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| Scott Dixon looks to turn Texas into a historic weekend |
Qualifying was washed out on Saturday afternoon, meaning both grids would be set via entrant points. IndyCar did make a change mid-weekend and instead of setting the grid for Sunday's XPEL 375 via the entrant points entering the weekend, IndyCar decided the points after Saturday's Genesys 300 would determine the starting order for Sunday's race.
With that change, winner of night one, Scott Dixon, will start on pole position for this evening's race. Dixon has the championship lead with 118 points, and he has finished in the top five of all three races this season, this is the second consecutive season he has three top five finishes to start the year. He has 13 consecutive top ten finishes, matching the longest streak of his career. Dixon's victory was also the 51st of his career, putting him one behind Mario Andretti for second all-time. Andretti's 52nd victory came in his 377th start at Phoenix on April 4, 1993. Tonight will be Dixon's 339th start and he will look to extend his winning streak to three races at Texas. Last night, he became the first driver to win consecutive IndyCar races at the 1.5-mile oval. Dixon has swept a doubleheader before in his career. He did it at Toronto in 2013.
Álex Palou sweeps the front row for Chip Ganassi Racing after a fourth-place finish on Saturday night has him second in the championship on 100 points. Last night was Palou's first top ten finish on an oval. The only time the Spaniard has had consecutive top ten finishes was in the third and fourth rounds last season, a doubleheader at Road America where he finished third and seventh.
Will Power dropped to third in the championship on 81 points after finishing 14th at Texas. Since winning at Texas in 2017, he has finished outside the top ten in three of the last four Texas races and his best finish is ninth. He has not led at the track in any of his last four starts after having led a lap in seven of his first ten Texas appearances.
Patricio O'Ward scored the fifth podium finish of his career in race one from Texas. O'Ward has three consecutive podium finishes on ovals and he has four top five finishes in his seven career oval starts. He has four top five finishes in his last five starts dating back to the end of the 2020 season. His third-place finish last night was Arrow McLaren SP's first top five finish at Texas since James Hinchcliffe was second in 2016.
Jack Harvey ended up seventh for the third time on an oval in his career in race one. That result has him starting fifth for Sunday's race. Since the start of last season, Harvey has started in the top ten in 13 of 17 races and six of those have been top five starts. However, he has only finished equal to or better than his starting position in six of those races.
Josef Newgarden will start sixth after finishing sixth in race one. Last night was the first time Newgarden had not led a lap at Texas since 2015. Newgarden has been outside the championship top five after all three races this season. Prior to this season he had been outside the top five in the championship after five of 65 races with Team Penske with his longest stretch being two races, after the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and first Belle Isle race.
Though he fell short of victory, Scott McLaughlin was the man of the night on Saturday from Texas, as McLaughlin was runner-up to fellow New Zealander Dixon. It was the first time two Kiwis stood on the podium and McLaughlin is only the third New Zealander to finish in the top five of an IndyCar race. Denny Hulme was fourth in two of his four starts, Hulme first two starts more specifically, the 1967 and 1968 Indianapolis 500.
Simon Pagenaud makes it three consecutive Penske cars on the grid with the Frenchman rolling off from seventh. Pagenaud has six consecutive top ten finishers at Texas. Pagenaud has never won from seventh on the grid in his career, but seventh has produced three Texas winners since 2012. It is the only starting position to produce multiple winners at Texas in the DW12-era.
Graham Rahal's fifth place finish on Saturday has lifted him to ninth in the championship. Rahal has had at least one top five finish in every season of his IndyCar career. He has finished in the top five of one of the first three races in a season in five of the last six years. Rahal has five top ten finishes in his last six Texas starts.
Colton Herta's brake fire took him out of a possible top five finish and it has dropped him to tenth in the championship and tenth on the grid. His 2021 results have yo-yoed from 22nd to 1st and now back to 22nd. Prior to the start of the 2021 season, Herta had 25 consecutive top twenty finishes. He is now 48 points behind Dixon in the championship.
Takuma Sato is 11th in the championship after finishing ninth last night. This is the eighth consecutive race Sato has started outside the top ten. His longest streak without a top ten start is nine races, from Barber to Mid-Ohio in 2016. He has not had a top five finish in his last ten starts.
