In an exciting finale that matched the intensity of the season before it, Colton Herta made his way through the field from fourteenth to win the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, while Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Alex Palou finished fifth to win his first career NTT IndyCar Series championship at only twenty-four years old.

With a problem-free race and fourth place finish, Palou earned Chip Ganassi’s fourteenth championship, becoming the first Spanish IndyCar champion in history. Patricio O’Ward, who sat second in points entering the weekend, was taken out of the event in the hairpin on the first lap by Ed Jones, bringing out the first caution. Those issues came home to roost in the form of a broken driveshaft on lap 20 that forced him to park the car on the frontstretch and bring out another caution. This allowed Palou to race his race and maintain his calm demeanor to cruise to his first series championship.

“That’s ours, right?” Palou said, pointing to the Astor Cup.

“[I’m] super happy, can’t thank enough everybody who made this possible.”

Herta showed the speed that saw him at the top of both practice sessions from the drop of the green flag, carving through the field. He was able to take advantage of the second caution by being the first to hit pit road. IndyCar gave the whole field a chance to pit before throwing the caution, with Herta effectively moving up to third.

A third caution came out on lap twenty-six for Marcus Ericsson, who found himself in the tyre barrier in turn one after battling Alexander Rossi. Within three laps of the ensuing restart on lap thirty-one, Herta had made moves on both Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden for the lead, before building a huge gap.

Newgarden needed to win the race to maximize his points and stay in title contention, and he was thrown a lifeline on lap sixty-two after Oliver Askew was buried in the tyres in turn nine after battling with Conor Daly. Herta’s final stint of the race was on the primary black tyres, while Newgarden behind was on the faster alternate reds, and Herta was able to get a great launch on the restart to pull away. Newgarden reeled him in, however, and launched an attack in the final laps. But the California native kept the two-time champion behind him for the victory.

Though Team Penske may not have won the championship, Scott McLaughlin brought the team home the Rookie of the Year championship with an eleventh place finish. Romain Grosjean was fighting for the title inside the top ten, but a broken tow link late in the race brought his spectacular season to a heartbreaking end.

Newgarden finished second, doing almost everything he needed to do to keep himself in the title hunt, but unfortunately his forty-eight point gap to the leader was too much to overcome. With O’Ward’s issues however, Newgarden was able to secure second place in the championship.

Dixon rounded out the podium with a third place finish, with Palou fourth securing the championship.

Simon Pagenaud in a spectacular fifth place in his final race for Penske, while Rossi finished sixth after starting fifteenth.

Jack Harvey was the biggest mover of the day, moving from twenty-fifth to finish seventh in his final race for Meyer Shank Racing. He was followed by two other drivers with unknown futures in the sport, with Sebastien Bourdais in eighth and Takuma Sato in ninth. Brilliant results for all three drivers.

Will Power saw out the top ten with a tenth place finish, putting three of four Penske cars in the top ten.

And so, the 2021 season comes to a close, with a new champion crowned and a sweeping youth movement on the way. Congratulations to Palou and crew on his first championship! Now, onto 2022!

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Results

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	NAT.	TEAM	GAP
1	26	Colton Herta	USA	Andretti Autosport
2	2	Josef Newgarden	USA	Team Penske	+ 0.588 sec.
3	9	Scott Dixon	NZL	Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 1.075 sec.
4	10	Alex Palou	ESP	Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 2.412 sec.
5	22	Simon Pagenaud	FRA	Team Penske	+ 3.123 sec.
6	27	Alexander Rossi	USA	Andretti Autosport	+ 4.673 sec.
7	60	Jack Harvey	GBR	Meyer Shank Racing	+ 6.346 sec.
8	14	Sebastien Bourdais	FRA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	+ 8.027 sec.
9	30	Takuma Sato	JPN	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	+ 10.593 sec.
10	12	Will Power	AUS	Team Penske	+ 11.429 sec.
11	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	NZL	Team Penske	+ 12.332 sec.
12	18	Ed Jones	UAE	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan	+ 26.966 sec.
13	7	Felix Rosenqvist	SWE	Arrow McLaren SP	+ 27.416 sec.
14	29	James Hinchcliffe	CAN	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	+ 27.972 sec.
15	59	Max Chilton	GBR	Carlin	+ 30.035 sec.
16	15	Graham Rahal	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	+ 30.348 sec.
17	48	Jimmie Johnson (R)	USA	Chip Ganassi Racing	+ 31.160 sec.
18	11	Charlie Kimball	USA	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	+ 32.154 sec.
19	4	Dalton Kellett	CAN	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	+ 32.158 sec.
20	6	Helio Castroneves	BRA	Meyer Shank Racing	+ 32.620 sec.
21	20	Conor Daly	USA	Ed Carpenter Racing	– 1 lap
22	45	Oliver Askew	USA	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	– 2 laps
23	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	USA	Andretti Autosport	– 2 laps
24	51	Romain Grosjean (R)	FRA	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing	Contact
25	21	Rinus Veekay	NED	Ed Carpenter Racing	Mechanical
26	77	Callum Ilott (R)	GBR	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Mechanical
27	5	Pato O’Ward	MEX	Arrow McLaren SP	Contact
28	8	Marcus Ericsson	SWE	Chip Ganassi Racing	Contact

(R) – Rookie