Rahal makes last-lap pass to win IndyCar race at Texas

FO FORT WORTH, Texas: Graham Rahal made a last-lap pass and just held on to beat James Hinchcliffe in the closest finish ever for an IndyCar race at Texas. The only time Rahal led the racera — competed over a 2 1/2monthm span — was when he slicedslic to the bottom of the track coming off of the backstretch on that final lap Saturday night. He won by eight-thousandths (0.008) of a second, crossing the line only inches and side-by-side with Hinchcliffe, with Tony Kanaan right behind them.

Rahal almost celebrated a bit too early, pumping a fist over his head just before crossing the checkered flag with Hinchcliffe right beside him and still making a final push for the victory.

Hinchcliffe had led the Firestone 600 for 76 days. He was leading when the race was initially red-flagged June 12 because of rain after only 71 of 248 laps, and dominated after it resumed until three late restarts.

Rahal’s fourth career win came at the high-banked, 1 1/2-mile-oval where four years ago he appeared headed for victory before brushing the wall on the last lap and finishing second to Justin Wilson.

Hinchcliffe led 188 laps overall in the race, including 157 of the 177 laps run Saturday night.

Series points leader Simon Pagenaud was fourth, and extended his lead to from 20 to 28 points over Team Penske teammate Will Power with two races left. Power, who won four of the previous six races with runner-up finishes in the other two, was eighth at Texas.

Ed Carpenter twice had contact with other cars while running second behind Hinchcliffe in the later laps.

Carpenter was within about 2 seconds of the lead on Lap 213 when Scott Dixon, trying to get back on the lead lap, made contact coming off the frontstretch. That sent Dixon spinning, and Carpenter believes he might have cut a tire though he was able to stay on the track and even took the lead after that.

After the ensuing caution, Hinchcliffe and Carpenter restarted 1-2 on lap 221, and Carpenter went low coming off the backstretch and led at the line by a matter of inches. Hinchcliffe went back in front on the next lap, and was still there when Carpenter got loose coming out of Turn 4 on lap 225 and made contact with Helio Castroneves and slammed into the wall to end his race.

There was one more caution after that, when lead-lap car Mikhail Aleshin crashed, setting up the final sprint to the finish.

It was the fifth-closest finish in IndyCar Series history and the closest of any race ever at the Texas track that has hosted NASCAR and IndyCar races since 1997. At one point, the top four finishers were running side-byside on the backstretch.

Some other notable items from IndyCar’s one-day return to Texas.