Rinus VeeKay avoided any incident last night, but poor timing trapped him a lap down after his pit stop and he ended up finishing 20th. This is VeeKay's worst finish since finishing 20th in the Indianapolis 500 last year. Tonight will be his 18th career start. The four drivers to have a first career victory come in their 18th start are Peter DePaolo, Rodger Ward, Paul Tracy and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Marcus Ericsson had a botch pit stop take him out of the running for a top ten finish. The right rear tire was not safely secured when Ericsson left his pit box on his final stop. It was the second consecutive time he has had a pit lane issue drop him to a 19th place finish. Ericsson did set fastest lap in Saturday's race.
Sébastien Bourdais was spun when Josef Newgarden made contact exiting turn two last night and it left Bourdais 24th in the box score, last position on the night. Bourdais had finished equal to or improved him finish in each of his first six Texas starts with a pair of 20ths in 2013 and 2014 before finishing 14th, tenth, eighth and eighth. He has not had a top five finish on an oval since he was fourth at Pocono in 2018.
Alexander Rossi went from 16th to eighth last night, but it could have been a top five result before losing time running too long on his second stint. Despite Rossi gaining eight positions on the night, he will only move up one position on the grid and he will start 15th. This will be the fourth time he has rolled off from 15th to start a race. His best finish from 15th on the grid is eighth. Rossi is 63 points off Dixon in the championship.
Entrant points has Pietro Fittipaldi 16th on the grid after he finished 15th last night. Fittipaldi nearly led a lap last night during a pit cycle, but he entered pit lane before he could officially cycle to the lead. A Fittipaldi has not led an IndyCar race since lap 36 of the 2002 Surfers Paradise race when Christian Fittipaldi led under caution in the pit lane as most the field had to pit for fuel. The race would be called four laps later due to weather after 31 consecutive caution laps and 33 of 40 laps were behind the safety car.
Felix Rosenqvist lost a top ten finish in the pit lane as he took evasive action to miss the stranded three-wheeled Marcus Ericsson. Rosenqvist had to take to the grass. Rosenqvist has not had a top ten finish in five consecutive races. He is the top driver in the championship without a top ten finishes.
Ed Jones picked up his best finish of the season last night in 12th. Jones will make his 51st start tonight. Jeff Ward is the only driver to pick up a first career victory in a 51st career start and that came at Texas on June 8, 2002. It was the only victory of Ward's career.
Ed Carpenter moved up to 19th on the grid after finishing 17th on Saturday night. Carpenter has finished outside the top ten in six consecutive races. This is his longest top ten drought since the 2015 Pocono race through the 2016 Texas race. He has not gone seven starts without a top ten finish since the first Toronto race through the second Houston race in 2013.
Tony Kanaan was 11th on night one from Texas, but that will only move the Brazilian to 20th on the grid from 23rd the night before. He has started 20th or worse in three of the last four Texas races. The furthest back Kanaan has won a race from in his IndyCar career was 15th at Iowa in 2010.
Ryan Hunter-Reay is 21st on the grid as he ended up outside the top ten for the third consecutive race and yesterday's 16th place result ended a streak of three consecutive top ten finishes at Texas. This will be the 19th time Hunter-Reay has started outside the top twenty in his IndyCar. His best finish when starting outside the top twenty was third at Pocono in 2016. He has two other top five finishes and seven total top ten finishes when starting worse than 20th.
James Hinchcliffe's accident in race one dropped him to 22nd on the grid. This is the first time Hinchcliffe does not have a top ten finish through his first three starts in a season and this is the first time he has three consecutive finishes outside the top fifteen since the 2011 Indianapolis 500 and the 2011 Texas doubleheader, starts four, five and six of his IndyCar career.
Dalton Kellett might have matched his career best finish and scored his first lead lap finish last night, but he will still start 23rd for race two. It was also the first time he was the top finisher for A.J. Foyt Racing in a race.
Conor Daly rounds out the grid in 24th. Carlin has yet to finish better than 20th this season. Daly has finished outside the top fifteen in five consecutive races.
NBCSN's coverage of the EXEL 375 begins at 5:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 248 laps.
