FORT WORTH, Texas – Josef Newgarden beat team-mate Scott McLaughlin on a final lap pass for victory at Texas Motor Speedway, while Jimmie Johnson appeared on Sunday with his best finish in the NTT IndyCar Series.
Newgarden, who ran only three laps, moved up from the 4th tournament to McLaughlin, who ran a race-high 186 laps, but came 0.0669 seconds short after scoring the first victory of his career in the 28th. February season opener at the Grand Prix. of St. Petersburg. It was the eighth closest IndyCar arrival in Texas history.
Marcus Ericsson finished third, followed by Will Power and Scott Dixon in a 248-lap race that turned into a fuel-saving run in the second half.
RESULTS: Where everyone in Texas is finished
It was the 600th victory for team owner Roger Penske, who paid $ 600 bounty at Newgarden and Victory Lane.
Newgarden told NBC Sports reporter Marty Snider in the Victory Track that it was the most dramatic victory of his career.
“Oh my God,” said the two-time IndyCar champion. “I smoked in the car. We had all this traffic, and it did not help me and then right when I needed it to help me, literally last corner, last lap, the traffic helped me.
“Incredible PPG car in the victory lane. Also our XPEL car. How about Scott? I think he led like 95 percent of the laps. I hate to do that to a teammate, but I wanted it just the way he was. We drove hard. Man, I was loose. I drove things to the side of (turns) 3 and 4 each lap.
“Last round, last corner, that’s what it’s in Texas. I hope we come back. Let’s come back.”
Johnson patiently worked his way to a career-best finish from a career-high 18th starting position, reaching his two post-race goals on the track where the seven-time NASCAR champion won a record seven cup series. He barely missed a top five as he had to brake in the last 10 laps to save fuel, handing the fifth over to team-mate Dixon.
“When we hit halfway through the race, I could feel and feel the car, and it became second nature, and I left,” Johnson told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “I’m just very grateful for the support of Chip Ganassi Racing. We knew that oval racing would help, and brought us into a competitive mix today.
“When I ended up driving with (Dixon), I thought it was pretty cool and pretty fun. We had a bit of trouble with our telemetry and did not know how much fuel I was saving, so in the end I really got into the Savings mode had to go and could not fight for the top five, but what a special day. Just very grateful. “
The next oval on the playing field for Johnson is his expected debut in the Indy 500. As soon as he picked up the checked flag Sunday, engineer Eric Cowdin radioed, “Let’s win the Indy 500.”
“Yeah, no pressure,” Johnson said with a laugh. “This is a big step towards having a successful month of May at the Brickyard. Sure, there will be a new track and a whole new learning curve, but all the rounds I’ve been logging for the last few days will be so helpful to the Indy. 500.
The race got off to a rough start with four cautionary flags for 52 laps before the half.
Andretti Autosport rookie Devlin DeFrancesco was involved in three yellows that took out five cars. The latter eliminated his number 29 Honda, number 15 of Graham Rahal and number 06 of Helio Castroneves.
DeFrancesco cut off the apron while trying to go three wide at the bottom in round 3, slide up into Rahal (which Castroneves collected).
“Rookie Feeler.”
Devlin Defrancesco goes below the white line in turns 3 and 4, loses control, and takes out Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal.#INDYCAR // @TXMotorSpeedway
📺: @nbc in the @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/E5vucnhPw8– IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) March 20, 2022
“I certainly tried to give Helio as much space as I could,” Rahal said. “It’s just narrow boundaries. Like I told Devlin, I think he has a bright future, but he’s plotted Takuma (Sato) earlier in the race. You have to learn from these mistakes. It’s narrow inside, but You hope you notice that you got bail at such speeds.
DeFrancesco previously had a wobble that led to contact with Sato’s left front, which went up to break the SAFER barrier in round 2 and cause a caution on lap 99.
On the lap after the start of lap 113, rookie Kyle Kirkwood spun into the Turn 4 wall after losing control while trying to pass DeFrancesco to the outside.
“I was good in the beginning, around outside of Devlin,” Kirkwood said. “He twisted a bit and came up to me and pushed me just too far. One time I caught it, and the next time no one was caught. Unfortunately, I was just forced there.
After a disappointing 20th at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Louis.
Rossi was decided to jump start, but before the Andretti motorsport pilot could serve the drive-through penalty, his no.
“We lost excitement from the start of the race,” said Rossi Lee. “It just got exponentially worse until the battery just died. Here we are.”
An extremely frustrated Alexander Rossi.
His chance of winning goes out the window in the first 20 rounds.@IndyCar // @TXMotorSpeedway
📺: @nbc in the @peacockTV
💻: pic.twitter.com/mtyCnsGwiR– IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) March 20, 2022
It was the second consecutive race in Texas in which Rossi withdrew in the first 20 laps. Last year, he fell for the start.
He will leave Texas buried in the points through the first two races of a contract year that he said gave a strong start after two winless seasons.
“We at least saw the green flag, so that’s cool,” Rossi said deadly. “At this point, what do you say? It’s what it is. The car was amazing. The NAPA / AutoNation boys did a wonderful job, and all weekend it was really nice to drive. Green flag call. It is pity.I think the car was fast, and I had a really good idea when I got to the front.The chance of not getting it is pretty sad.
Andretti team-mate Romain Grosjean also withdrew from the race with an engine problem during a cautionary period just after the 100-lap mark of his second oval start.
“We have lost power; we have to watch, “Grosjean told Snider.” Of course not great to score points today and also not to get great experience on the track. The car felt really good, but there is nowhere you can pass it here, so it’s very frustrating. There are still things I need to do better on ovals, but get there.
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