IndyCar: Will Long Beach see 8th different winner in last 8 seasons?

Seven different drivers have won the Grand Prix of Long Beach in the last seven IndyCar seasons. Will the race feature an eighth different winner in the last eight seasons this year?

Entering the 2019 IndyCar season, two races featured different winners in at least the last seven seasons. One of these races, the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, on the streets of Long Beach, California is scheduled to take place this Sunday, April 14.

Seven different drivers have won this 80/85-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile (3.167-kilometer) temporary street circuit on the streets of Long Beach in the last seven seasons.

You have to go all the way back to the 2011 season before reaching the most recent driver to win the race twice. Mike Conway earned his first career IndyCar victory by winning this race, and he also won the race three years later in the 2014 season to secure his third career victory.

As a result, from the 2012 season through the 2018 season, no driver has won this race more than once.

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Will Power held off Simon Pagenaud to win the race by 0.868 seconds in the 2012 season after starting in 12th place and leading only 15 of its 85 laps. By winning this race, he became a two-time winner of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, as he also won it in the 2008 season.

Takuma Sato started in fourth place in the race in the 2013 season and went on to win it under caution over Graham Rahal in second after leading 50 of its 80 laps. Sato’s victory in this race was his first career IndyCar victory.

As discussed above, Conway won the race in the 2014 season to become a two-time winner of it after winning it in the 2011 season as well. After starting in 17th place, he took advantage of a late crash involving the top three drivers and Scott Dixon needing to pit for fuel. He led only the final three of the race’s 80 laps to win it by 0.901 seconds over Power in second.

Dixon got redemption in the 2015 season by earning his first career Grand Prix of Long Beach victory, as he started in third place and led 44 of the race’s 80 laps before holding off Helio Castroneves to win it by 2.222 seconds.

Just like Dixon did in the 2015 season, Pagenaud started in third place and went on to win the Grand Prix of Long Beach for the first time in his career. He won it by just 0.303 seconds over Dixon in second, but he did it in controversial fashion after going unpenalized for a clear violation exiting the pits after making his final stop of the race.

For the first time since his near-fatal crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2015, James Hinchcliffe found himself in victory lane, and he did so as the newest Grand Prix of Long Beach winner in the 2017 season. He led 25 of the race’s 85 laps after starting in fourth place and won it by 1.494 seconds over Sebastien Bourdais in second.

After an engine issue cost Alexander Rossi the potential Grand Prix of Long Beach victory in the 2017 season, he left no doubt in the 2018 season by putting on one of the most dominant performances in race history. While he only won the race by 1.241 seconds over Power in second, he led 71 of its 85 laps after starting from the pole position.

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Will this year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which is the fourth of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, feature an eighth different winner in the last eight seasons? Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 4:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 14 to find out.