After nine cautions and 66 laps under caution, nine cars crossed the finish line—under caution. Led by Team Penske’s Will Power, the nine car field finished a wild and at times confusing, Rainguard 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 22-car field, started the 248 lap race with vigor and close calls, Tristan Vautier, subbing for Esteban Gutierrez started P5 and traded leads with pole-sitter Charlie Kimball from lap 16 until lap 29. The approval meter for the race was off the charts, at this point. Then everything happened.
The #98 car of Alexander Rossi made contact with the Chip Ganassi Racing machine of Tony Kanaan on lap 37 in Turn 3 and brought out the first (of many) caution. Kanaan escaped without damage. The caution lasted 10 laps. On lap 91, Helio Castroneves was involved in a single car incident stemming from a puncture in Turn 2. Another 10 laps under caution.
The next 45 laps saw Ed Carpenter spin in Turn 1 on lap 103, bringing out the yellow for a third time. On lap 138 there was a short flag for debris on track— number four. After the fifth restart, it was less racing and more demolition derby at Texas Motor Speedway.
Kanaan went under James Hinchcliffe on lap 152 and Hinchcliffe’s team-mate Mikhail Aleshin joined making it three-wide in Turn 3. Without leaving Hinchcliffe any room, Kanaan accelerated up and pass causing Hinchcliffe into his team-mate and starting a multi-car incident. Six cars in total, including early-race leader Vautier and his Dale Coyne Racing team-mate Ed Jones. The caution turned into a red flag. While under red flag, owner Dale Coyne had some choice words for Kanaan, as he blamed the Brazilian for the crash.
Hinchcliffe said of team owner Chip Ganassi’s defense of Kanaan, “I think it’s adorable.”
Two out of the next three cautions were competition cautions—race control dictated, mandatory pit stops—for what IndyCar Series officials deemed as ‘safety reasons’ in a statement. In total, eight laps were conducted under competition caution conditions.
The last caution, occurred when Indy 500 champion Takuma Sato tried to pass Scott Dixon for P2 with five lap to go. The #26 of Sato made contact with the New Zealander taking both out of the race; and causing damage to the cars of Conor Daly and Max Chilton.
Race control sent out the pace car and Power cruised to victory under caution. Kanaan, involved in several other incidents in the race finished second. Power’s Team Penske team-mate Simon Pagenaud completed the podium in third.
Rainguard Water Sealers 600 Race Notes:
– The win was Power’s career win #31.
– Pagenaud claimed the second spot on the Driver’s Championship from team-mate Castroneves. Dixon still leads.
– Power lead the most laps with 180.
– Kanaan had the fastest overall lap, 0m23.0816s on lap 232 at 224.594mph.
– JR Hildebrand finished, but was 33 laps down after repairs from contact during the Hinchcliffe incident.
– There were 23 lead changes.
