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David Malsher-Lopez

Texas IndyCar: Newgarden swipes last-gasp win from McLaughlin's grasp

McLaughlin, winner of the 2022 IndyCar opener at St. Petersburg, led for 186 laps having taken the lead on the opening lap from polesitter Felix Rosenqvist, but got caught behind traffic which allowed Newgarden in for a late charge.

Carrying more momentum through Turns 3 and 4, the #2 Penske caught the tail of the leader and went around the outside of McLaughlin to grab the win by 0.0669 seconds.

Having looked every bit as comfortable on the Texas oval as he did in his rookie season, McLaughlin led through an early caution period following Alexander Rossi's glacial trickle to the pitlane as his Andretti-run machine slowed to a crawl, maintaining that lead through the opening pitstop period - with Newgarden 12.5s behind on his Penske stablemate following the first pitlane visits.

But Newgarden drew closer as he picked his way through the order and McLaughlin had to contend with various bouts of traffic, and through three caution periods during the middle portion of the race, with Andretti rookie Devlin DeFrancesco proving to be the epicentre of all three.

Following that trio of interruptions, McLaughlin then had to contend with multiple plays for the lead from his rivals in the second half of the race; Newgarden attempted to wrest control of the race on lap 150, but the Kiwi repassed his team-mate shortly after.

Rinus VeeKay was next to mount an assault on McLaughlin, who began to drop back slightly as Will Power rounded both drivers to momentarily factor in the lead.

But content to remain within the pack for a spell, McLaughlin then repassed VeeKay on the 205th lap around the circuit - assuming the lead after the off-sequence Callum Ilott made a pitstop. Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson followed through soon after, dropping VeeKay from the victory battle.

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet (Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images)

Initially looking serene out in front, McLaughlin got caught behind traffic which suddenly allowed Newgarden to charge behind him. With enough speed garnered from Turns 3 and 4 ahead of the final lap, the #2 Penske charged onto the tail of the leader and went around the outside of McLaughlin - pipping his team-mate to the line.

Behind the front two, Marcus Ericsson scored a worthy podium in third for Chip Ganassi Racing, while Power ensured all three Penske cars finished in the top four as he just held off his long-time rival Scott Dixon of Ganassi.

Dixon managed to edge ahead of Jimmie Johnson for fifth, as the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series winner enjoyed his most complete IndyCar weekend to date - and his first on an oval.

Johnson had been impressive in working his way up the field, and made his way up to the top five after passing Simon Pagenaud - whose lap times began to dwindle towards the end.

Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou completed the run of Ganassi cars, ensuring all four made it into the top seven, as Pagenaud ended his day three seconds off the Spanish driver.

Santino Ferrucci, who was a last-minute call-up for Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Jack Harvey after the Brit was not cleared to race following a heavy crash in second practice, finished ninth ahead of VeeKay - while rookie David Malukas was the final driver classified on the lead lap.

Andretti's miserable day at Texas was encapsulated by Colton Herta, who was the sole finisher from the four-strong team with 12th place; Rossi, DeFrancesco and Romain Grosjean all retired.

IndyCar Texas race results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Interval Mph Points
1 United States Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske 248 2:09'29.727     200.994  
2 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin United States Team Penske 248 2:09'29.793 0.066 0.066 198.062  
3 Sweden Marcus Ericsson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 248 2:09'31.080 1.353 1.286 203.554  
4 Australia Will Power United States Team Penske 248 2:09'44.950 15.223 13.869 199.743  
5 New Zealand Scott Dixon United States Chip Ganassi Racing 248 2:09'45.400 15.673 0.450 206.387  
6 United States Jimmie Johnson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 248 2:09'47.820 18.093 2.420 204.395  
7 Spain Alex Palou United States Chip Ganassi Racing 248 2:09'48.920 19.193 1.099 202.149  
8 France Simon Pagenaud United States Meyer Shank Racing 248 2:09'52.191 22.464 3.271 195.081  
9 United States Santino Ferrucci United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 248 2:09'54.141 24.414 1.950 201.061  
10 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout United States Ed Carpenter Racing 248 2:09'55.211 25.484 1.069 192.470  
11 United States David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD 248 2:09'55.777 26.050 0.566 197.390  
12 United States Colton Herta United States Andretti Autosport 247 2:09'30.432 1 Lap 1 Lap 203.005  
13 United States Ed Carpenter United States Ed Carpenter Racing 247 2:09'32.705 1 Lap 2.273 207.041  
14 United States J.R. Hildebrand United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 247 2:09'41.949 1 Lap 9.243 198.637  
15 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Arrow McLaren SP 247 2:09'46.157 1 Lap 4.208 206.017  
16 United Kingdom Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing 247 2:09'55.615 1 Lap 9.458 196.332  
17 Canada Dalton Kellett United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 246 2:09'44.659 2 Laps 1 Lap 196.986  
18 United States Conor Daly United States Ed Carpenter Racing 245 2:09'52.464 3 Laps 1 Lap 194.917  
19 Denmark Christian Lundgaard United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 233 2:05'04.306 15 Laps 12 Laps 58.708  
20 Japan Takuma Sato United States Dale Coyne Racing 140 1:30'09.448 108 Laps 93 Laps 205.142  
21 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist United States Arrow McLaren SP 138 1:18'29.682 110 Laps 2 Laps 90.845  
22 United States Graham Rahal United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 128 1:09'17.183 120 Laps 10 Laps 113.483  
23 Brazil Helio Castroneves United States Meyer Shank Racing 128 1:09'17.270 120 Laps 0.086 115.495  
24 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco United States Andretti Autosport 128 1:09'17.446 120 Laps 0.176 116.812  
25 United States Kyle Kirkwood United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 113 56'00.610 135 Laps 15 Laps 114.144  
26 France Romain Grosjean United States Andretti Autosport 103 47'06.805 145 Laps 10 Laps 86.362  
27 United States Alexander Rossi United States Andretti Autosport 11 28'50.435 237 Laps 92 Laps 3.499  
 

 

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