Power wins chaotic Texas IndyCar race

Will Power has won a Rainguard Water Sealers 600 which ended under Caution after Takuma Sato took out Scott Dixon while the three battled for the lead.

Only nine of 22 starters made the finish at Texas Motor Speedway after a mid-race coming-together between Tony Kanaan, James Hinchcliffe, and Mikhail Aleshin wiped out another eight cars.

Charlie Kimball held pole position and ran at the front during the opening laps but it was Tristan Vautier, substituting at Dale Coyne Racing in a first IndyCar start since 2015, who starred early on.

The Frenchman was bravest on the high line and led the race when the first Caution came as Alexander Rossi spun and hit the wall in his Andretti Autosport Honda, having been squeezed between the Chip Ganassi Hondas of Kanaan and Dixon.

There was further contact in pit lane when Hinchcliffe bagged up his Schmidt Peterson Honda exiting his box, taking out Helio Castroneves’ Team Penske Chevrolet and Sato’s Andretti Autosport Honda.

Meanwhile, Kimball’s Ganassi Honda was pushed behind the wall with an oil leak, and Josef Newgarden lost the lead due to pit lane speeding.

That left Power in the lead when the race restarted on Lap 49, but Vautier was nipping at his heels until the Frenchman was shuffled back.

Simon Pagenaud had picked his way through the field to join his Team Penske Chevrolet team-mate Power at the front when another Penske driver, Castroneves in car #3, lost a right-front tyre and hit the wall on Lap 91.

The subsequent restart for that Caution lasted only a matter of seconds as Ed Carpenter spun at Turn 1 when Vautier turned down in him.

The owner/driver managed to escape with just flatspotted tyres as his ECR Chevrolet team opted to not even change the front wing which had made contact with Vautier’s car, and stayed on the lead lap.

Racing got underway for a third time on Lap 108 and a five-car battle for the lead soon developed.

Full-course yellows flew again on Lap 139 for debris, with Max Chilton (Chip Ganassi Honda) taking over the race lead having gambled on not stopping.

Power ran second to the Englishman under the pace car, ahead of Pagenaud, Kanaan, Dixon, and Vautier after the two Ganassi drivers jumped the DCR stand-in in pit lane.

Chilton was quickly shuffled back when the race restarted for a fourth time, Power reclaiming top spot, but a multi-car crash five laps later saw proceedings red flagged.

Hinchcliffe had been challenging Kanaan on his left when the Canadian’s team-mate Aleshin ranged up on his right-hand-side and the trio appeared to all move to the same lane, causing the man in the middle to lose control.

Hinchcliffe tagged Vautier as he slid, who in turn spun into the side of Aleshin, while Carlos Muñoz (AJ Foyt Chevrolet), Ed Jones (Dale Coyne Honda), Carpenter, JR Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Chevrolet), and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Honda), were also caught in the carnage.

Kanaan was issued a hold penalty for his part in the crash, dropping two laps in the process.

Power headed Dixon, Chilton, and Pagenaud at the Lap 160 restart, but Pagenaud rose to make a Penske one-two as Newgarden and Dixon continually exchanged third position.

Meanwhile, with tyre durability becoming a concern, IndyCar officials elected to introduce compulsory all-wheel tyre changes each 30 laps of green flag running.

Amid conjecture over the nature of the mandate and how cars might have to adhere to a Competition Caution, Newgarden was brought into the pits a lap before the first yellow fell due, but was made to re-serve his pit stop under Caution.

It turned into a pack race shortly after the sixth restart on Lap 198, as the field ran in three rows of two at the front.

Newgarden, who had recovered from the extra stop, then attempted to go three-wide at the front on Lap 202 but lost control on the dirty third lane and slammed the #2 Penske Chevrolet into the wall at Turn 4.

Lap 210 saw a clean restart which preceded a battle between Power, Dixon, and Sato for the lead.

The Indianapolis 500 winner moved into second before Dixon reclaimed the place just prior to the final Competition Caution on Lap 224.

That stoush resumed in what was to be the final stint of the race, Dixon repeatedly edging just in front of Power on the outside line.

However, it ended in tears on Lap 244 when Sato put the left-hand-side of his car on the grass at Turn 1, lost control, and took the Kiwi with him.

Power took the chequered flag under Caution, while Kanaan finished runner-up having got his laps back during the Competition yellows.

The Brazilian was contrite after the race for his part in the incident which he escaped but which also claimed more than a third of the field.

“I think I have to apologise to Hinch,” said Kanaan.

“I move up a little bit for sure, and I hate to do that.

“I mean, definitely it was not on purpose, and we got tangled, so it’s a shame.

“Obviously, that’s not the way I drive, I don’t like to crash people but we got a penalty, we paid the penalty and we raced back, so it is what it is.”

Pagenaud finished third while Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) rose to fourth, having seemingly thrown away a strong resulted when he stalled exiting his pit box before the final restart.

Gabby Chaves (Harding Racing Chevrolet) finished fifth ahead of Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport Honda), who also recovered after falling off the lead lap, while Conor Daly (AJ Foyt Chevrolet) did finish one lap down in seventh.

Chilton finished eighth as he continued to circulate under Caution despite also being caught up in the Sato-Dixon crash.

Hildebrand returned to the track several laps down after being caught in the earlier pile-up and was running in 12th at the finish.

Dixon continues to lead the championship as the top three heading into the race all failed to finish.

Pagenaud jumped Castroneves and Sato to move into second, while Power is now fifth and within a race win of first position.

Road America is the next stop for the Verizon IndyCar Series, from June 23-25.

VIDEO: Race recap

Results: Texas 600

(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone

Championship points