[1] Following a series of incidents in 2016 with weepers (water penetrating on the pavement after rain) that caused the 2016 INDYCAR race to have been postponed initially one day, and then to late August, ten weeks and the November 2016 NASCAR race with a long delay caused by weepers while attempting to dry the track, in January 2017 during the NASCAR media tour, Texas Motor Speedway announced it would alter the circuit while installing a new French drain system to send rain water down pipes to fix the problem.

Dixon set the fastest lap time with his teammate Charlie Kimball and Alexander Rossi following in second and third.

[8] In qualifying, Kimball secured his first career pole position with a two-lap time of 46.5861 seconds (222.556 mph),[9] in the process setting a new track record.

[10] In the post-qualifying practice session, Carpenter clocked the fastest single lap time (224.682 mph), ahead of Dixon and Rossi.

Racing was interrupted by caution for the first time on lap 37, when Rossi lost control of his car and crashed in turn 3 after making contact with the Ganassi teammates Dixon and Kanaan.

Kimball, after his strong start to the race, encountered mechanical issues during his pit stop and was forced to retire, leaving him with a 21st-place finish.

Once the chaos of the pit stops had finished, Power held the lead over Vautier, Dixon, Carpenter, and Simon Pagenaud.

However, by lap 66, attacks on Power's lead began to dissipate as his teammate Pagenaud moved into second place.

These concerns seemed to come to light on lap 91, when the right-front tire on Castroneves's car failed, causing him to crash heavily in Turn 2.

[12] Pit stops once again occurred, with Power maintaining his lead over Pagenaud, Dixon, Kanaan, and Mikhail Aleshin.

The leaders once again took advantage of the caution to make pit stops, but Max Chilton elected to stay out, placing him in the lead of the race.

On lap 152, Kanaan moved wide coming towards turn 3, making contact with Hinchcliffe, who had Aleshin outside of him.

[13] Hinchcliffe then spun, causing a large crash that took out himself, Aleshin, Carpenter, Hildebrand, Vautier, Ed Jones, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Muñoz in an incident compared to The Big One at similar pack-racing NASCAR races.

During the red flag, INDYCAR and Firestone officials, in response to continuing issues with blistering tires, elected to have competition caution periods and mandatory tire stops after 30 green flag laps for the remainder of the race.

Also during the red flag period, officials assessed a stop and 20-second hold penalty to Kanaan for his role in the eight-car pileup, which, once the race restarted, put him two laps down.

[12] During the mandatory stops, Dixon managed to get past Power, placing him in the lead, while Pagenaud, Sato, and Graham Rahal emerged behind them.

On lap 225, the final competition caution of the race came out, with the top five staying the same after the mandatory pit stops.

The final restart of the race came at lap 229, with Dixon quickly moving to the outside of Power to challenge for the lead.

The two switched the lead several times, while behind them, Pagenaud, Sato, Rahal, and Kanaan pulled up behind the duo and also began challenging for first.

Only three other drivers finished on the lead lap; Rahal in fourth, Chaves in fifth, and Marco Andretti in sixth.