Polesitter Felix Rosenqvist didn’t last a lap in the front, the Arrow McLaren losing out to Scott Dixon’s Ganassi entry at the end of the first lap, and then Penske’s Josef Newgarden, and fellow McLaren drivers Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi also demoting him to fifth. Newgarden and Dixon swapped the lead twice before Newgarden moved to the head of the field and eked out a small gap.
O’Ward took second from Dixon on Lap 9, while Alex Palou passed the battling Rossi and Rosenqvist to grab fourth and then moved past teammate Dixon for third.
Behind this sextet, Will Power had passed Takuma Sato for seventh, and the new Ganassi driver fell down the field to 12th. By Lap 28, the third Penske, that of Scott McLaughlin, was up to 13th.
Meanwhile at the front, Newgarden’s lead was out to around a second by Lap 30, with the next nine runners lined up around 0.8sec apart. As they hit traffic, Newgarden’s advantage was slashed but by Lap 40 the gap was back out to 1.5sec.
Grosjean passed Power for seventh on Lap 45, and Power suddenly dropped backward in a hurry. As the pack started to smother him, Sato got out of the groove, went high at Turn 2, struck the outside wall and then speared across the track to strike the inside wall side-on.
In the pitstops under caution, Kyle Kirkwood’s Andretti Autosport car came into his pitbox just as the driver he replaced at AA, Rossi, was released. Kirkwood swooped in from the outside ‘fast lane’ and his left rear made contact with Rossi’s right front, whose car needed a new toelink. Race control deemed Rossi’s team at fault for an unsafe release, so he had to take a drive-through penalty when his suspension was fixed.
Newgarden, O’Ward, Palou, Dixon and Rosenqvist retained the top five positions but Grosjean was up to sixth ahead of teammate Colton Herta. Scott McLaughlin was the big winner, up to eighth ahead of Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, while Devlin DeFrancesco was up to 10th.
Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD was into 11th, while Power was only 12th, which considering he pitted in 16th, showed the #12 crew was as on point as teammate McLaughlin’s.
The Lap 60 restart saw Newgarden appear to make a break, but Palou jumped O’Ward and was swiftly onto Newgarden’s tail. The pair ran side-by-side for two laps, Palou then dropped back, then pounced again to snatch the lead, but only for two laps before Newgarden wrested the lead back.
Another man moving forward was Grosjean who tried to take O’Ward for third but then eased back, remaining ahead of Dixon, and the battling Herta and McLaughlin who had gotten around Rosenqvist. Malukas and Ilott completed the top 10, while Power dropped down the order, getting passed by rookies Agustin Canapino and Benjamin Pedersen to run 17th.
At the sharp end, O’Ward passed Palou for second on Lap 76, and a lap later Palou also lost out to Grosjean, and a lap after that he was demoted by Dixon, too.
Such was Newgarden’s pace and Power’s struggles, the race leader lapped the reigning champion who was in 23rd. Five laps later, Power was brought in for fresh tires, while Kirkwood pitted with smoke from his right-rear upright, and got out of his car.
Newgarden’s lead over O’Ward was out to 1.9sec before the leader pitted, leaving the Arrow McLaren with a 4.5sec lead over Grosjean, Dixon and Palou. Grosjean stopped next time by, while O’Ward and Dixon went a lap longer.
By the time O’Ward emerged, his deficit to Newgarden was out to four seconds, but he held a similar advantage over Grosjean. Dixon and Palou were fourth and fifth, well ahead of McLaughlin and Herta.
O’Ward started cutting into Newgarden’s advantage, immediately after their stops, however, and from Lap 125, the halfway point of the race, the Penske driver was only half a second ahead. On Lap 129, O’Ward clung on around the outside of Newgarden to take the lead, and when Newgarden tried to retaliate, the McLaren driver held firm on the inside line.
Over the next 30 laps, O’Ward stretched his lead out to well over five seconds, and on Lap 152 he put fifth placed Dixon – recently passed by Palou – down a lap. In third, Grosjean held steady but was 15sec down to Newgarden, but two seconds ahead of Palou, who had a similar margin over Dixon. In sixth, Herta had gotten the better of McLaughlin who was followed by Malukas, Rosenqvist and Ericsson.
On Lap 160, O’Ward and Newgarden were the only drivers on the lead lap as O’Ward whipped past Grosjean.
McLaughlin and Malukas pitted from the top 10, but McLaughlin ran long so his stop was delayed. Newgarden stopped on Lap 164, while Grosjean stopped the following lap while Palou was filling his mirrors.
O’Ward’s third stop wasn’t great – a delay on the left rear – but he was still five seconds ahead of Newgarden. Palou’s #10 Ganassi crew got their man out ahead of Grosjean to claim third, but the Andretti driver remained ahead of Dixon, whose nearest challenger was no longer Herta, but Malukas. Behind Herta, Rosenqvist – who made his third stop late – came out in eighth, ahead of the delayed McLaughlin, but the #6 Arrow McLaren went high through Turn 3 and drifted up into the wall at Turn 4.
