Graham Rahal snatched a last gasp victory from James Hinchcliffe to claim his first IndyCar win of the 2016 season in the rescheduled completion of the Texas Motor Speedway race.
Hinchcliffe had been leading when the original race was red-flagged after 71 laps on June 12, as a result of persistent rain.
The Canadian started the rescheduled second portion from the front, and managed each of the first three pit phases with a car he described over the radio as “purring like a kitten”.
But a trio of yellow flags at the end left Hinchcliffe defending from the other four cars remaining on the lead lap – Rahal, championship leader Simon Pagenaud, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
After the third yellow, it was a seven-lap sprint to the chequered flag. Hinchcliffe seemingly had done enough before Rahal squeezed his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara-Honda past on the final lap to win by 0.008 seconds from the Canadian.
Kanaan finished third, despite a late decision to take fresh tyres 10 laps from the end.
Pagenaud claimed good points for his championship in fourth ahead of Penske team-mate Castroneves.
Ed Carpenter was the main challenger for Hinchcliffe throughout the race, but was involved in two of the three cautions.
First an uncharacteristic clash between Scott Dixon and Carpenter put the Ganassi driver out, before a loose moment for Carpenter a handful of laps after the restart left Castroneves ploughing into the back of him.
Carpenter was forced to retire while front and rear wing changes for Castroneves allowed the Brazilian to continue.
The final yellow was caused by Mikhail Aleshin spinning and collecting Jack Hawksworth, the latter gingerly walking away from his car.
Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden were not allowed to take part in the race’s second attempt after a huge shunt in June put both drivers out, and caused Newgarden to suffer a broken collarbone and wrist injuries.
