Josef Newgarden makes a last-lap pass to win at Texas

The NTT IndyCar Series held its second race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway in the XPEL 375 in front of a sparse crowd.

Before the race, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Jack Harvey was not cleared to race after a crash during practice. Santino Ferrucci replaced him and started in 27^th place.

Twelve laps into the race, Alexander Rossi’s battery died in the car that brought out the first caution. The team was unable to fix the car as it had more than battery issues.  He was the first driver out of the race. Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin, who started second in the race, led the opening 56 laps before making a pit stop on lap 57.

In the next 11 laps, Takuma Sato, Helio Castroneves, Kyle Kirkwood, and JR Hildebrand took turns leading laps before McLaughlin resumed the lead on lap 69. Thirty laps later, Delvin DeFrancesco’s car was sliding up the racetrack at turn one with Takuma Sato right there. Sato tried to avoid the collision but brushed the wall off turn two, bringing out the second caution.

During the caution, many teams made their second stops of the day. Scott McLaughlin held onto the lead. Later, Andretti lost another car as Romain Grosjean’s engine failed, making him the second car out of the race.

The race restarted on lap 113 but only lasted one lap when Kyle Kirkwood got loose, coming off turn four, and crashed. This brought out the third caution. When reviewing the accident, it was determined that Delvin DeFrancesco slid up the racetrack, which caused Kirkwood to lose control of the car.

Once cleanup was complete, the race resumed on lap 128. A lap later, DeFrancesco made a late move to the inside lane off turn three underneath Graham Rahal. Rahal had Catroneves to his outside. This move made it three-wide, which doesn’t work in Indy racing.

Unfortunately, DeFrancesco lost control of the car and hit Rahal, who then hit Helio Castroneves, bringing out the fourth caution.

After the cleanup was complete, the race resumed on lap 149. Josef Newgarden didn’t waste any time passing McLaughlin for the lead. Newgarden had the lead for a couple of laps before McLaughlin took it back.

After McLaughlin took the lead, Rinus VeeKay moved into second place and later took the lead away from McLaughlin on lap 159. However, VeeKay’s lead didn’t last as Will Power, from fourth place, passed Newgarden, McLaughlin, and VeeKay for the lead.

While those guys were fighting for the lead, Jimmie Johnson, for the first time in his IndyCar career, moved into the top ten on lap 174. Then, on lap 184, Marcus Ericsson made his way to the front of the field and took the lead away from Will Power.

On lap 191, Scott McLaughlin made his final scheduled pit stop. Soon, others followed for their last stops of the day.

Scott McLaughlin was the leader once pit stops were complete on lap 206. As the laps were winding down, Josef Newgarden was catching McLaughlin. Scott used some of the lap cars to get away briefly. However, once Newgarden cleared those cars, he caught McLaughlin.

 On the final lap, Josef Newgarden went to the outside of turn four to pass McLaughlin and win the race by .0660 seconds. The win was Team Penske’s 600^th career win in motorsports.

“I was fuming in the car because we had all this traffic, and it wasn’t helping me, and then right when I needed it to help me,” said Newgarden. “Literally last corner, last lap, the traffic helped me out.”

“Second is a great day. Unfortunately, we made a little lapse at the end of the day lost. If you’re gonna lose it to anyone, your teammate is the guy you want to lose it to,” said Scott McLaughlin. “Gutted I couldn’t get it done for XPEL and Chevy. But at the end of the day, we’re there, and I learned a lot in the race that is going to help us going in May to the Speedway.”

Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson had a career-best sixth-place finish. He was asked if he expected to run in the top five and finish sixth. “No, that would’ve been a home run. I felt like I came close to doing that. I hoped to qualify in the top 10 and race in the top 10,” said Johnson.

“Missed the qualifying mark a bit, but once we hit the halfway point of the race, I really could sense and feel the car. It became second nature, and off I went. We knew going oval racing would help, and today got us into the competitive mix.”

The rest of the top ten finishers were Marcus Ericsson third, Will Power fourth, Scott Dixon fifth, Jimmie Johnson sixth, Alex Palou seventh, Simon Pagenaud eighth, Santino Ferrucci ninth, and Rinus VeeKay tenth.

There were 15 lead changes and four cautions for 52 laps. Scott McLaughlin dominated the race, leading 186 laps, while the winner, Josef Newgarden, led three laps.

The NTT IndyCar Series heads to Long Beach, California, for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 10^th, at 3 pm on NBC. Tickets can be purchased courtesy of our friends at StubHub.