Under the ensuing yellow, O’Ward and Newgarden pitted as soon as the pits opened, and they now had 68 laps to try and get to the finish. The other drivers took the wave-around before pitting – and Newgarden stopped too, to take on more fuel, whereas O’Ward would need to save more. It looked like a potentially winning move from Tim Cindric and the #2 team.
But it did mean that Malukas was now up to a legitimate second. Behind Newgarden, were Palou and Grosjean, while Herta got out ahead of Dixon, who gave him a little nudge off pitlane.
Newgarden made a brilliant restart to get around lapped cars and move up on O’Ward to run side-by-side, but Palou took advantage of their battle to get past both of them down the back straight. Newgarden took the lead briefly but Palou retaliated.
As they and O’Ward battled for the lead – which neither of them particularly wanted as the leader burns more fuel – Herta surged through to lead for four laps. However, Herta too had ceded the lead to Palou by the time the yellow flew for Sting Ray Robb striking the wall at Turn 2 and then bouncing back across the track to take a front-left impact on the inside wall.
Most of the field stopped again to eliminate fuel worries, but Palou stayed out ahead of Grosjean, Herta and Dixon. Of the stoppers, O’Ward ran fifth ahead of Newgarden and McLaughlin. Behind then ran Malukas, VeeKay and Carpenter.
On the Lap 220 restart, Grosjean managed to pull off a pass on Palou and lead for two laps, but the charging O’Ward got past them both to hit the front, and Newgarden was up to third. Then there was a fifth yellow, as DeFrancesco’s hobbled car, following a wall-strike slowed and meandered into Graham Rahal’s path. The RLL car launched off the left rear of the Andretti car and struck the wall.
Under yellow, Newgarden, Dixon and Grosjean stopped again and emerged in third, eighth and seventh respectively. Thus the order for the restart was O’Ward, Palou, Newgarden, Herta, Malukas, McLaughlin, Grosjean, Dixon, Ericsson and Helio Castroneves, the latter pair one lap down.
The Lap 238 restart saw O’Ward get away strongly but Palou grabbed the lead until Lap 242 when the resurgent Newgarden went around the outside of the Ganassi car to hit P1. But O’Ward wasn’t done yet and retaliated to pass Palou and attack Newgarden. The pair even banged wheels when they crossed the line, while behind them the pair were chased by Palou, Malukas, Grosjean and Dixon.
However, as Grosjean and Malukas battled side by side, the Andretti driver had to check up because of Palou slowing ahead, and as he got back on the gas, Grosjean wiggled out of control and into the wall.
Thus the field finished under yellow, with Newgarden taking his third Texas win ahead of a frustrated O’Ward, Palou, Malukas and Dixon.
McLaughlin claimed sixth ahead of Herta, while Grosjean’s demise moved Ericsson, Ilott and Castroneves into the top 10.
| P | No | Name | Laps | Diff | LapTime | Gap | Pits | LPit | P2P | FL | FTime | Led | ST | FSpeed | Elapsed | Engine | Tire | Points | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 250 | LAP 250 | 52.9258 | 6 | 213 | 0 | 169 | 23.7039 | 123 | 4 | 218.698 | 2:07:07.2653 | Chevy | Po | 66 | Team Penske | |
| 2 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 250 | 1.2838 | 54.0178 | 1.2838 | 5 | 213 | 0 | 118 | 23.4475 | 91 | 5 | 221.090 | 2:07:08.5491 | Chevy | Po | 82 | Arrow McLaren |
| 3 | 10 | Alex Palou | 250 | 1.8839 | 53.4215 | 0.6001 | 4 | 188 | 0 | 172 | 23.4712 | 22 | 7 | 220.866 | 2:07:09.1492 | Honda | Po | 60 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 4 | 18 | David Malukas | 250 | 2.1173 | 52.4904 | 0.2334 | 4 | 213 | 0 | 168 | 23.7715 | 9 | 218.076 | 2:07:09.3826 | Honda | P | 53 | Dale Coyne Racing with HMD | |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 250 | 2.4379 | 52.4924 | 0.3206 | 5 | 226 | 0 | 122 | 23.5811 | 3 | 2 | 219.837 | 2:07:09.7032 | Honda | Po | 67 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 6 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | 250 | 4.1359 | 52.3876 | 1.6980 | 5 | 213 | 0 | 168 | 23.9065 | 15 | 216.845 | 2:07:11.4012 | Chevy | P | 48 | Team Penske | |
| 7 | 26 | Colton Herta | 250 | 6.4228 | 51.9056 | 2.2869 | 4 | 188 | 0 | 117 | 23.5119 | 4 | 10 | 220.484 | 2:07:13.6881 | Honda | Po | 37 | Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
