Josef Newgarden celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo: Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens
Josef Newgarden timed it just right once again to earn his second consecutive victory at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday after a scintillating NTT IndyCar Series race perfectly described as “beautiful chaos.”
Newgarden drove his No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet past Pato O’Ward for the lead on lap 249 of the 250-lap speed carnival just moments before Romain Grosjean crashed in turn 2, triggering the last of five caution periods and ending the race under yellow.
It was the second straight year of perfect timing on the 1.5-mile oval for two-time series champion Newgarden, who passed Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin exiting turn 4 on the last lap for victory last year.
“Pato gave me all the respect in the world when he was racing next to me,” Newgarden said. “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.”
Newgarden, who led a race-high 123 laps, averaged 169.917 mph for his 26th career series victory. Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, also extended his streak to nine consecutive seasons with at least one victory.
Palou finished third, followed by David Malukas in an impressive performance for the series sophomore driving for one of the smallest teams in the series.
“My new word for this week is going to be ‘beautiful chaos,’” Malukas said. “I loved it. I was having a blast.”
Scott Dixon rounded out the top five, as Chip Ganassi Racing placed two cars in the top five. O’Ward took the championship lead by seven points over St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson with his second consecutive runner-up finish of the season.
“I was timing the tow, but it’s been a hell of a start to the year,” O’Ward said. “The guys gave me an absolute rocket ship. Everybody that was watching the race midway through pretty sure saw that.”
Indeed. The dramatic, two-wide, three-deep pack racing that unfolded on the high-banked Texas asphalt over the closing 20 laps was a dramatic contrast to O’Ward’s breathtaking speed and dominance halfway through the race.
O’Ward took the lead for the first time on lap 109. By lap 160, he had lapped the entire 28-car field except for Newgarden, who was nearly six seconds behind in second.
But O’Ward’s imperious march was halted when teammate and polesitter Felix Rosenqvist crashed in turn 4 on lap 179.
That incident unleashed a high-speed game of tactical chess on track and on pit stands up and down the field for the remaining laps, as drivers and strategists devised the optimal time to pit for fuel and tires. It was half-smarts, half-dice roll.
Six cars that were one lap down got the wave-around to the lead lap when O’Ward and Newgarden pitted alone as the sole cars on the lead lap with 68 laps remaining.
That regroup spawned the wild, thrilling side-by-side racing that filled every inch of the racing groove over the last 57 laps. After the restart on lap 193 following Rosenqvist’s crash, there were 14 lead changes among five different drivers.
O’Ward and Newgarden swapped the lead five times in the last eight laps before Grosjean’s race-ending incident while he was dicing and slicing with the lead pack, too, in his most impressive oval race performance yet.
Newgarden grabbed the front on lap 242, with O’Ward reclaiming the top spot one lap later. Then it was Newgarden’s turn to take the point one trip later on lap 244, with O’Ward nosing ahead on lap 247.
Then Newgarden finally got in front just in time on lap 249, just a few exhilarating breaths before the yellow flag flew for the last time. In total, the race featured 26 lead changes among eight drivers.
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is on Sunday, April 16 on the streets of Long Beach, California.
NTT IndyCar Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
PPG 375 – April 2, 2023
1. (4) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (7) Alex Palou, Honda, 250, Running
4. (9) David Malukas, Honda, 250, Running
5. (2) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
6. (15) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
7. (10) Colton Herta, Honda, 250, Running
8. (16) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 249, Running
9. (17) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 249, Running
10. (21) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 249, Running
11. (26) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 249, Running
12. (19) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 249, Running
13. (18) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 249, Running
14. (11) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 248, Contact
15. (13) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 248, Running
16. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 248, Running
17. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 247, Running
18. (28) Jack Harvey, Honda, 247, Running
19. (27) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 247, Running
20. (25) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 246, Running
21. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 246, Running
22. (3) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 243, Running
23. (12) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 221, Contact
24. (24) Graham Rahal, Honda, 219, Contact
25. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 208, Contact
26. (1) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 177, Contact
27. (20) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 97, Contact
28. (6) Takuma Sato, Honda, 46, Contact
Winner’s Average Speed: 169.917 mph
Time of Race: 2:07:07.2653 Margin of Victory: Under caution
Cautions: 5 for 52 laps
Lead Changes: 26 among 8 drivers
Lap Leaders: Dixon, Scott 1-2; Newgarden, Josef 3; Dixon, Scott 4; Newgarden, Josef 5-65; Palou, Alex 66-67; Newgarden, Josef 68-108; O’Ward, Pato 109-114; Rosenqvist, Felix 115; Robb, Sting Ray 116; Newgarden, Josef 117-128; O’Ward, Pato 129-169; Rosenqvist, Felix 170-172; O’Ward, Pato 173-194; Palou, Alex 195-198; Newgarden, Josef 199-200; Palou, Alex 201-202; Herta, Colton 203-206; O’Ward, Pato 207-208; Palou, Alex 209-219; Grosjean, Romain 220-221; O’Ward, Pato 222-238; Palou, Alex 239-241; Newgarden, Josef 242; O’Ward, Pato 243′ Newgarden, Josef 244-246; O’Ward, Pato 247-248; Newgarden, Josef 249-250
Point Standings: O’Ward 82, Ericsson 75, Dixon 67, Newgarden 66, Palou 60, Malukas 53, Ilott 52, McLaughlin 48, Power 40, Rossi 40, Herta 37, Canapino 36, Rahal 34, Lundgaard 33, Grosjean 31, VeeKay 28, Castroneves 27, Daly 26, Harvey 20, Kirkwood 20, Robb 20, Pedersen 20, Marcus Armstrong 19, Pagenaud 18, Rosenqvist 18, Carpenter 17, Ferrucci 15, DeFrancesco 12, Sato 5
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