Romain Grosjean challenges ‘top guys’ at Texas, flashing oval skills (to some’s dismay)

FORT WORTH, Texas – Romain Grosjean was pleased to stun the field with his newfound oval prowess at Texas Motor Speedway, but two of his IndyCar rivals felt he pulled too many surprises.

Grosjean enjoyed one of the strongest oval races of his NTT IndyCar Series career Sunday, leading two laps (on Laps 220-221 of 250) and running at the front before crashing with two laps to go. According to the official lap chart, Grosjean was in the top five from Lap 62 to Lap 225 for all but a handful of laps.

“It’s not something you would think of yourself saying, ‘Romain Grosjean winning on an oval,’ right?” Grosjean, who hadn’t raced on an oval before August 2021 at Gateway, told NBC Sports’ Dave Burns after his 14th-place finish. “But we were up there. I was with the top guys. Very proud of the effort we’ve made. Very proud of the work we’ve done.”

The race was IndyCar’s best at Texas in several years as drivers capitalized on the addition of several hundred pounds of downforce. With their cars packed up tightly, Texas unfolded with the enthralling action of the vintage pack races that were the track’s trademark in the 2000s.

Grosjean has posted video clips of his 10 best passes during the race in which he dueled with the podium of Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou, as well as fifth-place finisher Scott Dixon and Colton Herta (Grosjean’s Andretti Autosport teammate was seventh).

Top10 of my moves at Texas #PPG375 . Hope you enjoy some cool moments of racing on oval. Full video on my Youtube Channel. ➡️https://t.co/yDuMOUbTm5 pic.twitter.com/p46WzJG5xa

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) April 4, 2023

While the racing was crowd-pleasing, it didn’t sit entirely well with Dixon, a five-time winner who has been racing at Texas for