Team Penske’s Will Power held off a thin field of hard-charging drivers who survived one of the most crash-filled races in IndyCar history.
A total of 22 drivers entered the race, but a total of just nine finished, with just six finishing on the lead lap. Team Penske’s Will Power took the checkered flag at the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at the 4-turn, 1.5-mile D-shaped Texas Motor Speedway oval in Fort Worth, Texas in a race that fittingly ended under caution.
Power became just the second driver to win multiple IndyCar races this season in the ninth race and became the first to win on both a road/street course and an oval. The win was the 31st of his IndyCar career, which tied him for 9th on the all-time wins list.
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Despite not having any cars qualify in the top 8 for the race, Chevrolet won the race with Will Power and took both 3rd and 5th place with Simon Pagenaud and Gabby Chaves, respectively. The win was the fourth of the season so far for Chevrolet. Tony Kanaan was Honda’s top finishing driver in 2nd place.
In two races this season, the other being the Indianapolis 500, Gabby Chaves set his career-high IndyCar finish, and both times he was the third-highest finishing Chevrolet driver.
Of the past seven superspeedway races dating back to 2015, this is just the second won by Chevrolet. The other was last year’s Pocono race, which was also won by Will Power.
Other Notable Statistics
The race featured a total of 23 lead changes among seven different drivers. Will Power led the most laps, leading 180 of the race’s 248.
The race featured nine caution flag periods for a total of 66 laps. The first caution flag of the race came out on lap 37 when Alexander Rossi spun out and hit the wall in turn 3 after being sandwiched in between Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon. The second caution flag of the race came out on lap 91 when Helio Castroneves got into the turn 2 wall because of a flat tire.
The third caution flag of the race came out on lap 103 when Ed Carpenter spun in turn 1 but was able to save himself from hitting the wall. The fourth caution flag of the race came out on lap 138 when track officials scanned the track for debris.
The fifth caution flag of the race came out on lap 152 when Tony Kanaan slid up the track into James Hinchcliffe heading into turn 3 and caused a chain-reaction eight-car crash involving Hinchcliffe, Ed Jones, Tristan Vautier, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter, JR Hildebrand, Mikhail Aleshin and Carlos Munoz. This caution flag quickly turned into a red flag.
Kanaan was penalized and went two laps down, but he was able to battle back and finish in 2nd place thanks in large part to IndyCar’s mandatory competition cautions and pit stops, much like NASCAR’s stage racing, that were introduced on the spot following this accident.
The sixth caution flag of the race came out on lap 190 as a competition caution. The seventh caution flag of the race came out on lap 201 when Josef Newgarden tried to go three-wide in turns 3 and 4 and got loose off the exit of turn 4 and hit the wall. The eight caution flag of the race came out on lap 225 as a competition caution.
The ninth and final caution flag of the race came out on lap 244 when Takuma Sato got loose after sticking his front left tire into the grass on the front straightaway and slid into Scott Dixon as a result of it. Max Chilton then slammed into Dixon’s out-of-control car, and Conor Daly spun out as well. The race ended under this caution flag.
See full race results from the ninth race of the 2017 season at IndyCar.com.
Closing Thoughts
Unfortunately, more inconsistency was shown by IndyCar when they did not throw the red flag after the last wreck with five laps to go. One race after throwing the red flag at Belle Isle with three laps to go, the series proved a point I made in an article earlier this week that end-of-race red flag scenarios need rules that are set in stone to prevent inconsistency in the future.
But given their random adaptation of a version of NASCAR’s stage racing following the eight-car wreck, it’s not surprising since they literally were making up the rules as they went. It did work out in a way, as the racing was, in fact, fantastic despite some drivers worrying before the race that it might be quite boring given the recent changes to the track.
Next Race
The next IndyCar race is at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. That race takes place on Sunday, June 25th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ET, and will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network starting at 12:30 PM ET.
Next: IndyCar Red Flag Inconsistencies Show
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