Report 2017 Rainguard Water Sealers 600



start of race



hélio castroneves , takuma sato after colliding in pit lane



cars on pit lane during red flag



josef newgarden after crashing



will power leading during late caution


the race held on saturday, june 10. @ start, charlie kimball jumped lead of race, top 5 positions staying same. top 5 remained same drivers until around lap 20, when team penske drivers began working way front of field, including josef newgarden , power. front, though, battle lead between kimball , tristan vautier, vautier getting clear of kimball on lap 29, newgarden, power, , ed carpenter followed suit. racing interrupted caution first time on lap 37, when alexander rossi lost control of car , crashed in turn 3 after making contact chip ganassi racing teammates scott dixon , tony kanaan. first of many crashes during night. during caution, field took opportunity make pit stops, newgarden winning race of pit road ahead of power , vautier. cars left pits lane, james hinchcliffe lost control of car, causing him spin , collect cars of hélio castroneves , takuma sato, though 3 able continue on after repairs. kimball, after strong start race, encountered mechanical issues during pit stop , forced retire, leaving him 21st place finish. pit stops saw rash of penalties, race leader newgarden , j. r. hildebrand hit pit-lane speeding penalties , hinchcliffe penalized incident had caused. once chaos of pit stops had finished, power held lead on vautier, dixon, carpenter, , simon pagenaud.


racing resumed on lap 48, power maintaining lead despite attempts both vautier , dixon around him. however, lap 66, attacks on power s lead began dissipate teammate pagenaud moved second place. behind them, castroneves began make move toward top of field, moving top 5 10 laps later. during stint, drivers, notably newgarden, began suffering tire blistering, causing concerns tire durability. these concerns seemed come light on lap 91, when right-front tire on castroneves s car failed, causing him crash heavily in turn 2. pit stops once again occurred, power maintaining lead on pagenaud, dixon, kanaan, , mikhail aleshin. during caution, hinchcliffe, newgarden, , sato able onto lead lap after losing in chaos of first caution. racing resumed on lap 103, race went under caution carpenter , vautier touched, sending carpenter spin in turn 1. caution brief, , racing resumed on lap 108.


a lengthy green flag period followed restart, power leading way. behind him, positions in top 5 changed often, pagenaud, dixon, kanaan, vautier, , hildebrand battled positions. on lap 139, caution flew again, time debris. leaders once again took advantage of caution make pit stops, max chilton elected stay out, placing him in lead of race. on lap 149, racing resumed, chilton able briefly hold lead before power once again moved past him resume command of race. on lap 152, tony kanaan moved wide coming towards turn 3, making contact james hinchcliffe, had mikhail aleshin outside of him. hinchcliffe spun, causing large crash took out himself, aleshin, ed carpenter, j. r. hildebrand, tristan vautier, ed jones, ryan hunter-reay, , carlos muñoz in incident compared big 1 @ similar pack-racing nascar races. carpenter , hildebrand return race course, several laps down. incident forced race red flagged allow clean-up. during red flag, indycar , firestone officials, in response continuing issues blistering tires, elected have competition caution periods , mandatory tire stops after 30 green flag laps remainder of race. during red flag period, officials assessed stop , 20-second hold penalty kanaan role in eight-car pile up, which, once race restarted, put him 2 laps down.


after 30 minutes of clean-up, racing resumed on lap 159. top 4 battle between power, pagenaud, dixon, , newgarden. however, newgarden, had been suffering worst issues blistering, pitted 2 laps before mandatory stops, placing him @ tail end of field and, despite changing tires, still forced change tires @ competition caution. during mandatory stops, dixon managed past power, placing him in lead, while pagenaud, takuma sato, , graham rahal emerged behind them. during caution, tony kanaan managed regain 1 of laps.


racing resumed once again on lap 198, power moved around dixon once again take lead of race. caution came out again 3 laps later, newgarden attempted complete three-wide pass in turn 3, resulted in him hitting wall in turn 4. racing resumed on lap 210, power maintaining lead, while second place became battle between pagenaud, dixon, , sato, dixon emerging ahead. caution put kanaan onto lead lap. on lap 225, final competition caution of race came out, top 5 staying same after mandatory pit stops. final restart of race came @ lap 229, dixon moving outside of power challenge lead. 2 switched lead several times, while behind them, pagenaud, sato, rahal, , kanaan pulled behind them , began challenging lead. 5 laps go, sato attempted pass dixon in dogleg on front-stretch, clipped grass, sending him spin , collecting dixon , max chilton. conor daly spun in incident, did not hit anything. few laps left, race ended under caution, power taking second victory of year , second victory @ texas motor speedway. tony kanaan, despite role in 2 incidents, came across line in second, while simon pagenaud took final step of podium. 3 other drivers finished on lead lap; graham rahal in fourth, gabby chaves in fifth, , marco andretti in sixth.


in points, dixon maintained points lead, while pagenaud moved second place. power, win, moved top 5 after dropping out in detroit races.








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