Scott McLaughlin takes second in last-lap battle with Newgarden

Scott McLaughlin crossed the line second, as teammate Josef Newgarden passed for the lead in the last corner of the last lap at Texas Motor Speedway.

After leading for 186 of the 248 laps it came down to lap traffic on the last lap of the race.

McLaughlin leaves Texas as the championship leader

Scott Dixon crossed the line fifth just ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson who made his oval debut and took his best result in the series.

McLaughlin made a strong start to the race moving into second when the green flag dropped before taking the lead from Felix Rosenqvest.

The safety car made an early appearance after Alexander Rossi slowed on the track apron with what appeared to be engine issues.

After taking the lead on lap two, McLaughlin led the entire first stint until his pit stop on lap 57. Penske teammate Newgarden pitted a few laps earlier to jump into second.

Dixon had a solid start to the race holding seventh through the first stint and after the first round of stops.

The safety car made its second appearance on lap 99 after Takuma Sato made contact with the wall. The field made their second stop under the yellow flag, with McLaughlin holding onto the lead, while Dixon gained places during the stops to take the restart in fourth.

The yellow flag came back out soon after the race went back to green as rookie Kyle Kirkwood made contact with the wall.

The field came back to the green flag on lap 129, but quickly went back under safety car conditions on lap 130 after Devlin DeFrancesco, Graham Rahal, and Helio Castroneves were involved in a crash.

McLaughlin lead on the restart though teammate Newgarden took the lead briefly before the Kiwi took the lead back, giving Rinus Veekay in third the opportunity to move into second. The move took Newgarden out of the rhythm dropping him back to sixth.

Soon after taking second, Veekay moved into the lead of the race, moving McLaughlin into second. A few laps later Will power passed the top two cars to move into the lead, with Dixon passing McLaughlin to take third moments later.

The battle pack saw the top-five cars frequently changing positions with McLaughlin sitting second when he pitted on lap 192.

McLaughlin regained the race lead with 44 laps left in the race, where he remained until Newgarden took the lead on the final turn of the last lap. Scott Dixon crossed the line fifth after running comfortably inside the top ten all day.

The IndyCar series will be back for the next round of the championship at Long Beach April 10.

_{Main image: Team Penske}