IndyCar: Helio takes 9-point championship lead with 6 races left (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

After running with the leaders for much of Saturday’s Iowa Corn Indy 300, Helio Castroneves faded late to an eighth-place finish.

But that was enough for him to assume outright control of the Verizon IndyCar Series championship lead after Penske teammate Will Power lost 10 positions following the final restart with nine laps remaining.

With seven to go, Power went high up in Turn 2 and had to fight to keep his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet off the wall. The Australian succeeded, but he paid the price with the heavy loss of position; he took the restart in fourth, but finished in 14th.

“It was a tough call at the end there,” Power said afterwards. “Had we went with the new tires we might have been looking pretty good. But a tough day to work hard with the Verizon Chevy doing so well, and then to finish fourteenth just wasn’t where we expected to be tonight. We’ll move forward and look ahead to Toronto.”

Meanwhile, Castroneves was happy to pick up the points lead going into the final doubleheader weekend of the year.

“To be honest, from the first practice session to the race, we changed a lot on this car and it was great,” Castroneves said. “We were running in the top three most of the day.

“Obviously, finishing in the eighth position isn’t where we deserved to finish. But it was a gamble there at the end. We are leaving here with the championship lead and that is what we need to focus on moving forward.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s win on Saturday enabled him to jump from fifth to third in the championship at 32 points behind Castroneves with six races left in the season.

Simon Pagenaud and Juan Pablo Montoya took a step back in the title fight at Iowa. Pagenaud finished 11th, causing him to fall to fourth in the standings at 50 points back.

But he was better off Saturday than Montoya, who slipped to fifth in the standings after crashing with 19 laps to go. The Colombian is now down 66 points.

However, with two races coming next weekend on the treacherous Honda Indy Toronto street circuit, this championship can very well have more twists and turns to come.

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The NTT IndyCar Series will head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for its first oval race of the season and a preview of its biggest race.

After Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas, the next oval on the schedule is May 28 with the 107th running of the Indy 500. Chip Ganassi Racing dominated last year’s 500-miler at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after placing all four of its Dallara-Hondas in the top 10 at Texas.

The Dallara-Chevrolets of Team Penske also will be heavy favorites at Texas. Josef Newgarden passed teammate Scott McLaughlin on the final lap for the victory last year as Penske took three of the top four (with defending series champion Will Power in fourth).

Texas marks the first of five oval races for IndyCar, which also will visit Iowa Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. There are 28 drivers entered for the 36th IndyCar race at Texas, the series’ most at the track since 30 in June 2011.

Scott Dixon has a series-high five victories at Texas, mostly recently in May 2021. Helio Castroneves (four wins), Newgarden (two) and Power (two) also are multiple winners at Texas.

Here are the details and IndyCar start times for the PPG 375 race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway (all times are ET):

INDYCAR PPG 375 TEXAS START TIMES

TV: Sunday, noon ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com. Leigh Diffey is the announcer with analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe (whose first career IndyCar victory came at St. Petersburg 10 years ago).

Marty Snider and Dave Burns are the pit reporters. Telemundo Deportes on Universo will provide a Spanish-language telecast. Click here for the full NBC Sports schedule for IndyCar in 2023.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for both practices and qualifying and Indy NXT races. (Click here for information on how to sign up for Peacock.)

COMMAND TO START ENGINES: 12:10 p.m. ET

GREEN FLAG: 12:15 p.m. ET

POSTRACE SHOW ON PEACOCK: After the race’s conclusion, an exclusive postrace show will air on Peacock with driver interviews, postrace analysis and the podium presentation. To watch the extended postrace show, click over to the special stream on Peacock after the race ends.

Peacock also will be the streaming broadcast for practices and qualifying.

INDYCAR RADIO NETWORK: The IndyCar and Indy Lights races and all practices and qualifying sessions will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the IndyCar app.

PRACTICE: Saturday sessions at 9 a.m., 1:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. (Peacock Premium), 1:45 p.m.

PRACTICE RESULTS: Session I l Session II

QUALIFYING: Saturday, 12:15 p.m. (Peacock Premium)

STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the grid at Texas

RACE DISTANCE: The race is 250 laps (375 miles) on a 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas

TIRE ALLOTMENT: Eleven primary sets to be used during practice, qualifying and the race. An extra set will be available to cars in the high-line practice session.

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 67 degrees with a 71% chance of rain at the green flag.

ENTRY LIST: Click here for the 28 cars entered