IndyCar results and points after Texas: Josef Newgarden won the NTT IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive year, outdueling Pato O’Ward while leading a race-high 123 laps.
Newgarden passed O’Ward for the lead for the final time on Lap 249 of 250, just before a caution for Romain Grosjean’s crash that froze the field and effectively ended the race.
“Pato gave me all the respect in the world when he was racing next to me,” Newgarden told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider after his 26th career victory. “It was really hard to fight those guys. I think (Alex) Palou was super strong, too. There are just no gimmes. It was packed up today, very difficult to get away.
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“There were parts when we were good, parts when we were weaker. But when we needed to be good, the car was there at the end.”
Alex Paou finished third, followed by David Malukas and Scott Dixon.
O’Ward took the points lead with back-to-back runner-up finishes to open the 2023 season.
RETWEET if your favorite NTT @INDYCAR SERIES driver is in the top ten in the standings!@PatricioOWard is the championship leader after two races. pic.twitter.com/IfLe3RZGqs
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) April 3, 2023
Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday after the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway:
RESULTS
Click here for the official box score from the 250-lap race on a 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas. Click here for the lap leader summary.
Here is the finishing order in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (4) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 250, Running
2. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 250, Running
3. (7) Alex Palou, Honda, 250, Running
4. (9) David Malukas, Honda, 250, Running
5. (2) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
6. (15) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
7. (10) Colton Herta, Honda, 250, Running
8. (16) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 249, Running
9. (17) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 249, Running
10. (21) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 249, Running
11. (26) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 249, Running
12. (19) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 249, Running
13. (18) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 249, Running
14. (11) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 248, Contact
15. (13) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 248, Running
16. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 248, Running
17. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 247, Running
18. (28) Jack Harvey, Honda, 247, Running
19. (27) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 247, Running
20. (25) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 246, Running
21. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 246, Running
22. (3) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 243, Running
23. (12) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 221, Contact
24. (24) Graham Rahal, Honda, 219, Contact
25. (23) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 208, Contact
26. (1) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 177, Contact
27. (20) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 97, Contact
28. (6) Takuma Sato, Honda, 46, Contact
Winner’s average speed: 169.917 mph; Time of race: 2:07:07.2653; Margin of victory: Under caution; Cautions: Five for 52 laps; Lead changes: 26 among eight drivers. Lap Leaders: Dixon 1-2; Newgarden 3; Dixon 4; Newgarden 5-65; Palou 66-67; Newgarden 68 - 108; O’Ward 109-114; Rosenqvist 115; Robb 116; Newgarden 117-128; O’Ward 129-169; Rosenqvist 170-172; O’Ward 173-194; Palou 195-198; Newgarden 199-200; Palou 201-202; Herta 203-206; O’Ward 207-208; Palou 209-219; Grosjean 220-221; O’Ward 222-238; Palou 239-241; Newgarden 242; O’Ward 243; Newgarden 244-246; O’Ward 247-248; Newgarden 249-250.
POINTS
Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.
Here are the points standings after Texas:
Top 10 in points: O’Ward 82, Ericsson 75, Dixon 67, Newgarden 66, Palou 60, Malukas 53, Ilott 52, McLaughlin 48, Power 40, Rossi 40.
Rest of the standings: Herta 37, Canapino 36, Rahal 34, Lundgaard 33, Grosjean 31, VeeKay 28, Castroneves 27, Daly 26, Harvey 20, Kirkwood 20, Robb 20, Pedersen 20, Marcus Armstrong 19, Pagenaud 18, Rosenqvist 18, Carpenter 17, Ferrucci 15, DeFrancesco 12, Sato 5
Next race: April 16, Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.