The PPG375 at the Texas Motor Speedway produced a scintillating show as Josef Newgarden drove the PPG Chevrolet to victory Lane. Here are the biggest talking points after the NTT Indycar Series’s first oval race of the year:

Newgarden prevails in thriller

After qualifying, there was certainly a buzz about Josef Newgarden. He won this event in 2022 having started ninth, making his winning move on the final lap. However, in 2023, the two time series champion qualified higher up in the field, and looked confident. 

The Arrow McLaren team stood in his way – after its drivers qualified first, third and fifth, Arrow McLaren were confident of a good result. But by the halfway point in the race, it was clear only one of their cars had the pace – Mexican Pato O’Ward. 

In a battle for the ages, there was a stage of the race where only Newgarden and O’Ward were on the lead lap, such was their superior pace over the rest of the field. As Newgarden’s oval experience came to the fore, he was the leader when the caution flag came out after Grosjean hit the wall on the penultimate lap, and the Team Penske driver cruised home to victory. 

This win means Newgarden has now won 5 of IndyCar’s last 7 oval races, and puts him in a good position ahead of the 107^th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The signs look good for O’Ward

On the surface, it may seem disappointing for Pato O’Ward to be leaving Texas without the winner’s trophy. However, the signs are good for the Mexican. 

He does leave Dallas with the championship lead, following two second-place finishes in the first two rounds of the season. He has also finished in the top four of the Indianapolis 500 in both of the last two years, and a lack of downforce in the final stint is what has prevented him from taking that race’s win. IndyCar’s new speedway aero update has allowed drivers to run more downforce without compromising straight line speed, and this may allow O’Ward to be in the hunt at this year’s Indy 500.

Add that to his remarkable pace so far this season, despite not winning a race, and you can clearly see an alchemy that is capable of challenging for both the Astor Cup and the Borg-Warner trophy in 2023. Pato O’Ward is the driver to beat.

Texas Motor Speedway back to its best 

Texas Motor Speedway used to be a temple of speed, pack racing, and photo finishes. In 2016 for example, Graham Rahal beat James Hinchliffe to the line by a mere 0.008 seconds. 

After PJ1 was laid down in the upper grooves of the circuit, racing has often been processional, as drivers realised that the high line was impossible to run in an IndyCar, as there was no grip.

In 2022, the racing was better, thanks to an extra practice session to exclusively run the highline was introduced. In 2023 this practice session was used again, and the effect was huge; the final laps at the Texas Motor Speedway this year had some of the best action you have ever seen.

Although Indycar should not exclusively be having pack racing, as the dangers are far too high, but the fact that the cars were able to run in close proximity and create battles throughout entire stints bodes well for the future of the event in Texas.

There were 1040 on track passes this year in 2023. The race was absolutely captivating, and hopefully this trend of Texas becoming a multi-groove, high speed circuit again will continue.

RLL with thinking to do 

The Team with the trickiest weekend was certainly Rahal Letterman Lanigan racing. The cars qualified right at the back of the grid, and whatever they seem to do to try and resolve the issues only resulted in the car becoming worse.

RLL are testing at Texas this week, as the team prepares for the Indy 500 in May. This is critical now after their disappointing results at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last season. There is certainly a lot of head scratching from RLL, as the team that looked relatively strong towards the back end of 2022, has once again fallen at the start of 2023.

Graham Rahal’s race ended unfortunately in the wall following contact with Devlin DeFrancesco, and his teammates did not fare much better. The trajectory is only up from here.

Indycar heads to long beach 

The NTT IndyCar series will return in two weeks’ time for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, well last year Josef Newgarden triumphed in a thrilling rice, where are the most notable event was when Simon Pagenaud ended up in the flowers around the fountain.

After over 1000 passes in Texas on Sunday, the race at Long Beach will be a very different affair, as the bumpy circuit poses many challenges, but the race will certainly be a great watch.