SM Staff

While the focus was on Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' pair of drivers being on the podium, Team Penske's Helio Castroneves finished in between them on track, crossing the finish line in the second spot. It marks his second straight top-five to start the year after finishing fourth at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.

With 26 laps to go, Erik Jones had a solid restart, clearing both Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the lead. He would then cruise the rest of the way to scoring his first career XFINITY Series victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Speaking in the media center afterward, Jones called the victory 'surreal'.

It seemed fitting that a race featuring caution after caution would end with a caution, but the final caution that ended the race featured the biggest wreck of the race. It also left Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud in a disagreement.

Knowing that cautions were running rapid due to wet conditions and the race was coming within the time distance allowed, James Hinchcliffe and his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team played strategy on Sunday afternoon at NOLA Motorsports Park. That strategy would pay off as Hinchcliffe took the victory in the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana.

For the first night race under the vast Texas lights, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 19th annual Duck Commander 500.

Despite having to head down pit road at lap 198 for a loose right rear, Kasey Kahne would recover during the second half of the Duck Commander 500 to post an eighth place finish.

Despite qualifying outside the top 20, Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered the race confident that he would have a good run. That confidence proved true as he crossed the finish line third. However, it wasn't an easy night, though.

Following finishes outside of the top 20 in the first five events of the season, Roush Fenway Racing went to work in building new, faster cars. Those cars were debuted on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway and while they were better, the results were still poor. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would finish best of the three drivers in the 15th spot, with Greg Biffle finishing 17th and Trevor Bayne in 18th.

With lightning and rain in the area, Verizon IndyCar Series officials were forced to cancel qualifying for the Grand Prix of Louisiana. As a result, the field was set by entrant points.

In the third and final practice before the Grand Prix of Louisiana, it'd be Scott Dixon topping the charts in his Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon would lap the 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course in one minute and 18.5538 seconds.