Ferrucci rallies from dead last to P11 in epic Long Beach GP drive

Santino Ferrucci was in his happy place on Sunday.

Starting 27th and last in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevy, Ferrucci had no choice but to smash the throttle pedal and see where he ended up after 90 laps at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Once it was over, Ferrucci and the No. 14 car returned to pit lane in 11th place as the biggest movers of the race.

“Qualifying was my fault,” Ferrucci told RACER. “You need everything in order to advance and be competitive with how competitive the grid is. It's tough, and I made a mistake. They're not common, but I pigeonholed ourselves into starting dead last, and we really relied on the pit stand and our over the wall crew to gain positions, and all I had to do is put my foot down. I didn't have a fuel-save race. I was flat out for 90 laps, so I'm a little worn out.”

Driving on the limit for nearly two hours to improve 16 positions came with risks on the narrow and unforgiving street circuit.

“I definitely wouldn't say it was a mistake-free race,” Ferrucci said. “There was a few times where I thought I was crushing the wall in either [Turn 5 or 9]. And there's no yellows, and that's due to the talent on the grid. It's incredible. No one's making mistakes. There's none of these weird cautions from the back marker anymore. None of that happened. The statistics said there was an 800 percent chance there was gonna be yellow. Nope, it's been green flag start to finish. So that was the reason behind the strategy.”