Although an upset appeared to be on the cards, particularly as Gommendy pulled out a couple of seconds on the McDonald's car, the PKV rookie was praying for another yellow as his decision to stop early meant that he was going to come up short on fuel. The longed-for incident never came and, while PKV's calculations proved correct, a pick-up problem dealt a cruel end to Gommendy's spirited race, the navy blue Panoz crawling to a halt within touching distance of pit-lane.
Once restored to the front, it was plain sailing for Bourdais, who had NHLR team-mate Graham Rahal playing rear-gunner in second spot. However, the Frenchman had one more score to settle and, with Power setting fastest laps in search of points, set about topping the Australian's efforts. With push-to-pass to spare after his front-running afternoon, Bourdais had an ally in his quest, reeling off successive fastest times in sight of the flag to ensure that he left Texas restored to the head of the championship and with a three-point lead of his arch-rival.
Power, however, was no longer in position to challenge for big points after a string of incidents left him a lap down on the leader and scrabbling for any points he could salvage. Having brushed the wall when Wilson forced his way through on the opening lap, the Team Australia car also made contact with the Briton's on the day's first restart, necessitating both to visit the pits for repairs. If Power's day wasn't ruined at that point, it was around mid-distance when Mario Dominguez's trajectory down the turn six escape road forced the #5 car to make contact with his rear, adding further delays. The erstwhile points leader eventually came home eleventh.
It was a story of what could have been for several drivers, with Wilson also set back by the brush with Power - although the Aussie required the more extensive cosmetic repairs - and then a spin of his own in the latter stages. At that point, Wilson had forced his way back into the top six, passing RSports team-mate Alex Tagliani in the process, but his mishap dropped him to the tail of the top ten by the chequer.
