The 2026 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach runs April 17 through 19, with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race going green Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit carved through downtown Long Beach. For collectors and automotive enthusiasts in the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles market, it is the weekend that gives the region’s car culture its highest-profile stage of the year — and this year’s edition arrives with one of the more compelling championship stories in recent INDYCAR history unfolding around it.
The race is the fifth round of the 2026 season, and it comes at a moment when the title picture is starting to clarify. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Álex Palou, the reigning INDYCAR champion, enters Long Beach as the slight favorite, and for good reason: the Spaniard’s combination of tire management, technical precision, and street-circuit intelligence has made him arguably the most consistent performer on technical courses in the series. Long Beach is exactly the kind of circuit that rewards those qualities.
The Race Weekend Schedule
The full Grand Prix weekend runs across three days. Friday and Saturday feature support series and practice sessions; the main IndyCar event takes the green flag Sunday, April 19, at 2:30 p.m. local time. An updated Firestone Fast Six single-car qualifying format will be used for the round, with a notable rule change: drivers will choose their qualifying order based on Segment 2 results, with the fastest qualifier from Segment 2 selecting their position first. The format adds a strategic layer to qualifying and, depending on track conditions and tire degradation, can influence the race lineup in ways the standard knockout format does not.
IMSA and other support categories fill the weekend’s earlier sessions, making the full April 17–19 window one of the region’s premier motorsport events of the year.
Five Storylines Worth Watching
Palou and the Championship Pace. The reigning champion comes into Long Beach having shown the consistency that has characterized his INDYCAR career. On street circuits — which reward patience, car placement, and the ability to manage a tire’s performance window over an extended stint — Palou has few peers. His chip Ganassi machinery has been reliable, and his race craft on tight, unforgiving courses tends to find speed where other drivers find traffic.
Scott McLaughlin’s Redemption Narrative. Team Penske’s McLaughlin enters Long Beach carrying the weight of a season that has not yet delivered on early-year expectations. A strong result here — where overtaking is genuinely difficult and strategy can trump raw pace — would reset his championship trajectory. Long Beach has historically been kind to drivers who can manage the race’s middle stints with discipline.
Andretti Global’s Revival. Andretti Global arrives at Long Beach looking to add to what has been a more competitive 2026 than recent seasons suggested was coming. The team’s improved preparation heading into street-circuit rounds has been noted across the paddock. Whether they can translate that preparation into a podium or a race win at one of the calendar’s signature events will say something about where the program is headed.
The Rookie Class. The 2026 INDYCAR field carries a notable rookie class, and Long Beach represents one of the season’s sternest tests for drivers who have not been around the downtown circuit before. The 11 turns and the hard concrete barriers do not forgive the kind of learning errors that a more forgiving oval might absorb. Where the rookies finish relative to established front-runners will be one of the weekend’s secondary narratives.
Honda Versus Chevrolet. The engine manufacturers come into Long Beach with 2026 data from four races to analyze. The balance of performance between Honda and Chevrolet tends to express itself differently at street circuits than at ovals or road courses, and Long Beach — with its mix of low-speed technical sections and the brief acceleration zones between corners — tends to favor engine response characteristics over peak horsepower. Both manufacturers arrive with updated packages, and the comparative results here will influence development decisions through the middle of the season.
The Beverly Hills and LA Connection
For Beverly Hills collectors and automotive enthusiasts, Long Beach occupies a specific position in the regional calendar. It is close enough to attend in person, prestigious enough to attract the paddock’s full complement of factory teams and international manufacturer support, and visually distinctive in the way that street circuits always are — the barriers are close, the sound is amplified by the buildings, and the racing is tactile in a way that a distant oval cannot replicate.
The event’s collector-car connection runs through the racing culture that produced the machinery on display: INDYCAR’s roots in open-wheel competition, the Acura nameplate’s association with precision engineering, and the weekend’s status as one of the few events on the Southern California calendar where the paddock itself is the attraction. Paddock passes and premium viewing packages have historically sold quickly for Long Beach, and this year’s edition — with a title-contending champion and several unresolved championship narratives on the grid — offers more than adequate reasons to make the trip south.
The Petersen Connection
Long Beach does not arrive without context. The Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard has been hosting its own IndyCar-themed week, including the Racers Night event on April 15 featuring Alexander Rossi, Marcus Ericsson, and Álex Palou himself. The Petersen’s programming functions as the unofficial Beverly Hills kickoff to Grand Prix weekend — a reminder that the racing culture the track celebrates on Sunday has deep roots in this region’s automotive identity.
For those who caught Racers Night on Tuesday, Sunday’s race at Long Beach is the continuation of the same story, moved from gallery walls to the starting grid.
Tickets and Access
Tickets, parking packages, and paddock passes for the 2026 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach are available through the official IndyCar website and the Grand Prix of Long Beach box office. Premium hospitality and paddock access packages typically sell out before race weekend; those interested in the full experience should confirm availability before Saturday. The race starts Sunday, April 19, at 2:30 p.m. local time.