Scott McLaughlin dominates first 2022 oval race for long time, but in last few metres teammate Josef Newgarden dusts off 600th Penske win – Jimmie Johnson in P6
Photo finish of two Penske teammates in the first oval race of the 2022 IndyCar season: The XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth was dominated for long stretches by shooting star Scott McLaughlin. On the last lap, however, he had several lapped drivers in front of him. Team-mate and rival Josef Newgarden pulled alongside McLaughlin in the last corner and caught him at the finish line by 0.067 seconds!
Newgarden’s first words after his last-minute victory, which is the 600th win for Roger Penske’s team across all race series: “Oh, my God! Actually, all the traffic on the track hadn’t helped me. I was literally foaming at the mouth. And then that finish! I hate to do that to a teammate. I don’t even know what to say to [McLaughlin] now.”
McLaughlin, who narrowly missed out on his first oval win, was the first to congratulate Newgarden in Victory Lane. Both rejoiced together over the thrilling finish. And the New Zealander can take comfort in having defended his championship lead, which he has held since winning the season opener, with P2.
Finally: Top line works again for IndyCars
Unlike previous years, when races at Texas Motor Speedway featured single-file racing because the top line was impossible to use, this time was different. The high line could be used for overtaking manoeuvres. At times there was real side-by-side racing. There were two main reasons for this.
Firstly, the “traction compound” applied to the upper lane for the NASCAR races is now a different one than it was until spring 2021, namely “resin” instead of “PJ1”. And secondly, a 30-minute special practice session with seven IndyCar drivers was unceremoniously inserted on Saturday in order to put some more Firestone rubber on the top track.
In qualifying on Saturday, Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren-Chevrolet) drove to pole. The Swede led this time’s 27-strong field on the 248 laps, but was replaced as the leader by Scott McLaughlin before the end of the first lap. The winner of the season opener on the street circuit in St. Petersburg thus also directly set the pace in the first oval race of the season.
McLaughlin dominates for a long time and loses victory in the last bend
For long stretches McLaughlin dominated the action at will, having to survive several restarts. As the race entered the deciding stages, the three-time Supercars champion and last year’s IndyCar Rookie of the Year fell a little short in the interim.
First, McLaughlin’s Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden passed him on one of the restarts, but only one lap later he was caught by McLaughlin again. A few laps later, Will Power in the third Penske Chevrolet got serious and in turn took the lead from McLaughlin.
Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter-Chevrolet) and five-time Fort Worth winner Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda) also passed the long-term leader. But because these two made their last pit stop under green a tad earlier than McLaughlin, they had to conserve their fuel supplies in the final phase – in the meantime they had fallen behind him again.
So McLaughlin had the upper hand again in the absolute final phase. And if it hadn’t been for the numerous drivers lining up to lap him on the last lap, he would certainly have won the race. But now it’s Newgarden who celebrates his first victory of the 2022 season.
Behind the two Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi-Honda) finished in P3. Will Power in the third Penske Chevrolet ultimately finished fourth ahead of Scott Dixon, who completed the top 5.
Jimmie Johnson takes P6 for his first top-10 result
Directly behind Dixon, Jimmie Johnson finished P6 in another Ganassi Honda. This marked the seven-time NASCAR champion’s first top-10 result as a formula driver in the first oval race of his IndyCar career.
Even in qualifying, Johnson had surpassed his previous best mark (from circuits and street circuits) with an 18th-place start. In the race, the 46-year-old Californian, who has won seven times in his NASCAR career at Texas Motor Speedway alone, showed one or two overtaking manoeuvres worth seeing on the top line.
One of the drivers Johnson overtook in this way was reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou, who finished P7 in the fourth Ganassi Chevrolet. The top 10 was completed by Simon Pagenaud (Shank-Honda; 8th), Santino Ferrucci (Rahal-Honda; 9th) and Rinus VeeKay, who was only tenth after his early last pit stop.
Substitute rider Santino Ferrucci without a practice lap in P9
And Ferrucci? He didn’t even know he was going to race the day before! The reason: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the racing team of Bobby Rahal, David Letterman and Mike Lanigan, which is running three cars on a full-time basis this season, had to find a replacement driver for the race without further ado.
Regular driver Jack Harvey had a heavy crash in the final practice on Saturday. The Briton was able to get out of his destroyed 45 Rahal-Honda under his own power. However, the IndyCar doctors refused him permission to start due to the high G-forces that had occurred. Ferrucci, who had competed in five races for the team last year, jumped into Harvey’s replacement car without a practice lap and drove it straight into the top 10.
Rookie DeFrancesco clears veterans Rahal and Castroneves
Nine of the 27 drivers who started did not finish. Three were out on the spot when there was the most violent crash of the day shortly after half-time. On the first lap after a restart, things got too tight in the pack for Helio Castroneves (Shank-Honda), Graham Rahal (Rahal-Honda) and Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti-Honda).
The three were running side-by-side in Turn 3 when a slight contact between rookie DeFrancesco and veteran Rahal was the catalyst. Four-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves was also swept up in the process. All three escaped with their lives in the crash.
Castroneves’ comment: “Just unnecessary. Come on guys, if it had happened in the last couple of laps, but at that point there were still more than 100 laps to go.” Rahal saw it similarly and said in the rookie DeFrancesco’s direction: “I tried to give Helio as much space as possible. But I guess others have to learn that.” DeFrancesco later took the crash on his head.
Kyle Kirkwood – another of the rookies in the IndyCar field as the reigning Indy Lights champion – had put his black 14 Foyt Chevrolet into the wall after a couple of manoeuvres worth watching earlier in the race on his own. Kirkwood’s crash had happened immediately after the third of four restarts in the race. Best rookie at the end was David Malukas (Coyne-Honda) in P11.
Romain Grosjean retires with defect
Among the retirements in the first oval race of the season was Romain Grosjean. Making his debut on one of the big ovals on the IndyCar calendar, the Frenchman had to retire his yellow 28 Andretti Honda after just over 100 laps. “There was an engine problem. We lost power. It’s a shame, I would have liked to get more experience out there, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said Grosjean.
Also with a technical defect, Grosjean’s Andretti team-mate Alexander Rossi had already retired after eleven of the 248 laps. In his case, it was a defective electrical system that paralysed the 27 Andretti Honda. Apart from that, McLaren driver Felix Rosenqvist, who started from pole, also retired with a defect.
Trouble for Takuma Sato in IndyCar anniversary
For Takuma Sato it was the 200th race of his IndyCar career on Sunday. The Japanese driver, who switched from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to Dale Coyne Racing in the winter, started from the second row of the grid after a strong qualifying. However, he did not finish the race.
During the first pit stop sequence, Sato had led the race for a few laps. But when he came in for his first stop, he lost a lot of positions because his own team-mate David Malukas, of all people, unfortunately got in his way.
Malukas was about to accelerate again when Sato tried to turn in directly in front of him. Sato had to retire and dropped out of the leading group. On his way to catch up, Sato clipped the wall in a duel with another rookie – Devlin DeFrancesco – and ultimately dropped out altogether.
Next stop: Long Beach
For the third race on the 2022 IndyCar calendar, it’s back to a street circuit in three weeks. On 10 April, the race will be held in Long Beach, where the season finale was held once in September 2021. Now the tradition-steeped city race in the greater Los Angeles area returns to its traditional date on the calendar.
This is followed by two circuits before the second oval race on the calendar is the legendary Indy 500 on 29 May.
