Superb racing returned to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday in the form of frequent overtaking and a thrilling slingshot finish as Team Penske’s Joseph Newgarden gave up teammate Scott McLaughlin’s first oval win at the finish line. After 248 laps of intense fighting, Newgarden passed McLaughlin for the win by 0.0669 seconds; Newgarden is credited with a three-lap lead to 186 McLaughlins driven on behalf of Penske and Chevrolet.
“Of course it was a race of patience,” Newgarden said after his 21st IndyCar win. “We had many adversities to go through; We had a right front tire that fell apart on the first stint. In the final restart, everyone kicked in my doors. I must have gone back to six or seven. At the very end, I literally gave up with two laps to go and said, “Dude, this is just not going to happen.” I thought: “Everything is ready.” You know he did a good job. He was in position, he will win this race and you will just bring her home.”
Newgarden’s approach changed when he used the traffic in front of McLaughlin to take him down and win the checkered flag race.
“Traffic has just provided a great opportunity to catch up and try to do something to win this race,” Newgarden added. “So I went up to the high side and said, ‘You know what, if I hit the fence, hit the fence. Scott will still win and it will be a great day for the team. If I don’t hit the fence, I don’t know what will happen.” And you guys saw that I was so pumped up. I’ve never been so excited.”
Markus Eriksson of Chip Ganassi Racing, with another strong performance, brought his organization home to third place as the top seven was filled with drivers Penske and Ganassi. Willpower Penske was fourth, Scott Dixon late to fifth, ahead of teammates Jimmie Johnson in sixth and Alex Palow in seventh.
After Johnson’s brilliant performance in the No. 48 Honda, the standout run of the day was Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Santino Ferrucci, who went from pit lane spotter on Saturday to replacing Jack Harvey on Sunday, racing from last to ninth. in Honda No. 45.
The race wasn’t perfect, but it was a significant improvement from recent races in Texas, where riders were nearly pinned to the bottom lane by the use of NASCAR PJ1 traction compound in the upper lanes. With the increase in downforce allowed by the series and the upgraded Firestone tires, more aggressive passing attempts are now possible – entering Turn 1, exiting Turn 2 and Turn 4.
Not all pass attempts were successful. Some riders made contact with others, while single incidents, mechanical and engine problems knocked nine riders out of the race.
Newgarden considered it to be the greatest win of his career. McLaughlin thought he should have firmly admitted defeat. Chevy completed over 200 laps and finished 1-2-4, extending their lead in the manufacturers’ championship over Honda. In just two weeks we will meet again to see if the Penske-Chevy train can be stopped in Honda’s home territory or if the Penske trio will continue to own the first part of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The 248-lap race started with Felix Rosenquist leading from pole, but Scott McLaughlin took first at the end of the first lap. Alexander Rossi appeared to be making an early run approaching the green flag as he overtook several cars outside.
Colton Herta got off to an early start, climbing from 9th to 6th in the first few laps. Rossi was penalized for jumping from the start, but before he could serve the penalty, he slowed to a crawl due to suspected problems with the generator. The first warning came on lap 13; restart on lap 16; Kyle Kirkwood, Graeme Rahal, Dalton Kellett and Santino Ferrucci are out of the pits.
Pato O’Ward went on the attack, using sections of the second lane to complete passes; he left for P8 after returning early. By lap 28, Kirkwood had moved up to 10th with McLaughlin 0.28 seconds ahead of Rosenquist. The Swede was followed by Takuma Sato, 0.87s back, followed by Hertha, 1.3s back, and Will Power, 2.0s back.
Graeme Rahal nearly hit the Turn 4 wall on lap 53 when he bumped into a sliding Rinus VeKay. Concerns about late tire life soon began to arise. VeeKay did the next lap, putting the three-stop race into question. Marcus Eriksson was on lap 57 and moments later he was joined by Joseph Newgarden and leader McLaughlin. Rosenquist was next on lap 59. A long stop for Christian Lundgaard on lap 61 as it took some time to transfer fuel while Sato was in the lead and Hertha and Power were behind. Sato entered the pit lane at the end of lap 61.
Sato could not get to his hole, as Malukas walked in his for a long time; In the pit stop exchange, Kirkwood took the lead. Pit lane speed penalty for Conor Daly.
Kirkwood loses the lead on lap 67.
After the pit stops, McLaughlin, Newgarden, O’Ward, Rosenquist, Hertha and Dixon finished in the top six. McLaughlin was 12.4 seconds ahead of teammate Newgarden in second place by lap 79.
An attempt to overcome the fast traffic cut McLaughlin’s lead in half by lap 95 as Newgarden was 6.4 seconds back. On lap 99, he received a second caution as Devlin DeFrancesco slipped in turn one and touched a right rear-left of Sato, who climbed up the track and hit the wall lightly in turn two before heading into the pits.
On lap 104 the field came to a halt and O’Ward and Rosenquist had serious problems in the pits. O’Ward slid into his box and hit the left front tire changer. The crew had to roll the car back and then perform maintenance. Rosenquist also slid into his box for a long time, had to be pulled back, and then his right rear tire changer needed a second try to pull the wheel up, adding time to the process. Romain Grosjean belched a plume of smoke from his Andretti Honda and got out of the car.
Rosenquist and O’Ward dropped out of the top six and returned to 16th and 17th. Currently the leaders are: McLaughlin, Newgarden, Power, Dixon, Ericsson and VeeKay. The restart came on lap 114 for only one lap when Kirkwood spun after getting on the PJ1 line-up and crashed in turn 4. He looked unharmed.
O’Ward was fined for hitting his crew member, Norm Hornicek, and was given a warning to replace the front wing. He lost a lap in the exchange and restarted P21.
During the restart on lap 129, DeFrancesco, Castroneves and Rahal hit the wall in turns 3 and 4. Castroneves was an innocent bystander when DeFrancesco dived below the white line and collided with Rajal, who then hit Castroneves. All drivers were examined and released from the assistance center.
On lap 140, Rosenquist’s day ended with a mechanical problem in the right rear corner.
The restart on lap 150 was Penske 1-2-3 with McLaughlin leading at Newgarden with Power and Newgarden overtaking at the end of the lap. VeeKay moved up to second on lap 153 as McLaughlin regained the lead. Newgarden dropped to 4th after Dixon went wide. Ericsson was there to demote him to P6.
VeeKay took the lead on lap 160. Will Power passed McLaughlin and VeeKay in one fell swoop to take the lead on lap 164. Dixon moved up to 3rd place.
Top 10 fuel economy and tire handling on lap 177: Power, VeeKay, Dixon, McLaughlin, Ericsson, Newgarden, Herta, Pagenaud, Johnson, Ferrucci.
McLaughlin switched to P2 and Newgarden to P5. Eriksson took the lead on lap 185 as the tires became a problem for most of the remaining entrants. VeeKay was the first to enter the pit lane among the leaders on lap 187. Hertha drove into the pit lane at the end of the lap. He lost a lot of time – 14.5 seconds to a complete stop, as the left front wheel nut refused to tighten. He lost the circle because of the problem.
McLaughlin stopped on lap 192. Newgarden and Power followed him to the end of the circle. Eriksson was on lap 184.
Lundgaard hit a wall on lap 232, damaging the right front fender. McLaughlin, Newgarden and Eriksson were in contention for the top three, with McLaughlin 0.6 seconds back. Gert was told on the P11 that he needed to conserve fuel, and VeeKay couldn’t make it to the end on his tank.
When McLaughlin appeared to be safe, Newgarden took off his taser and lost his mind in the car while celebrating.
RESULTS