The story of the race revolved around the low-downforce aero package the drivers asked for, which played the central role in the boom-and-bust nights the majority of the 25-car field experienced. Wilson's surprising win was only rivaled by the utter lack of pack racing the IndyCar Series, and its predecessor the Indy Racing League has delivered on big ovals.

The unpredictable nature of the Firestone 550 should be credited to the unrefined setups teams had to work with. The series tested at Texas two months ago to try and find a solution to break of pack racing, but came away with an aero package that did little to separate the cars.

Drivers met with the series last week at Detroit to call for a significant downforce reduction to improve the situation, but took to the track on Friday with no information on how to get the most out of the cars or their tires. With most drivers deeming the aero package to be too light on downforce, the series added a 1/8" wicker to the rear wings for the race, which helped slightly, but few had any real idea of how their cars would handle throughout the race.

Most drivers suffered ill-handling cars at some point during the contest, falling back, getting sideways then falling back, or, in some cases, spinning and crashing. For those like Wilson who avoided the peaks and valleys, the 550 km race paid off just as he'd hoped it would.

The key to finishing could be found by pushing close to the edge of adhesion--and possibly straying over it for brief periods--without living on the ragged edge. Oversteer was the most common handling trait, with numerous drivers drifting through the corners at over 210 mph.

The borderline downforce figures everyone had to work with played into Dixon's hands for most of the race, as the Kiwi led 133 laps and wrangled his No. 9 Ganassi car like a sprint car driver on a dirt oval. When Dixon, who thrives on oversteer, crashed after dominating most of the race, the severity of the problem was evident.

Had Dixon dialed his tightrope act back by a percent or two, it's likely he'd be celebrating his second consecutive win. Had Rahal done the same--relaxed slightly with a 2.3-second lead with six laps left to go--he could have held onto the lead.

Had Power, who routinely professes his love for the Texas oval, kept his competitive nature in check, he too had a shot at victory.

In the end, it was Wilson, arguably IndyCar's most unshakable driver, who drove within himself and was rewarded with a trip to the Winner's Circle.

Results Saturday of the Firestone 550 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.455 mile Texas Motor Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (17) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 228, Running
2. (3) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 228, Running
3. (10) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 228, Running
4. (6) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 228, Running
5. (23) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 228, Running
6. (9) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 228, Running
7. (15) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 227, Running
8. (5) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 227, Running
9. (1) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 227, Running
10. (21) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 227, Running
11. (7) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 227, Running
12. (19) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 227, Running
13. (25) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 226, Running
14. (2) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
15. (22) Katherine Legge, Dallara-Chevy, 224, Running
16. (18) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
17. (8) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 222, Running
18. (4) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 173, Contact
19. (14) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 129, Mechanical
20. (11) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 89, Mechanical
21. (13) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 66, Mechanical
22. (20) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 63, Contact
23. (16) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 29, Contact
24. (12) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevy, 0, DNS
25. (24) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Lotus, 0, DNS

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 167.217
Time of Race: 01:59:02.0131
Margin of victory: 3.9202 seconds
Cautions: 4 for 32 laps
Lead changes: 9 among 7 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Tagliani 1 - 20
Dixon 21 - 116
Wilson 117 - 125
Dixon 126 - 133
Hinchcliffe 134 - 141
Dixon 142 - 170
Power 171 - 194
Briscoe 195 - 199
Rahal 200 - 226
Wilson 227 - 228

Point Standings: Power 256, Dixon 222, Hinchcliffe 208, Castroneves 203, Pagenaud 199, Franchitti 192, Hunter-Reay 181, Briscoe 177, Kanaan 160, Wilson 156.

Race Recap

Rubens Barrichello and Simona de Silvestro were left stranded on pre-grid as the race started, and pole-sitter Alex Tagliani took control into Turn 1.

Scott Dixon moved ahead of teammate Dario Franchitti for second on Lap 2, and Will Power moved to fifth on Lap 3, displacing James Hinchcliffe, who took the position at the start.

