IndyCar Texas results, points and stats: Big payoff for Penske

IndyCar Texas results and points standings: Team Penske’s strong start to the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series continued Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway as Josef Newgarden edged teammate Scott McLaughlin by 0.0669 seconds on a last-corner pass to win the XPEL375.

After his 600th victory as a team owner, Roger Penske paid off Newgarden, who led only three of 248 laps, with six $100 bills in victory lane. McLaughlin, who led a race-high 186 laps, got caught in traffic in the closing laps and finished second at Texas for the second consecutive year.

“At the end I was (thinking) Scott is going to be hard to beat with traffic,” Newgarden said after his 21st career victory. “He’s been strong this whole time. He was strong last year, strong at the test. I thought if we just had clear running, we would have a great fight. We probably would have been dicing back and forth the entire time.

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“It gets so difficult when you have cars that are about to go a lap down, fighting each other. Scott is trying to manage that, and it helps me to be able to close up on end. At the end, I literally conceded with two laps to go. It’s just not going to happen. I literally almost lost it off four pushing hard to go ahead close. He did a good job. He was in position.”

“You could have held on for one more corner,” McLaughlin, who broke through for his first career victory in the season opener at St. Pete, joked in the postrace news conference.

A classic @TXMotorSpeedway finish. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/l2QZd5P6Tw

— IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) March 20, 2022

“I could have kept that mindset,” Newgarden said. “But that mindset changed as soon as I got to corner three. The traffic just presented a great opportunity to really get after it, try to do something to win this race.

“I went high side. If I hit the fence, I hit the fence. Scott is still the winner, it will be a great day for the team. I was so pumped. I’ve never been so excited.”

In a battle of IndyCar powerhouses, Marcus Ericsson finished third in the No. 8 Dallara-Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, which also had top 10s from Scott Dixon (fifth), Jimmie Johnson (a career-best sixth) and Alex Palou (seventh).

Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet as Penske took three of the top four.

Yesterdays race was bloody fun. That 2nd last stint when we were dicing, saving fuel etc. Was mega.

— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) March 21, 2022

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday after the Firestone Grand Prix of St Pete:

RESULTS

Click here for the box score from the 248-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway. Click here for the lap leader summary and here for the pit stop performance.

Here is the finishing order in the XPEL375 with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out:

1. (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 248, Running
2. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 248, Running
3. (14) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 248, Running
4. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 248, Running
5. (5) Scott Dixon, Honda, 248, Running
6. (18) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 248, Running
7. (11) Alex Palou, Honda, 248, Running
8. (15) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 248, Running
9. (27) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 248, Running
10. (8) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 248, Running
11. (19) David Malukas, Honda, 248, Running
12. (9) Colton Herta, Honda, 247, Running
13. (21) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 247, Running
14. (25) JR Hildebrand, Chevrolet, 247, Running
15. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 247, Running
16. (20) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 247, Running
17. (22) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 246, Running
18. (16) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 245, Running
19. (24) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 233, Contact
20. (3) Takuma Sato, Honda, 140, Contact
21. (1) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 138, Mechanical
22. (26) Graham Rahal, Honda, 128, Contact
23. (6) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 128, Contact
24. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 128, Contact
25. (23) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 113, Contact
26. (13) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 103, Mechanical
27. (12) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 11, Mechanical

Winner’s average speed: 165.467 mph; Time of Race: 2:09:29.7270; Margin of victory: 0.0669 of a second; Cautions: 4 for 52; Lead changes: 15 among 12 drivers. Lap Leaders: McLaughlin 1-56; Sato 57-61; Castroneves 62; Kirkwood 63-67; Hildebrand 68; McLaughlin 69-149; Newgarden 150-151; McLaughlin 152-158; VeeKay 159-163; Power 164-183; Ericsson 184-193; Carpenter 194-197; Malukas 198-200; Ilott 201-205; McLaughlin 206-247; Newgarden 248. PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge ($10,000 charitable donation): Josef Newgarden

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.

Here are the points standings after the season opener for:

Drivers

Engine manufacturers

Entrants

Top 10 in the standings: McLaughlin 97, Power 69, Palou 67, Newgarden 65, Ericsson 58, Dixon 55, Herta 50, VeeKay 50, Pagenaud 39, Johnson 35.

Benny Bloss will race for the factory Beta Motorcycles team in 2024 as that manufacturer joins SuperMotocross as the ninth brand to compete in the series. Beta Motorcycles will make their debut in the Monster Energy Supercross opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California in January.

*Benny Bloss finished among the top 10 twice in Pro Motocross, in 2016 and 2018. – Beta Motorcycles*

“The wait is over and we can finally share everything we have been working towards,” said Carlen Gardner, Race Team Manager in a press release. “It has been a great experience being a part of this development and seeing the progression. The only missing part was finding a rider that would mesh well with our Beta Family.

“After a one phone call with Benny, we knew it would be a good fit for him, and for us. We are happy to have him on board for the next two years and can’t wait to see everyone at Anaheim in January.”

Bloss debuted in the 450 class in 2015 with a 15th-place finish overall at Ironman Raceway in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Bloss has a pair of top-10 rankings in the division with a sixth-place finish in the Pro Motocross Championship in 2016 and a seventh in 2018. His best Supercross season ended 15th in the standings in 2018.

“I’m extremely excited to join the Beta Factory Racing team,” Bloss said. “It’s cool to see a brand with such a rich history in off-road racing to come into the US Supercross and Motocross space. I know this team will be capable of great things as we build and go racing in 2024.”

Bloss is currently 22nd in the SuperMotocross rankings and has not raced in the first two rounds of the Motocross season.

Testing for Beta Motorcycles is scheduled to begin in August and the team expects to announce a second rider at that time.

The family-owned brand adds to the international flare of the sport. The company was founded in Florence, Italy in 1905 as Società Giuseppe Bianchi as they built handmade bicycles, The transition to motorcycle production in the late 1940s.

Beta Motorcycles competed and won in motocross competition in the late 1970s and early 1980s with Jim Pomeroy and other riders.

Beta will join Triumph Motorcycles as a second historic brand to join the sport in 2024. First established in 1902, Triumph has won in nearly every division they have competed in, dating back to their first victory in the 1908 Isle of Man TT. Triumph will debut in the 250 class in 2024 and plans to expand into 450s in 2025.

IndyCar stats, results and points after Texas: A major payoff for Team Penske

Beta Motorcycles joins SuperMotocross in 2024, Benny Bloss named first factory rider

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