Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist unearthed his seventh IndyCar career pole after winning the NTT P1 Award for the 2026 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with a lap time of 1:07.4635.
In the race itself, he was perfect. However, the Swede was thrown a massive curveball in the form of a caution that allowed Álex Palou to sweep in to take his first win in Long Beach as CGR came up clutch in the pits, leaving the MSR driver in second place.
At the end of lap 59, the #60 driver made a pit stop, along with the rest of the grid, following a caution flag due to debris on the track. Following a slower stop, he found himself looking at the rear wing of Palou’s #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
While he was successful in keeping the Spaniard at bay for the majority of the race, it was at this point that the top-two order had an interesting shakeup that led to Rosenqvist finishing the IndyCar Long Beach race as a runner-up on the podium.
A near grand slam for MSR and Felix Rosenqvist at IndyCar Long Beach
Following Sunday’s race, Rosenqvist expressed how “mixed” his feelings were during the post-race press conference.
“It’s definitely a mix [of feelings]. I think all in all we got to be happy as a weekend for us at Meyer Shank Racing. We had a win yesterday with Nick in IMSA.”
The driver had the best seat in the house. Rosenqvist’s near-first victory with Meyer Shank would’ve been, in his words, a “grand slam” weekend for the team after they won the IMSA race from pole before the Grand Prix.
“We had a pole there as well, then a pole here and a P2. We just fell short of a grand slam.”
Despite having to settle for second, the 34-year-old driver refused to dismiss the positives that resulted from a great weekend. In hindsight, everything did unfold perfectly for the team up until their last pit stop, but the sense of a win slipping from his fingers isn’t foreign for the MSR driver.
“If you kind of take the perspective, it’s been a very, very good weekend. Obviously, you want to win when you have the opportunity.
“Yeah, I’m proud of today. I think everything we were working on kind of paid off today. I’ve been in this position many times before, being on pole or at the front, then something kind of fell short.”
Rosenqvist pointed to the final pit cycle as the race’s “defining moment”, noting that while his stop wasn’t especially slow, small details and a cleaner one by Palou’s crew likely made the difference.
A confidence reset in Long Beach for Rosenqvist and MSR IndyCar team
According to Rosenqvist, the weekend was more than just a competitive reset — it carried a crucial weight, mentally, for both him and the team to revive their confidence and reestablish their direction.
Although a win eluded the #60 crew, it helped them find the momentum they were fighting to rebuild. He had been outside the top 10 in the first four rounds.
“Going into the weekend, we were just trying to do something a little bit different, try to reload a little bit and get the confidence back.
“I think it’s important mentally, mainly for me, but everyone on the crew, to reset, show what we got, kind of remind us why we’re here.”
Rosenqvist “expected” a yellow flag going into Long Beach GP
The caution period was a first in Long Beach since 2024. Rosenqvist had an inkling about the hindrance interrupting the race at some point, sharing that he just kind of “knew”.
One thing that the driver was certainly grateful for was the lack of serious issues that’d shake up their race during a period as critical as the caution.
“I mean, I’m just happy it didn’t screw up our race,” was Rosenqvist’s post-race thoughts about the caution.
“Things like that can happen. You just end up ruining your whole day. Effectively, we were in the same spot.”
While having a glass-half-full approach was how the driver recalled the events that occurred over the race, he had one moment that left him rather “annoyed.”
The MSR driver had built a 3-second gap to Palou. He believed that would cover even a slower stop, but the caution erased that advantage and opened the door for the Spaniard and his crew to capitalize on a window of opportunity.
“But the annoying thing for me was I had a bit of a cushion, I had like 3 seconds or something. I felt like even with a bad stop, we’ll probably stay ahead. We also did well on fuel stints.”
Rosenqvist praises MSR pit crew for massive improvements in Long Beach
A strong opening pit stop proved pivotal in keeping Rosenqvist in the fight for a win, allowing him to close the gap to Palou and maintain track position during the early exchanges.
The performance emphasised the progress his crew has made in the pit lane, an area the team has worked to improve since the offseason.
“The first stop was really good,” Rosenqvist said. “We managed to pretty much equalize the gap we had to Alex in the first cycle. I was pretty confident we could pull it off.”
The progress has given Rosenqvist extra confidence that the strong pace can now be adequately backed up by execution when it matters. He credited the crew for an evident step forward in their pit lane performance, expressing their work over the winter has started to show real results during races.
“I’m really proud of the guys. They’ve been improving so much in the pits this winter. I think going into this weekend at least we were sitting P6, P7 in pit lane this year. I’m pretty sure we moved up a little bit this weekend. Incredible job. Very rare you can find gains like that.”
Safety Car triggered pressure for the MSR team
Rosenqvist shared that the race was largely under his control during the opening stint of the race; a steady gap to Palou allowed him to manage fuel and respond when needed, sharing that they were “playing with fuel.”
However, he explained that the spirit of the race changed after the safety car, when track position became urgent, and the strategy shifted from conservation to a flat-out sprint.
He also had Scott Dixon right behind him on softs. Despite getting very close in the first couple of laps, the Kiwi did not find a way by.
“It was very under control at that point. I think it was only after the safety car we really felt under pressure. Kind of have to switch up a little bit. Scott was in my gearbox having a couple of gos.“
“Then after the safety car we really felt under pressure. In the end it was more of a sprint race. It just changes how the car behaves and how you drive.”
Long Beach weekend “paid off” after satisfactory set-up choices
Looking back at the broader weekend, the Swede said the team’s competitiveness came from a strong starting point and satisfactory decision-making in terms of set-up direction, rather than major changes during the event.
“We were sort of lucky that we rolled out well. That’s always a huge advantage in INDYCAR, when you set out in FP1, you have pace in the car.“
“Even if the balance isn’t perfect, you know you have speed. From there it was kind of like dialing in it for qualifying.”
He also credited the MSR team for committing to a clearer approach tailored more to his needs, following a conversation before the race weekend commenced — this approach aided the driver in getting the most out of the car throughout the weekend and following their “own path” that eventually “paid off.”
“I think we kind of made the right decisions leading up to that. It’s very difficult. It’s very easy to do the wrong decisions in INDYCAR on set-up, kind of going the wrong direction, getting cornered in, then just having a nah qualifying.”
