Scott McLaughlin won his maiden pole in qualifying and led the field to green, holding off Colton Herta in second and Rinus VeeKay in third, who both got by Will Power at the start.

The latter managed to repass the pair when their tires started to fade, before a caution came out as David Malukas hit the wall in turn three.

As strategies played out, McLaughlin was shuffled back to the lead, before managing to defend an overcutting attempt by then-second man Álex Palou, who started tenth but had moved into net second by the first round of stops.

[65] Next up was the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Felix Rosenqvist won his second series pole, but was overtaken by McLaughlin after less than a lap at the race start.

The second restart only lasted for a single lap, before a heavy crash saw Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco retire.

[66] It was then time for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, where Herta took pole with a new track record, and took off in front of Newgarden and Palou, remaining untroubled by a caution and a restart early on.

[67] The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was round four of the season, and it began with VeeKay taking pole position and he led ahead of Pato O'Ward, while McLaughlin overtook Palou for third.

However, when Callum Ilott beached his car shortly after the two-stoppers had pitted, he brought out a caution, effectively eliminating any advantages of a three-stop strategy.

Power led from pole on a damp track, getting passed by both Palou and Newgarden into turn 1, and Rosenqvist after running wide later in the lap.

Through the next two rounds of stops O'Ward, Daly and Rosenqvist all led portions of the race, but Dixon always came back to grab the lead again.

Marcus Ericsson, who ran with the top group all race, passed O'Ward for the lead shortly before a red flag came out when Jimmie Johnson crashed.

[70] The season continued with the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, where Newgarden led from pole and easily pulled away in the first portion of the race.

He used this advantage to slice through the field and was in second place by the time Power had to pit to make his mandatory run on the alternate tires.

[71] At the next race, the Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America, Rossi continued his pace from Detroit to set pole position.

Dixon overtook Herta on the subsequent restart, and when it was time for pitstops, McLaughlin was able to move past O'Ward in pitlane.

McLaughlin and Palou remained the leading duo, while Power, who spun at the start of the race, had risen from 27th to fourth, and then made quick work of VeeKay in third.

[73] Next up was IndyCar's long awaited return to Canada, for the Honda Indy Toronto, where Herta became the first driver to score more than one pole in 2022.

When the latter made a move to pass Rossi, he slid wide in turn 3, hitting the Andretti car that then crashed into the barrier.

Dixon took his 52nd win, drawing level with Mario Andretti in second place on the all-time IndyCar winners list.

In the final stages of the race, when other drivers struggled with their old tires, Newgarden did not seem to have such problems: He pulled an even bigger gap and won over six seconds ahead of O'Ward and Power.

His attempts were fruitless, however, so he had to rely on pitting a lap earlier than Power and making the undercut work, which he did by the two-third mark of the race.

Newgarden was in a world of his own once again and looked set to win a second race in as many days, before his right rear suspension suddenly failed on lap 235, sending him hard into the barriers.

This meant O'Ward was in prime position to take the win, and he did so faultlessly, gapping Power at the restart and never looking back.

Rosenqvist took pole and led Rossi, while Newgarden jumped from fifth to third at the start, before having to give those back because he breached track limits.

This order remained unchanged until after the first round of pitstops, when Herta suffered a transmission issue that forced him to retire from the lead.

On the restart, the tight section around turn 6 caused a multi-car crash that eliminated O'Ward, Rahal, Dalton Kellett and Simona de Silvestro.

This order remained until the first pitstops, when Power had a strong outlap and Lundgaard a slight delay in pitlane, so the pair changed positions.

Five drivers were in title contention, and championship leader Power won pole position while his rivals struggled in qualifying.

A caution came out in the second half of the race, bunching the field back up and committing Newgarden to push flatout and then stop once more.

He pulled away and ended up second after his final stop, with Power just behind him and Palou in front, who was unstoppable all race and claimed the win and fifth in the standings.