By David Morgan, Associate Editor
FORT WORTH, Tex. – Thrice as nice.
For the third time in his career, Josef Newgarden found himself in Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway, holding off a hard-charging Pato O’Ward down the stretch in Sunday’s PPG 375 to earn himself another cowboy hat.
In what was one of the most hotly contested races at the 1.5-mile oval in recent years, deciding which driver would come away victorious was up in the air from the time the green flag dropped all the way to the checkered.
Both Newgarden and O’Ward had their dominant portions of the race, with Newgarden leading 123 laps to O’Ward’s 91, but it was the final stint of the race that was the determining factor on which of these two drivers would come out on top.
The two drivers slotted into first and second following the final restart and were bound and determined to settle it amongst themselves, running wheel to wheel lap after lap as the finish drew nearer. It would come down to who could time the pass for the lead the best when the checkered flag flew.
Though it looked to be headed toward another photo finish, a crash by Romain Grosjean with two laps to go ended that notion, bringing out the caution and delivering Newgarden the win for the second straight year over O’Ward.
“Great car. I don’t know what else to say other than our car was fast. That’s what made the difference,” Newgarden said. “I sort of de-tuned it middle of the race. Pato ran up on us, got by us, was walking away. We got the tuning back, which was great. Reversed everything that I asked for. Got it into a happy window and were in position at the end.
“Team Chevy, PPG, a great weekend for us, great team effort. We’re on the board. We are on the board. We were not on the board leaving St. Pete. We’re on the board now.”
With Sunday’s finish, O’Ward starts the season with back-to-back runner-up results and though he would have loved to be able to win in the season opener at St. Pete or at his home track in Texas, the Arrow McLaren driver was not disappointed with the way his 2023 season has started off.
“I had the timing right,” O’Ward said of the finish. “The lap before we crossed the line, my nose was slightly in front of his. There was no way it was going to finish in single file. Yeah, racing gods had other plans.
“I have to say to the guys it’s been a hell of a start to the year. I had a rocket. Like, I don’t think…
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