Will Power has taken victory after a crazy Rainguard Water Sealers 600 around the Texas Motor Speedway, in a race of attrition which featured nine full course cautions and one red flag delay.
Such was the incident-filled nature of the race that only nine of the 22 cars finished the race, with Max Chilton ending the race in the pit-lane after being involved in the last shunt between Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato.
Tony Kanaan ended the race second for Chip Ganassi Racing, despite being struck with a stop-and-go penalty for causing a multi-car incident after making contact with James Hinchcliffe earlier in the race.
The resulting contact with Hinchcliffe saw carnage ensue further back, as Hinchcliffe slammed into the wall and Mikhail Aleshin collected Tristan Vautier. Hildebrand, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Jones, Carlos Munoz and Ed Carpenter were all involved, with race officials red flagging the race to allow the track to be cleared.
Simon Pagenaud escaped any contact to come home a respectable third for Penske, who put aside their lack of pace in qualifying to enjoy a relatively successful 248-lap race.
Detroit double-header race winner Graham Rahal also survived the many skirmishes throughout the race to finish P4 for RLL Racing, ahead of Gabby Chaves who crossed the line a very respectable fifth for Harding Racing in only their second race.
Marco Andretti was P6, with the Andretti Autosport racer making numerous setup changes during the closing stages of the race.
After the red flag delay Firestone and INDYCAR officials declared that after every 30 laps a competition caution would be called to allow the drivers to complete mandatory pit-stops, after severe tyre wear was experienced by several drivers.
Helio Castroneves suffered a front-right tyre failure during the early stages of the race, running straight on at Turn 2 and making heavy contact with the SAFER barrier.
Conor Daly was P7 for A.J. Foyt Racing despite spinning while trying to avoid Sato, Chilton and Dixon up ahead, with Chilton officially classified in eighth yet stuck in the pit-lane after sustaining heavy damage to the front of his car.
With only a handful of laps remaining Sato dipped a wheel on the grass at Turn 1 while fighting for P2 with four-time champion Dixon.
The reigning Indianapolis 500 champion lost control of his car after touching the grass verge and collected Dixon, taking both drivers out of the race.
Meanwhile Chilton ploughed into the side of Sato and Daly spun in avoidance, forcing the race to conclude under caution.
Josef Newgarden was one of the many retirements, after the Penske racer tried to run three-wide earlier in the race before losing control of his car and slamming into the wall.
Meanwhile initial pole sitter Charlie Kimball’s race ended in misery after the first round of pit-stops, with the Chip Ganassi racer suffering a mechanical issue and joining the long list of retirements.
Despite retiring Dixon maintains a 13-point lead in the drivers’ championship to reigning champion Pagenaud, with Sato only one point adrift of the Frenchman.
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