IndyCar arrives at Long Beach on April 19th with three stories burning simultaneously. A championship battle separated by two points. A four time champion destroying rivals on road courses. And a living legend one single victory away from entering the history books of American motorsport forever.
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The story of the day: Dixon one win from history
The biggest IndyCar story of this week doesn’t come from the championship battle it comes from an article published yesterday, April 6th, on the official IndyCar website. Scott Dixon, six time series champion and the winningest active driver in the paddock, needs exactly one more victory to reach 60.
That number carries enormous weight. Only one driver in the entire history of IndyCar has reached 60 victories: A.J. Foyt, the Texas legend who won 67 times between 1960 and 1981. Dixon, the 45-year-old New Zealander who has been competing at the highest level for Chip Ganassi Racing for over two decades, is on the verge of becoming only the second driver in history to reach that territory.
The challenge in 2026 is that Dixon is struggling in qualifying. His average starting position through the first four races is 16th an unusual figure for someone of his calibre. He finished 23rd in St. Pete after a pit stop issue, but since then has finished inside the top eight in every race and set the fastest lap at Arlington. The pace is there. The qualifying, not yet.
Long Beach is one of his favourite circuits. He has experience in every corner of that layout and knows exactly how to manage tyres on the downtown California streets. If anyone can surprise from a difficult grid position, it is him.
The championship: two points, two drivers, one city
While Dixon aims for history, the 2026 title battle arrives at Long Beach at its tightest point. Kyle Kirkwood leads on 156 points. Álex Palou is second on 154. Two points of separation after four races with three different winners.
The reality of the championship is that Palou is accelerating in a way that should worry everyone else. At Barber, the Catalan led 79 of 90 laps, won by more than 13 seconds and cut 24 points from Kirkwood’s lead in a single weekend. Fox Sports put him at number one in their Power Rankings this week above the championship leader. He is the form driver of the series right now, with two wins in four races and dominating road courses in a way that echoes his 2025 season when he claimed the title.
Kirkwood’s case is solid too: he is the only driver to finish inside the top 10 in all four opening races. He didn’t have a perfect Sunday at Barber, but he scored. And he arrives at Long Beach as the defending race winner he won here in 2025 and 2023, knows these streets corner by corner and has an Andretti Global team that found real performance at this venue on the last visit.
The bigger picture: a season without a clear owner
What makes IndyCar 2026 different from 2025 is the genuine parity across the field. Four races, three winners from three different teams Palou for Ganassi, Newgarden for Penske, Kirkwood for Andretti. Christian Lundgaard of Arrow McLaren is third in the championship and was one pit stop mistake away from winning at Barber. David Malukas, in his first season with Team Penske, is fourth and just 40 points from the leader last year he was 140 back at the same stage.
Long Beach on April 19th at 5:30 PM ET. Eleven turns, 1.968 miles of downtown California concrete, unforgiving walls and the most competitive championship in years. Watch on FOX Sports.
Sources: IndyCar official, Fox Sports, Read Motorsport, AutoHebdo, NBC Sports, IndyCar official Power Rankings
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