Colton Herta was on his way to winning his second consecutive IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach last weekend. But he crashed out trying to chase down Álex Palou and eventual winner Josef Newgarden, in an error which drew immediate comparisons with his retirement from last year’s race in Nashville following a dominant drive.
Herta didn’t mince his words after crashing out on the 56th lap. “It’s just a stupid mistake,” he told NBC.
“I just braked a little bit too late, got in there, locked the front front and that’s it.”
Herta set a new Long Beach track record in qualifying and led the opening 28 laps of the race before making his first pit stop. That dropped him back behind Palou and Newgarden to third place.
“We were definitely in that thing,” said Herta, “we were running good there in third, and keeping up with Alex and Josef so it’s unfortunate. I feel really bad.”
Eight months ago in Nashville, Herta dominated proceedings early, leading 39 laps before ending…