By Lap 5, Tagliani’s lead was .23 over Dixon, and the biggest mover was Ryan Hunter-Reay who climbed to seventh from 13th by Lap 7.

The gap from first to second was .35 seconds at Lap 10. Barrichello and de Silvestro went back to the garage with both cars unwilling to fire.

Dixon began to slowly reel in Tagliani while Franchitti, who was dealing with significant oversteer, began to fall back, holding seventh on Lap 17. The Scot was back to 10th by Lap 19, pitting on Lap 20 to have the Target team address the balance issues.

Dixon took the lead on the same lap, and Graham Rahal, running third, started to attack for second. Rahal would take the position on Lap 23, and sat 2.7 seconds behind Dixon whose car looked flawless.

Franchitti’s early green flag stop would drop the No. 10 car to 23rd, one-lap down. Will Power and Marco Andretti displaced Tagliani on Lap 26, leaving the no. 98 car in fifth on Lap 26.

Rahal began stalking Dixon, bringing the gap down to .7 second by Lap 30—right before Charlie Kimball, the fourth member of the Ganassi squad, crashed coming off of Turn 4 and brought out the first yellow flag of the day on Lap 31.

The pits opened at the end of Lap 35, which saw Dixon race out the beat Rahal for the lead. Tony Kanaan, who pitted in seventh, dropped down the running order with a combination of a slow stop due to a failed rear air jack and a front wing replacement. Power returned to the pits on Lap 37 to have a wheel tightened, and Franchitti, who stayed out and got his lap back, pitted at the end of Lap 38 to top up his tank and had a rear swaybar change. Katherine Legge, who was a lap down, also got her lap back, and Simon Pagenaud managed to hit two of his tires and run over his airjack.

The race went green on Lap 40, and Ed Carpenter, who picked up a number of positions in the pits, fought Tagliani for eighth.

Power returned in 20th, and Franchitti, still battling his car, fell two laps behind by Lap 47. JR Hildebrand, who started 23rd, was up to 10th on the same lap.

Lap 53 saw Dixon leading Rahal by .93 seconds. Hinchcliffe held third, Marco Andretti was in fourth, Ryan Briscoe was fifth, Sato was sixth, Carpenter was seventh, Hildebrand was eighth, Tagliani was ninth and Oriol Servia was 10th.

By Lap 63, Dixon was carving through traffic extending his lead to 3.2 seconds over Rahal. Rahal’s handling was falling off, lapping at 201 mph while Dixon routinely posted 205 mph tours.

Takuma Sato crashed on the same lap, Lap 63, as something appeared to break halfway down the back straight. After running towards the front, Hunter-Reay dropped back badly, and pitted on Lap 66 to have his engine bay inspected.

The field pitted on Lap 66, with Dixon leading Rahal, Hinchcliffe, Hildebrand, Carpenter, Andretti, Castroneves, Servia, Tagliani and Justin Wilson.

The Lap 72 restart saw Wilson start to move, grabbing eighth by Lap 74. By Lap 78, Wilson was up to sixth, and Kanaan, who fell back after his previous stop, was up to eighth.

Will Power, who fell as far back as 20th, was up to 10th by Lap 85 as he passed three cars in successive laps. Dixon held s.4 seconds over Rahal on Lap 86, with Hinchcliffe 4.0 seconds back in third.

Lap 91 saw Servia and Mike Conway pit, with Servia’s race coming to an end, and Conway topping up on fuel.

Lap 101 saw Dixon leading James Hinchcliffe, who moved past Rahal, by 5.9 seconds—almost a full straight. Justin Wilson’s march continued as he reached fourth by Lap 102, then third by Lap 103.

Lap 106 saw Hinchcliffe drop Dixon’s lead to 3.3 seconds, Kanaan took sixth on Lap 108, and Wilson took second on Lap 109.

