Josef Newgarden goes back-to-back at Texas

The NTT IndyCar Series held its second race of the 2023 season on Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway for the PPG 375. The race was moved up by half an hour due to the threat of inclement weather approaching the track. Luckily, they were able to complete the race.

Arrow McLaren driver Felix Rosenqvist started the race on the pole with Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon starting second. Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, and Pato O’Ward wrapped up the top-five starters.

The race was the Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward show. Newgarden took the lead on the third lap but lost it to Dixon on the following lap before Newgarden regained the lead a lap later. The first caution happened on lap 48 when Takuma Sato lost control of his car at the exit of turn two and crashed hard into the inside wall. It was one of five cautions throughout the race. During pit stops, Kyle Kirkwood got hit on the left rear by Alexander Rossi exiting his pit lane.

Rossi was issued a drive-thru penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane. In my opinion, Rossi should not have been penalized for a racing incident. Kirkwood has issues later in the race and finished in 27^th place after his car had problems with the right rear wheel bearing. 

Newgarden led 60 laps before losing it to Alex Palou for a couple of laps but got it back on lap 68. He led an additional 40 laps before Pat O’Ward took over the lead on lap 109 after Newgarden pitted. By lap 117, Newgarden regained the lead after O’Ward pitted on lap 114 as Felix Rosenqvist and Sting Ray Robb each led a lap.

There was a lot of passing in this race. On lap 129, Pat O’Ward generated momentum from the outside of turn four to take the lead away from Newgarden. At one point, Newgarden and O’Ward were the only two cars on the lead lap. As they made more pit stops, a few drivers did get to lead a couple of laps and six more cars made it back to the lead lap.

On lap 179, pole-sitter Flex Rosenqvist got loose at turn four and crashed, bringing out the race’s second caution. He finished in 26^th place. On lap 195, Alex Palou got in the mix and took the lead from Pato O’Ward but O’Ward fought him until Palou cleared him at turn three. As O’Ward tried again to take the lead, Josef Newgarden made it three-wide to get the lead for a couple of laps only for Palou to take it back.

Another driver who made his way to the front was Colton Herta. He challenged and succeeded to take the lead on lap 203 over Palou. Eight cars went at it for the lead for the next several laps, with Herta, Palou, O’Ward, and Romain Grosjean each leading several laps.

On lap 223, Devlin DeFrancesco lost control going to pit road and slid up the racetrack. Graham Rahal had nowhere to go and went airborne at turn four, bringing out the fourth caution.

During the final green flag run, Josef Newgarden made his way back to the front and took the lead from Pat O’Ward just as Romain Grosjean got loose at the exit of turn two and crashed, ending the race with two laps left. Josef Newgarden won the race and goes back-to-back at Texas. Newgarden led 123 laps, while O’Ward led 91 laps.

 “I’m so happy to be here for our PPG and our team at Team Penske this weekend. Pato gave me all the respect in the world when he was racing next to me,” said Newgarden. “It was really hard to fight those guys. I think (Alex) Palou was super strong, too. There are just no gimmes. It was packed up today, very difficult to get away. There were parts when we were good, parts when we were weaker. But when we needed to be good, the car was there at the end.”

 “I was timing the tow, but it’s been a hell of a start to the year,” said Pato O’Ward. “The guys gave me an absolute rocket ship. Everybody that was watching the race midway through pretty sure saw that.”

The rest of the top ten finishers were Alex Palou third, David Malukas fourth, Scott Dixon fifth, Scott McLaughlin sixth, Colton Herta seventh, Marcus Ericsson eighth, Callum Ilott ninth, and Helio Castroneves tenth.

The NTT IndyCar Series heads to the streets of Long Beach, California, for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 16^th, at 3 pm on NBC. Tickets for the race are available on StubHub and Viagogo.

Finishing Order: