The Looooong Way - 2026 IndyCar Long Beach Review

It's time for another episode of Motorsport101, and Dre and RJ are joined by Frontstretch.com's Christopher DeHarde, with RJ giving us a bonus segment on IMSA's race weekend there too, with Acura winning before the announcement of them leaving the series entirely at the end of the season, while Porsche suffered a monster Balance of Performance hit, and Robert Wickens came oh so close to his first class win.

After that, we discuss IndyCar in a massive three-pronged attack. First of all, the major Qualifying format change as the series moves to one-shot qualifying on Street Tracks, and how Felix Rosenqvist snatched pole. A throwback to F1's V10-era, or something that should be left in the past?

Then, the race itself, that Rosenqvist was dominating all of the first 60 laps, but a debris caution and a superb pitstop from the #10 crew was enough to steal another IndyCar race that Palou had a chance not to win. Whoops.

And finally, the post-race drama or yet another IndyCar push-to-pass scandal as their system failed on the final restart, with 12 cars in breach of the rules, but only Marcus Armstrong and Santino Ferrucci named publicly. Is this another scandal for the series, or a mask for something... weirder?