Wilson passes Rahal to win Texas IRL race

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Justin Wilson was the surprise IndyCar winner Saturday night in an oddly entertaining race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The track and IndyCar's pack racing style were under fire in the aftermath of Dan Wheldon's death at similarly shaped Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October.

But this was a safer race with cars more spread out than in the past, and there still was drama at the end.

Race leader Graham Rahal hit the Turn 4 wall with just over two laps left, opening the door for Wilson to pass him. Rahal couldn't believe his misfortune, but he held on to finish second ahead of Ryan Briscoe.

"We had that one," said Rahal, who was trying to win his second career race. "This one will haunt me forever."

Wilson saw it coming.

"It was four-wheel drift all through Turn 3, all the way through Turn 4," he said.

Wilson won his first oval-track race and his seventh overall. It had been 42 races since Wilson won his last race, with Dale Coyne Racing at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in 2009.

Wilson was reunited with Dale Coyne's team in the offseason after two years at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Both he and Coyne said it's a race that deserves to be on IndyCar's 2013 schedule.

"Yes, it does," Wilson said. "It was a great race; I really enjoyed it.

"Sure, I probably had the best seat in the house, but from a drivers point of view I'd give it a thumbs up."

Rahal agreed.

"If it's like tonight, absolutely," he said. "It was a great show. You really had to drive the car."

There was drama all over the track despite the lack of pack racing like NASCAR has at Daytona and Talladega.

IndyCar points leader Will Power was leading this race on a restart at Lap 185 when Tony Kanaan made a bid to pass him on the inside on the backstretch. Power's car moved down to block Kanaan's run, and Kanaan's right front wing contacted Power's left rear. The wing broke.

Kanaan came to pit road for a new nose assembly; Power was called to pit road by series race director Beaux Barfield to serve a blocking penalty.

"That move right there was unacceptable," said Kanaan, who told Power as much after the race.

Power finished eighth, Kanaan 11th.

IndyCar followed the advice of its drivers and changed the aerodynamic package, making the cars more difficult to drive. They sure were.

Dario Franchitti had such a big wiggle in Turn 4 in the opening laps that he almost immediately came to pit road for an adjustment. That cost him two laps to the leaders. He came back to pit road a few minutes later for even bigger changes to the car's rear because it was that loose. He finished 14th, three laps off the pace.

JR Hildebrand had a similar problem, although not as pronounced as Franchitti's problem. Hildebrand stayed on the track until the first caution, which came on Lap 31. He soldiered on to finish fifth, one spot behind James Hinchcliffe.

Charlie Kimball lost control of his car in Turn 4, spun and hit the outside wall. He was not injured, and he blamed EJ Viso for inconsistent driving. By Kimball's assessment, Viso's moves disturbed the air on the nose of his car, leading to an unsettling when he passed through the corner.

The second crash came on Lap 65. Takuma Sato was well off the second corner when the car looped on the backstretch. Hildebrand had to navigate around him, narrowly missing Sato before he bounced off the inside wall. It wasn't much of a hit, but it was the end of Sato's race.

About that time, Ryan Hunter-Reay dropped out of the race with a mechanical problem.

The race had several strange moments. Marco Andretti didn't realize that a brief fire extinguished itself, so he came back for service. He unstrapped to get out, but the crew told him to get back in. It took six laps to get the buckles back in place.

Helio Castroneves nearly got lapped due to having to stop on pit road as rookie Josef Newgarden blocked his pit box.

On Lap 174, Scott Dixon crashed in Turn 4 shortly after relinquishing the lead to Power. Dixon had led 133 of the laps to that point, earning the two-point bonus for leading the most laps in the race.

Dixon said the aero change was good for the driving, although it was difficult to do so. He said the first five or 10 laps were easy as it was in the past, but after that it was crazy but not the pack racing of the past.

"You had to (make adjustments)," he said. "It's a much better way to race."

Simona de Silvestro, who drives a Lotus, and former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello did not start the race because their cars wouldn't start.

Simon Pagenaud was penalized for hitting one of his own tires on the first round of pit stops, noteworthy because Wilson had to stop short of his pit box in front of Pagenaud's. But it wasn't enough to hold the British driver back.

"We hung in there despite that situation," he said. "It was really a great effort for this team."