Will Power wins; Franchitti awake and alert after last-lap crash (VIDEO, UPDATED)

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After a late yellow cost him a potential win on Saturday, Will Power was able to hold off Scott Dixon in the closing laps to take Race 2 of the Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston.

However, the race ended with a frightening crash in Turn 5 involving Dario Franchitti, E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato. Franchitti and Sato made contact going into the turn, which sent Franchitti airborne and into the catch fence, sending debris everywhere across the track and over the fence as well toward the nearby grandstands.

Minutes later, however, Franchitti’s team owner, Chip Ganassi, said that Dario was awake and alert, even though his ankles and back were sore after the incident.

“He’s gonna take a trip to the hospital, that’s for sure,” Ganassi told NBCSN’s Kevin Lee. “But he’s okay.”

INDYCAR’s Amy Konrath later confirmed that Franchitti, awake and alert, would indeed go to a local Houston hospital.

The incident made for a muted Victory Lane as Power hoped that Franchitti was alright.

“It just looked bad, I hate seeing that,” Power said. “I just hope he’s OK…But it was a very good day [on the track]. We were able to help Helio out a bit [in the championship], and I just hope Dario is alright.

“I think we had the quickest car for sure. We were a little bit skating on cold tires but I knew that any time I wanted I could pull a bit of a gap on Dixon. I was very determined to get him there.”

Despite losing out to Power, Dixon was able to assume the IZOD IndyCar Series championship lead by 25 points after Helio Castroneves finished 23rd following a repair to the cracked gearbox housing on his machine early in the race.

Dixon also was thinking about Franchitti in the immediate aftermath, but did touch upon the massive shift in the championship.

“Another win would’ve been nice,” Dixon said. “We came up a little short. Will was being pretty aggressive there and hit us before the restart and then hit us going into Turn 4, which sort of got me sideways and he got the run on me down the backstraight.

“It is what it is. He’s obviously trying to take away as many points for his teammate as he could. But all in all, a pretty decent weekend. A good turnout in the points for us, but it’s still gonna be a tough weekend at [Auto Club Speedway].”

James Hinchcliffe finished third after being knocked out yesterday off the standing start. Justin Wilson claimed a fourth-place finish, and Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the Top 5.

IndyCar results, points after Detroit Grand Prix

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:


RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Lap leader summary

Full lap chart

Best section times

Full section data

Event summary

Pit stop summary

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.


POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Pit stop performance

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.