leisure

Nobody had an extended Sunday afternoon than Arrow McLaren’s younger prospect. Nolan Siegel certified amongst his teammates in eleventh, however began affected by meals poisoning on Saturday evening. He battled by the sickness to compete within the race, however was relegated to twentieth after making an additional cease for what he felt was a damaged left-rear within the early phases.

Right here’s the kicker, although – the automotive doesn’t seem to have been damaged. As a substitute, it was rubber construct up on the left rear tire that led a promising weekend astray. 

Winner: Alternate technique pays off

Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren

Picture by: Penske Leisure

For the second-straight race, California warmth and sunshine made IndyCar’s softer, alternate tire a ache to endure slightly than a most well-liked tire for a late surge. So many within the discipline elected to start out on the tires and pit rapidly after the obligatory two-lap stint to be carried out with them. 

However six drivers opted to take a danger and begin on the first tire, slotting a tender tire run into the race’s center stints. And it labored out to every competitor’s profit. 

Christian Lundgaard led the group, going from twelfth to the rostrum in third. Scott Dixon rose from 14th to eighth regardless of a gradual cease alongside the way in which. Kyffin Simpson rallied from seventeenth to tenth, Sting Ray Robb completed one spot forward of him in ninth after rolling off nineteenth. Even Robert Shwartzman (twenty fourth to 18th) and Santino Ferrucci (twenty seventh to eleventh) ended up much better off regardless of beginning deep within the discipline. 

Typically it pays to gamble.

Loser: Jacob Abel’s day goes flawed early

Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing

Picture by: Penske Leisure

Jacob Abel entered Sunday’s race beginning twenty sixth out of 27 automobiles. He ended it there, too. However the path to that time wasn’t a enjoyable one. 

The Kentucky native’s Dale Coyne Racing crew was put in a foul spot after he suffered in depth harm within the morning warmup crash with Herta. Abel was current for the beginning of the race, however struggled for tempo and ended up two laps down 34 seconds behind the following automotive at day’s finish. Solely Newgarden’s woes stored him from a last-place end.

Winner: FOX Sports activities nails driver intros

By the opening phases of IndyCar’s new partnership with FOX Sports activities, components of the published have been evolving and enhancing with suggestions from every spherical. Within the second race the cartoon caricatures had been eradicated. With the third, driver introductions had been switched to a full-screen presentation with the driving force introducing themselves subsequent to their liveries. 

At a time when schemes can change week-to-week, this was a pleasant contact that ought to make it simpler for followers to comply with every driver within the race.

Pictures from Lengthy Seashore – Race