Newgarden denies O’Ward again as Grosjean crashes · RaceFans

Josef Newgarden and Pato O’Ward staged a head-to-head, wheel-to-wheel fight for victory in Sunday’s Texas 375 at Texas Motor Speedway.

In the end, Newgarden held on for the victory over O’Ward after Romain Grosjean crashed out of fifth place on the penultimate lap.

The win is Newgarden’s second in a row around the 1.5-mile superspeedway. The track has been criticised in recent years for offering no happy medium between processional events and dangerous pack racing.

Thanks to a combination of factors – including special practice sessions to lay rubber on the outer groove of the corners, a range of aerodynamic parts that teams can install, and changeable conditions – the long-time IndyCar venue produced a pulsating race.

With the threat of severe weather in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the race start was brought forward by 15 minutes. Pole-winner Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon traded the lead early before Newgarden and O’Ward interjected themselves into the lead fight.

Takuma Sato’s 2023 season debut came to an abrupt end on lap 48. The Japanese driver, making his first start for Chip Ganassi Racing, washed out of the racing line to give Devlin DeFrancesco and Will Power room to his inside. He drifted into the marbles exiting turn two, spun and broadsided the inside retaining wall.

Since everyone was near the end of their first stint, the remaining 27 cars dived into pit lane for routine service. Alexander Rossi was running comfortably in the top five, but as he peeled out of his McLaren pit box, Kyle Kirkwood swerved into his and hit Rossi on the way in.

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Rossi suffered severe damage to the right-front suspension and lost six laps for repairs. Adding further insult to his wounds, Rossi was found to be at fault for an unsafe release and given a drive-through penalty – much to the 2016 Indy 500 winner’s disgust. Kirkwood fared little better afterwards, a right-rear suspension failure effectively ending his day.

At the second round of green flag pit stops, O’Ward came roaring into life. When the sun broke through the cloud covers, the number five McLaren Chevrolet turned into a rocket ship as O’Ward seized the lead, drove away and proceeded to all-but lap Newgarden at one stage.

The race took a sudden turn with 72 laps left. Rosenqvist lost control in the marbles out of turn four and crashed through the dogleg, ending what had been a promising run.

This incident, ironically, erased a…