IndyCar Championship Down to the Wire at Long Beach
For the 16th consecutive year, the driver’s championship in the NTT IndyCar Series will go to the season finale.
The 46th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach has been a LONG time in coming, here in the age of COVID. And Southern California fans, and IndyCar in general, is ready.
The 46th race was supposed to run in April of 2020, then April of 2021, but it’ll happen this weekend and is the second time a Long Beach Grand Prix street race has been held in September; the first race, a Formula 5000 contest co-sanctioned by SCCA and USAC, was held the weekend of September 26-28,1975.
Following the Grand Prix of Portland, won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Honda-powered Alex Palou and last weekend’s penultimate contest at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, secured by Andretti Autosport’s Honda-driven Colton Herta for a second consecutive time, only Spaniard Palou, Mexican Patricio O’Ward in Arrow McLaren SP’s Chevrolet and two-time American champion Josef Newgarden, driving Team Penske’s Chevy are in the hunt for INDYCAR’s Astor Challenge Cup, awarded to the series champion. Both six-time champ Scott Dixon and his teammate Marcus Ericsson were eliminated at Laguna Seca.
While the driver’s championship is still up for grabs among the young trio of drivers, with Colton Herta’s win, Palou’s second place and Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda) rounding out the podium in Monterey, Honda clinched its fourth straight manufacturer’s award, leaving Chevrolet to lick their wounds until next year.
To earn the driver’s title, O’Ward has a tough hill to climb to defeat Palou here at The Beach, where the maximum number of points on offer is 54: 1 for pole, 1 to lead a lap, 2 to lead the most laps along with 50 for the win. He’s 35 points behind Palou, as these two second-full-year combatants are the logical duo fighting for glory. Newgarden’s third title could only be had if both 22-year-old O’Ward or 24-year-old Palou manage to fall into the Pacific Ocean (or thereabouts track-wise); he’s 48 points behind the leader and ostensibly hoping to pass O’Ward for second place.
Number-crunching throughout the weekend should make oddsmakers happy. If Palou is successful, it’ll be Chip Ganassi Racing’s second consecutive title after Scott Dixon earned his sixth title last year and would be the team’s 14th in a run that began with Jimmy Vasser’s 1996 CART championship. If Arrow McLaren SP manages the upset, it would be their first since Sam Schmidt formed Sam Schmidt Motorsports in 2001 to run Indy Lights.
With its green flags waving shortly before 1PM Pacific on the first weekend of fall, the 1.968-mile, 11-corner temporary street circuit will be immersed for 85 laps (or 167.28 miles) of intense competition. An increased field of 28 cars will occupy the pits on Shoreline Drive as they tackle two practice sessions – on Friday afternoon, another Saturday morning – before taking on three rounds of knockout qualifying. With two groups of 14 cars whittled to 12, then to the Firestone Fast Six, the tension to secure pole position can be intense. There is a Sunday morning warmup.
While three drivers are looking to earn a title, there are 25 more who want to be first to the checkered flags, regardless of who wins the Astor Challenge Cup. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, who won this race in 2018 and 2019, is hoping this is the weekend his mercurial season becomes celebratory Sunday afternoon; he needs to move up from his current 10th place in the standings and bring his Andretti Autosport Honda home first. Again. He’ll have plenty of drivers looking to scotch that.
As it is the end of the season, many racers are looking for new employment next year. While some are set with their contracts, many others are not. Some racers have already signed with new teams but the teams have chosen to wait until the close of this 2021 season to make any announcements. Simon Pagenaud is leaving Team Penske; Takuma Sato will race a final time with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Jack Harvey is looking for a new home, departing Meyer Shank Racing after being on their team from the start, while Romain Grosjean – just call him The Phoenix – will depart Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, as will Ed Jones, currently driving with Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. Ryan Hunter-Reay’s tenure with Andretti Autosport is over after 11 years, while Sebastien Bourdais’ future with A.J. Foyt Racing is, at this time unknown. Conor Daly, who has split time between Ed Carpenter Racing and Carlin is in negotiations, while Carlin is uncertain for next year, leaving former F1 pilot Max Chilton wondering where his next green flag will take place.
NASCAR’s 7-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has made huge progress in transitioning from stock cars to Indy cars this year, unlearning just about everything he’s done over the past couple of decades. Johnson is set with Chip Ganassi Racing next year but his oval stand-in, Tony Kanaan could be out of work when Johnson takes on the ovals in 2022. Oliver Askew, the 2019 Indy Lights champ, has been racing with Rahal Letterman Racing these final three races; it’s unknown whether he or Santino Ferrucci will get the nod for the team’s third Honda-powered car. Juncos Racing, a standout Indy Lights team that has participated sporadically in the NTT IndyCar Series has had Callum Illot driving these final races with the team, newly rebranded as Juncos Hollinger Racing.
In addition to the INDYCAR race, which takes the green flags shortly before 1PM on Sunday afternoon, the weekend includes a sprint race for IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, with DPi, GTLM and GTD entries; this is the first time since 2017 that GTD is racing at Long Beach. The Super Stadium Truck Challenge takes place on both Saturday and Sunday, while two new events have been added: Historic Formula Atlantic and Global Time Attack Series. Formula D’s Super Drift Challenge, not a points-paying event, takes place Friday and Saturday nights.
One thing we know for sure. Since 1975, it has never rained on race day at Long Beach. We’ve had some showers on Saturday from time to time – not many – but for the Grand Prix itself, the city pulls out all the stops and Mother Nature does the rest. Although saddled with COVID protocols requiring vaccinations or 72-hour negative tests, mask-wearing indoors and out, rest assured the weather will be wonderful. This weekend we’re expecting temps in the mid-to-high 70s – it looks like Friday will be the warmest day – and partly cloudy skies throughout. There will be winds, usually in the early afternoon, but they shouldn’t impact the racing at all.
If either Palou or O’Ward end up hoisting that Astor Challenge Cup around 3PM Pacific on Sunday as expected, it will mark the first time since Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999 that the NTT IndyCar Series has a native Spanish-speaking champion. Either driver will do the series proud. To find out who wins that prize, and the 46th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, fans can tune to NBCSN at noon (Pacific) or be here. I suggest the latter solution.