Even with only two cars on the lead lap, IndyCar at Texas Motor Speedway proves that they produce great racing on 1.5 mile tracks. After leading 123 laps of the 250, Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Chevy for Team Penske scored his second straight win at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It was a group effort this weekend,” stated Newgarden in victory lane. “Pato (O’Ward) gave me the most respect in the world there. It was just really hard to fight them guys there. There were no give me’s today. It was very difficult to get away from the other drivers. After what happened at St. Pete, I was rethinking everything. I’m just so happy to get this done for Team Penske.”
Pato O’Ward looked to have had this race in the b ag during the middle portion of the 250 laps, when he lapped up to third place leaving him and Newgarden on the lead lap. After a couple of late cautions that lead to a restart with 12 to go, he, Newgarden, and No. 10 Alex Palou battled it out for the win. Unfortunately with two laps to go, Romain Grosjean spun and went into the wall just entering the backstretch, bringing out the yellow flag and ending the race while Newgarden was in the lead.
O’Ward spoke with NBC Sports after the race and said, “It’s been a hell of a start to the year. The guys gave me an absolute rocketship. It’s been an absolute joy to drive this Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. We’ve had two straight second place finishes to start off the year, but we’re still looking for that win. This is a great start for getting a championship, and that’s what we needed.”
This was the first of five oval races on the 17 race schedule of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series, with the next oval race being the 107th Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend. When asked if IndyCar should add more ovals, Palou and O’Ward had their thoughts.
“I think the ones we have on the schedule do a great job,” stated Palou. “I don’t know if we should add more to the schedule.” O’Ward stated, “I haven’t had the opportunity to race at Richmond or Milwaukee, but I have seen that it provides great racing. I would love for the schedule to be longer than it is.”
Eight guys led at least one lap in the 2023 running of the PPG 375, after 27 lead changes (most since the 2001 Texas race with 33). Here are the leaders/laps led count of the race.
No. 2 Josef Newgarden: 123 laps
No. 5 Pato O’Ward: 91 laps
No. 10 Alex Palou: 22 laps
No. 26 Colton Herta: 4 laps
No. 6 Felix Rosenquist: 4 laps
No. 9 Scott Dixon: 3 laps
No. 28 Romain Grosjean: 2 laps
No. 51 Sting Ray Robb: 1 lap
Here are the top 10 finishers of the PPG 375
1st: No. 2 Josef Newgarden
2nd: No. 5 Pato O’Ward
3rd: No. 10 Alex Palou
4th: No. 18 David Malukas
5th: No. 9 Scott Dixon
6th: No. 3 Scott McLaughin
7th: No. 26 Colton Herta
8th: No. 8 Marcus Ericsson
9th: No. 77 Callum Illott
10th: No. 06 Helio Castroneves
In two weeks on April 16th, the NTT IndyCar Series will take on the Long Beach Grand Prix in Long Beach, Calif.
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