Ed Carpenter scored a victory both for his own personal race team, Ed Carpenter Racing, and for Team Chevy after holding off a determined Will Power for the win under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday.
Carpenter managed to gain a 12-second lead on Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 242, but his work was all for none after a caution flag was put out on lap 246. Carpenter managed to hang on to his position following the restart, but only just, beating Power by a hair raising 0.5247 of a second.
Power, who was the pole sitter at Texas and is currently the season points leader, may have had a better shot at winning if it wasn’t for a critical mistake made while entering the pits late in the race. For the fourth time this season Power was caught speeding in pit lane, resulting in a penalty handed down by Race Control with 35 laps left. The Australian was also given a penalty for speeding in the pits at the Indianapolis 500 on May 25,  resulting in him finishing eighth.
“I’ve got to stop making mistakes like that,” Power said earlier in the week. “One potential win turned into an eighth-place finish.”
Power still managed to make the best of the situation however. Team Penske race strategist Tim Cindric called Power into the pits on Lap 244 for fresh tires, which helped him pass three cars on the restart and earn back some of the points he would have lost as a result of the penalty.
Juan Pablo Montoya managed to score his first podium of the season after finishing third, putting a second Team Penske car on the podium. Simon Pagenaud finished fourth, followed by reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in fifth and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Tony Kanaan in sixth.
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