When the two Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs clashed and crashed at Turn 1 with 52mins to go, bringing out the full-course caution, the race came down to a straight duel between the two championship-contending Acura ARX-05s of Wayne Taylor Racing and Meyer Shank Racing. From around one-third distance, the WTR car of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley had appeared to have an edge in pace over the Blomqvist/Oliver Jarvis/Helio Castroneves-piloted MSR car. Until the caution bunched the field together, Albuquerque seemed able to keep his lead over Blomqvist to between 13 and 17 seconds.
However, Blomqvist had been saving fuel, ensuring the #60 car’s final pitstop under caution was shorter than that of the #10 car, so that he retook the lead he’d first earned at the start of the 10 hour race having taken his third pole position of the year.
