Long Beach leftovers: Chevy’s new approach; Newgarden’s quest; Herta team’s early errors

LONG BEACH, California – The streets of this port city welcomed the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach back to its beloved traditional springtime date for the first time in three years last weekend.

But there was another reason that the 47th edition of Southern California’s crown jewel of auto racing took on added significance this season.

After a spaced-out start to 2022 with two races in two months, Long Beach begins a stretch in which the season will begin in earnest. Next week, it’s a critical Indy 500 test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which leads into the May 1 race at Barber Motorsports Park.

It’s full throttle from there with the NTT IndyCar Series on track for five consecutive weeks from the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 14 through the June 12 event at Road America (which essentially will mark the midpoint of a 17-race schedule).

The highlight, of course, is the 106th Indy 500, whose double-points format effectively means there will be six races in the span of a month after three in the season’s first two months.

Simon Pagenaud of Meyer Shank Racing smiles and describes the first three races as “an aperitif” to 2022.

“Yes, we had a bit of a warmup,” Pagenaud told NBC Sports. “The aperitif was interesting. To me, it’s time to score some points, make sure you establish yourself where you think you should be. It’s going to be important to have good points scoring from now until Indy. So it’s an important time of the year already.”

With the aperitif having been consumed, and IndyCar headed from its most savory street race to its main course at the Brickyard, here were some leftovers from Long Beach:

Team Penske’s three-race winning streak (along with five podiums and seven top fives) to open the season undoubtedly