Long Beach IndyCar: Newgarden beats Grosjean to win, Herta shunts

Having fended off threats from Palou and Grosjean, the Penske driver took the team's third consecutive win after a crash-strewn race.

It marked Newgarden's 22nd career victory, equaling Tony Bettenhausen and Emerson Fittipaldi in the record books.

Former Formula 1 driver Grosjean took his second series podium, having been denied pole for Sunday's race after a crash in qualifying, while Palou took third place for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Having started in second, Newgarden was left trailing by the Andretti Autosport polesitter's perfect start and was forced to fend off Palou in the opening stages.

The trio ran out front for much of the distance, with Palou leading from Newgarden and Herta after pitting early.

But a crash from Herta at Turn 9 on an in-lap, leaving him in the outside wall, coupled with a cleverly timed pitstop put Newgarden into the lead with 19 laps remaining.

Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport Honda

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

At the restart, Newgarden held off Palou, but behind them, Palou's team-mate Marcus Ericsson lost the rear of his car out of Turn 4, tagging the wall with his left rear.

Grosjean and Will Power (Team Penske) ducked through, but as Ericsson pulled over to the right to park it on the inside of Turn 5, Scott Dixon ran into the back of him, which allowed Arrow McLaren SP's Pato O’Ward to slip past the six-time champion, although Dixon escaped without damage.

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Grosjean, on alternates, then attempted to pass the Chip Ganassi Racing driver for second into Turn 1 on Lap 69.

Though that attempt failed, the Andretti driver repeated the effort on Lap 70, and this time he was further ahead into the brake zone, and