The Captain knows how to celebrate a huge victory.
Newgarden took advantage of the non-existent high line to pass Scott McLaughlin at Texas Motor Speedway in the final turn and win the IndyCar race that his teammate had won. Roger Penske won his 600th overall win across all his platforms.
McLaughlin’s victory had brought him the promised bonuses — No. Penske, 599 — Last month’s IndyCar season opening race.
Roger is faithful to his word. Newgarden stated, “He gave me cold hard money in victory lane.” He is a great guy. He didn’t even make me wait.”
As a reward, the 85-year old team owner will give the remaining cash in $1,000 increments each to Team Penske employees. Penske began the year with Austin Cindric’s win in the Daytona 500. Now, Penske has back-toback wins from McLaughlin & Newgarden to start the IndyCar season.
Even better, IndyCar’s long-term track partner Texas won the duel in the top line at Texas. This race was surprisingly competitive and may have saved its future. Newgarden won IndyCar’s 35th race at Texas. The track has been home to the series since 1997.
This race was the last of the existing contracts and, if Sunday had been another sleeper, it would have been IndyCar’s final race in Texas. The 1.5-mile track uses a traction compound to improve NASCAR’s visit. However, the PJ1 is a terrible mismatch with IndyCar.
Drivers who dare to test the high line will often encounter an icy surface that leads them into the wall.
Penske stated to The Associated Press that he thought the race was good and that the track had opened up. “Even speaking to the promoter, it was a great race. The whole thing was amazing. Winning is great, but winning is not the most important thing.
Also, a contract extension is next?
Penske said to AP that the promoter was enthusiastic about the race, and he promised to call him. “That’s a positive sign.”
McLaughlin began second, but McLaughlin took the lead from Felix Rosenqvist in the first lap. McLaughlin led 186 laps of the 248 laps, and was not challenged until Newgarden’s last ditch charge.
The eighth-closest finish in Texas’ 35 races was achieved by 0.669 seconds.
IndyCar hosted a special session Saturday where seven drivers took 30 minutes to circle the track. The goal was to increase grip and create another lane. The session was mixed with mixed results. Some drivers crashed when they reached the slippery gray line. Others were patient and managed to make it work.
Marcus Ericsson, third place finisher, said, “My plan was go the high line into turn one. I thought it would work for the race’s start, but when it gets a bit slower, I think I got around three to four cars there on lap one just by going around them in turns one.” “After that, I was settling in and not wanting to do too much with it.
“I was able to see other people climbing up there and holding it high. I was brave enough to attempt it myself. It worked. Then you get confidence. There were quite a few passes, and the outside was in 1-2.”
Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing was on his first ever career podium at an oval. Will Power of Team Penske was fourth. He was then followed by Ericsson, of Chip Ganassi Racing, who was sixth. Jimmie Johnson was sixth, Scott Dixon was fifth and Alex Palou, the reigning IndyCar champion, seventh.
Johnson was a seven-time NASCAR Champion and the All-Time Texas Winner with seven wins. This was his highest IndyCar finish. Although Victory Lane is named after Johnson, Johnson did not race the ovals last year as an IndyCar rookie.
“Man, that is really great. Sixth Texas IndyCar oval race. These cars are difficult to drive,” Newgarden stated. “I must watch this race again, to see how he got there.”
Johnson debuted at a track that he knows best, adding ovals to his racing schedule. His strong performance was followed by a shout from his engineer: “Let’s win the Indianapolis 500!”
Johnson stated, “In some ways there’s validation. In other respects, there’s relief. In another respect, there’s just plain old I like to race’.”
Johnson, Dixon, six-time Series champion, was unable to pass Dixon, who was a six time Texas winner. Johnson had to double-check that he wasn’t making a mistake.
Johnson stated that he passed Scott Dixon, likely to his disappointment, but to my delight. Johnson said, “When I caught that group, and caught the 9-car, I had to look twice or three times to confirm it was real. Then I thought, ‘Yeah! I have caught Scott Dixon. This is great.’
ALEX’S AWFUL START
Seconds into the race, Alexander Rossi’s terrible start to the season as a free agent continued.
Rossi was flagged first for jumping the start. As he was returning his penalty position, his Andretti Autosport Honda suffered an electrical problem. Rossi slowed down to a crawl, and was back on pitroad, his race over, only 11 laps into this event.
Rossi stated that it was an electrical problem. We were losing battery voltage from the beginning of the race and it got exponentially worse before the battery died.
Rossi finished 20th in the season-opening race at St. Petersburg last month. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner is struggling to find a new contract after this disappointing start to the season.
Rossi deadpanned, “Well, at the least we saw green flag, so it’s cool.” “At this point what do you think?”
Andretti’s day was even worse: Romain Grosjean was struck by electrical problems, ending his race early. Devlin DeFrancesco was also involved in three caution flags, the last one being a three-car crash that ended the race with Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal.
UP NEXT – IndyCar will race on downtown Long Beach streets from April 10th to 11. Colton Herta won the race, which was the season’s finale last year due to pandemic restrictions.
