For Round 2 of the 2023 NTT Data INDYCAR Series season, we make a stop at Texas Motor Speedway for the first oval of the season. Last year we saw a last-lap pass between the Penske teammates of Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, with the latter coming home with the win.
This year, there was anywhere between 215 and 300 pounds of extra downforce on the cars in hopes of improving the racing. This race had a large grid of 28 teams, with Takuma Sato and Ed Carpenter making their first starts of the 2023 campaign.
Felix Rosenqvist in the #6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren started the race on the pole for the second year in a row. But on lap 2, Scott Dixon took the lead. Dixon and Newgarden then swapped the lead a few times, with Newgarden eventually settling into first.
Eventually, the drivers settled in and started working their fuel numbers. Suddenly, Will Power started dropping back through the field. As drivers tried to navigate around Power, Takuma Sato got too high in the corner and smacked the wall. This brought out the first yellow of the race.
During the pit stops, Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi got together, damaging Rossi’s suspension. Race control surprisingly ruled the incident was Rossi’s fault, despite Kirkwood being in the wrong lane to hit his box.
Around lap 104 Kyle Kirkwood had an issue with his car, leading him to be the second car out of the race. The second series of stops were under the green flag. Everyone got through those stops cleanly.
After the second stop, Pato O’Ward pushed to overtake Josef Newgarden. Newgarden didn’t want to give up, but O’Ward was just faster at that point. Those two were in a different league compared to the field in the first half of the race.
O’Ward then started growing his lead and lapping the field in the process. By lap 160, he had all but Josef Newgarden lapped.
O’Wards dominance lasted through the third set of stops. Eventually, O’Ward’s teammate, Rosenqvist, got into the tire marbles and lost control of his car. This brought out the yellow. With only two cars on pit lane, there wasn’t much action on pit lane. A few cars got the wave around here.
This would set the scene for a fuel mileage race. Due to an extended yellow, Newgarden and a few others pit to top off their fuel. On the restart, Palou took the lead as O’Ward tried to hit his fuel number. This led to some crazy racing and the lead swapping numerous times amongst O’Ward, Herta, Newgarden, and Palou.
Then all of the sudden, Sting Ray Robb got into the wall. He tried to keep it up in the wall, but his suspension failed which sent him into the inside wall very hard. He was, fortunately, able to walk away.
Most of the leaders took the opportunity to pit once again, making them safe on fuel. Just when the race appeared to be lost for O’Ward, he sailed back to the front.
Then there was another scary incident involving Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco. DeFrancesco appeared to have hit the wall before the two got together and then suddenly veered up the track in front of Rahal.
When they went back to green, they continued swapping the lead. The win was going to come down to Palou, Newgarden, or O’Ward. And they all wanted it – bad. As the drivers kept racing side by side literally inches apart, Grosjean wrecked behind them. Newgarden went on to win under yellow and make it back-to-back Texas wins.
Pato O’Ward finished second and is now the Championship leader. Alex Palou wrapped up the podium on old tires.
The next race will be in the streets of Long Beach on April 16.
P.S. Only 56 days to the Indy 500 😉