| 8 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 249 | 1 LAPS | 52.4368 | 50.7820 | 6 | 234 | 0 | 114 | 23.8169 | 16 | 217.661 | 2:07:12.5645 | Honda | Po | 75 | Chip Ganassi Racing | |
| 9 | 77 | Callum Ilott | 249 | 1 LAPS | 52.4054 | 0.9622 | 6 | 234 | 0 | 165 | 23.9537 | 17 | 216.418 | 2:07:13.5267 | Chevy | P | 52 | Juncos Hollinger Racing | |
| 10 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | 249 | 1 LAPS | 51.5894 | 0.6964 | 5 | 234 | 0 | 174 | 23.7873 | 21 | 217.931 | 2:07:14.2231 | Honda | Po | 27 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
| 11 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 249 | 1 LAPS | 51.6707 | 0.7653 | 6 | 234 | 0 | 163 | 23.9837 | 26 | 216.147 | 2:07:14.9884 | Chevy | P | 28 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 12 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | 249 | 1 LAPS | 51.1704 | 2.9851 | 6 | 234 | 0 | 116 | 23.8040 | 19 | 217.779 | 2:07:17.9735 | Chevy | P | 36 | Juncos Holling Racing | |
| 13 | 33 | Ed Carpenter | 249 | 1 LAPS | 50.9453 | 2.0969 | 6 | 234 | 0 | 117 | 23.8437 | 18 | 217.416 | 2:07:20.0704 | Chevy | P | 17 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 14 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | 248 | 0.5423 | 24.1129 | 0.0195 | 5 | 226 | 0 | 117 | 23.5464 | 2 | 11 | 220.161 | 2:05:50.3320 | Honda | P | 31 | Andretti Autosport |
| 15 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | 248 | 2 LAPS | 51.0019 | 49.4953 | 6 | 233 | 0 | 119 | 23.7237 | 13 | 218.516 | 2:07:18.6204 | Chevy | Po | 20 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
| 16 | 12 | Will Power | 248 | 2 LAPS | 48.7179 | 3.3167 | 7 | 233 | 0 | 103 | 23.6490 | 8 | 219.206 | 2:07:21.9371 | Chevy | P | 40 | Team Penske | |
| 17 | 60 | Simon Pagenaud | 247 | 3 LAPS | 51.0258 | 46.0760 | 6 | 232 | 0 | 239 | 23.9249 | 22 | 216.678 | 2:07:19.2952 | Honda | Po | 18 | Meyer Shank Racing | |
| 18 | 30 | Jack Harvey | 247 | 3 LAPS | 51.3005 | 1.8266 | 6 | 232 | 0 | 120 | 24.1831 | 28 | 214.365 | 2:07:21.1218 | Honda | Po | 20 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 19 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | 247 | 3 LAPS | 47.9788 | 4.8719 | 6 | 232 | 0 | 122 | 23.8965 | 27 | 216.936 | 2:07:25.9937 | Honda | Po | 33 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 20 | 20 | Conor Daly | 246 | 4 LAPS | 49.0252 | 45.1421 | 7 | 231 | 0 | 239 | 24.1533 | 25 | 214.629 | 2:07:23.1570 | Chevy | Po | 26 | Ed Carpenter Racing | |
| 21 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | 246 | 4 LAPS | 48.7130 | 2.4058 | 7 | 231 | 0 | 117 | 23.8660 | 14 | 217.213 | 2:07:25.5628 | Chevy | Po | 15 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | |
| 22 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | 243 | 7 LAPS | 52.0670 | 2 LAPS | 7 | 228 | 0 | 111 | 23.7279 | 3 | 218.477 | 2:07:16.3822 | Chevy | Po | 40 | Arrow McLaren | |
| 23 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | 221 | Contact | 23.9188 | 0.2140 | 5 | 212 | 0 | 116 | 23.8490 | 12 | 217.368 | 1:48:21.0787 | Honda | Po | 12 | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | |
| 24 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 219 | Contact | 24.3940 | 23.3858 | 5 | 210 | 0 | 117 | 24.0861 | 24 | 215.228 | 1:48:22.3245 | Honda | Po | 34 | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | |
| 25 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | 208 | Contact | 25.2344 | 0.2986 | 4 | 187 | 0 | 174 | 23.8798 | 1 | 23 | 217.087 | 1:38:54.4535 | Honda | Po | 20 | Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
| 26 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | 177 | Contact | 27.6694 | 0.9756 | 3 | 173 | 0 | 122 | 23.4559 | 4 | 1 | 221.010 | 1:19:28.4760 | Chevy | Po | 18 | Arrow McLaren |
| 27 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | 97 | Contact | 43.0231 | 3.2020 | 2 | 97 | 0 | 4 | 24.2076 | 20 | 214.148 | 45:55.4032 | Honda | Po | 20 | Andretti Autosport | |
| 28 | 11 | Takuma Sato | 46 | Contact | 26.5468 | 0.1077 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24.0575 | 6 | 215.484 | 18:56.7785 | Honda | Po | 5 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
