Newgarden celebrated in victory lane for the second consecutive year at Texas. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The NTT IndyCar Series race was an eventful affair, but at the checkered flag it was Josef Newgarden that was able to celebrate in victory lane.
In the final laps, it was a knockout fight between nearly half a dozen drivers. Newgarden, Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward, David Malukas, Romain Grosjean were all dicing it up for victory as the laps ticked down.
Unfortunately, there was not a last corner pass for the win like there was last year, because with two laps to go Romain Grosjean got into the wall and brought out the yellow which easily lasted through the finish.
At the time of the last crash, Newgarden was in front and was able to cruise to the win behind the pace car.
O’Ward and Palou were second and third respectively, leaving the former extremely disappointed on account of this being the closest race he has to a home event.
O’Ward was also nearly caught out by not pitting and was one of the only drivers having to save fuel with 50 laps to go. Further cautions allowed him to top up on fuel and gave him the opportunity dice his way back through the field.
Malukas ended the day in fourth, proving again that he has a knack for the fine details of oval racing. Scott Dixon came home fifth and continues what looks to be another consistent season.
The sixth and seventh positions were taken by Scott McLaughlin and Colton Herta respectively. Both drivers had good enough cars to stay near the front, but not good enough to fight with those at the sharp end.
The first caution of the day was Takuma Sato when he tried to pass Will Power on lap 47. The track could not have the grip he needed, and the veteran that’s running a part time schedule this season ended his day much earlier than he planned.
The polesitter Felix Rosenqvist did not have good luck on track on Sunday. He fought a loose car all day, and eventually crashed after chasing his car too far up the track.
Rosenqvist’s team-mate Alexander Rossi also had a disappointing day when he had a collision on pit lane early in the race. Quick repairs got him back out on track, but he was multiple laps down through to the end and finished in 22nd.
Newgarden, Palou, and O’Ward were all at the front at some point in the final laps. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The scariest crash of the day came after Devlin DeFrancesco was forced into the outside wall. He then rolled down the backstretch, but was not able to turn enough to stay off the banking in turn 3.
Graham Rahal had nowhere to go, and plowed into the back of his car at nearly full speed. Rahal was lucky to stay out of the fence, and his RLL Honda settled back on the tarmac before any injurious consequences were met.
There were multiple other incidents that brought out the caution throughout the day. Kyle Kirkwood also retired from the race early with an engine failure, though he was not looking at a strong result before his problems.
The next race on the calendar goes back to the streets in Long Beach, and will take place in two weeks’ time.
Keyword: Newgarden takes the win in crash-filled Texas shootout