Andretti pitted on Lap 112, the first of the front-runners, leaving with a trail of flame behind his car. Castroneves followed on Lap 113, Hinchcliffe was in on Lap 114, the halfway point, and Andretti returned to the pits and climbed from the car.

Power was in on Lap 115, Dixon and Hildebrand pitted on Lap 117, Rahal pitted on Lap 119, Viso pitted on Lap 120, as did Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan pitted on Lap 121, Tagliani stopped on Lap 122, Simon Pagenaud pitted on Lap 123, and Justin Wilson pitted on Lap 124, returning the lead to Dixon.

Big losers during the green flag stops were Graham Rahal, JR Hildebrand and Alex Tagliani—all lost a lap.

The yellow flag came out on Lap 130 as Viso crawled to a stop toward pit exit.

Dixon pitted on Lap 133 as Castroneves and Josef Newgarden made contact. The rookie missed his pit box, causing Castroneves to stop as his box was blocked. With Dixon pitting, Hinchcliffe inherited the lead, with Carpenter in second and Wilson in third. Hildebrand pitted on Lap 135.

Dixon resumed in fourth, and the trio that lost a lap-- Rahal, Hildebrand Tagliani—got back on the lead lap.

The Lap 137 restart saw Hinchcliffe lead away and Pagenaud, a lap down, fighting to get his lap back behind Hinch.

Dixon moved past Pagenaud and set off after Hinchcliffe. Dixon made the pass in turn 2 on Lap 141 and Power and teammate Briscoe began to work on the back of the Canadian’s car. Power passed Briscoe, who got by, on Lap 144, and Hinchcliffe, taking second. Briscoe followed through on Lap 145.

By Lap 150, Dixon’s lead over Power was .81 seconds and the two lapped at almost identical speeds. Behind Dixon, five Chevy-powered cars followed with Power, Briscoe, Kanaan, Hinchcliffe and Carpenter.

Hinchcliffe, whose car lost its balance, stopped on Lap 161 and would need at least a splash to get to the finish.

Dixon’s lead over Power was 1.2 seconds on Lap 162, with Briscoe 4.5 seconds off the lead. The gap to Power was out to 1.5 seconds on Lap 167, and only 10 cars were on the lead lap at this point in the race. Tagliani pitted on Lap 168, Carpenter was in on 169, and Power blew by Dixon on Lap 170, who fell to a 198 mph lap, then 190 mph after running in the lead at 206s.

Dixon led 133 laps of the race before crashing on Lap 174 as he lost the front end behind while dipping low on the track.

The pits opened on Lap 176, with Power leading Briscoe and Kanaan out.

The Lap 184 restart saw wild action and light contact up front as Briscoe got a major run on Power. Kanaan, recipient of the contact with Power, who moved down to block the Brazilian, pitted on Lap 187 for a new front wing—his second of the race.

By Lap 188, Team Penske had a 1-2-3 with Power leading Briscoe and Castroneves. Rahal and Wilson, Honda’s two best chances left in the race, held fourth and fifth.

Power’s transgression earned a drive-through penalty from INDYCAR, with the penalty announced on Lap 194. Power was in on Lap 195, handing the lead to Briscoe.

Rahal passed Castroneves on Lap 197, and Wilson passed the Penske drive on Lap 198. Rahal took the lead from Briscoe on Lap 199 after being in the hunt all night.

Hinchcliffe took fourth from Castroneves on Lap 203, and by Lap 205, Rahal held .51 seconds over Briscoe, but his car appeared to be a handful.

Rahal held his lead and extended it to 2.1 seconds by Lap 215, the same lap Wilson passed Briscoe for second.

Rahal’s gap to Wilson was 2.3 seconds on Lap 222, and the second-generation Indy car driver was free to cruise to the finish for his second IndyCar Series victory.

Smacking the wall on the exit of Lap 225, Rahal handed the lead to Wilson on Lap 226. Wilson went to score his second IndyCar Series win, the first since Watkins Glen in 2009.

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett on Twitter.