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'It was just unnecessary': IndyCar XPEL 375 at Texas crash report, rough day for rookies

Rob Peeters, Indianapolis Star
·3 min read
Racers vie for position at the beginning of the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

The first oval race of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season featured its fair share of incidents. Rookie mistakes and oval inexperience contributed to some of the yellows, while mechanical problems and the dreaded marbles caused others. Here is a rundown of every incident of the XPEL 375 at Texas.

Lap 11 - Alexander Rossi coasted into the pit lane due to an electrical problem. The yellow flag was thrown as he limped onto the pit lane.

More: IndyCar: "At least we saw the green flag": Alexander Rossi's bad luck continues, out of Texas race

Lap 99 - Devlin DeFrancesco slid up into Takuma Sato in turns 1-2. Sato was forced to avoid the Canadian rookie and slid into the slick PJ1 compound. Sato was able to slow the car down for minimal damage, but still made contact with the wall. Sato eventually retired from the race.

Lap 114 - Rookie Kyle Kirkwood's oval debut ended shortly after a restart. Racing for twelfth position, Kirkwood was on the outside of fellow rookie Devlin DeFrancesco. Kirkwood's car slipped up into the PJ1 compound and spun around, hitting the wall.

"Once I got into the PJ1, I was good at first," Kirkwood told NBC Sports. "I went around the outside of Devlin, and he wiggled a little bit. He came up on me, it pushed me right up into the PJ1."

Lap 129 - The biggest accident of the day occurred on another restart. Devlin DeFrancesco made a three-wide pass in turn 3. The car slid up the race track and collected Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal.

“It was just unnecessary. We had 100 laps to go,” Castroneves said. “Come on, you know (three-wide) isn’t going to happen.”

Rahal said he was trying to give Castroneves enough room up high before DeFrancesco pushed his car into the mix.

“Just tight confines,” Rahal said. “I think (Devlin) has a bright future, but he punted Takuma earlier in the race, and you’ve got to learn from those mistakes.”

Josef Newgarden won the race after a thrilling last-lap, last-turn pass on teammate Scott McLaughlin.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: XPEL 375 at Texas crash report