Ganassi’s No. 8 crew had rapidly turned around Ericsson and he had emerged in third. However, he passed Newgarden and then took the lead from compatriot Rosenqvist on lap 137. Two laps later, Newgarden, too, had passed Rosenqvist to run second in Ericsson’s wheeltracks. Half a second behind Ericsson ran Rossi who had demoted Ferrucci, while O’Ward was sixth, the No. 5 McLaren team warning him that his car was using up too much fuel. The surprise was Carpenter, who appeared to have been short-filled for he had jumped to seventh in the pit stop exchange ahead of Kirkwood, the recovering Palou and Sato.

On lap 149, out came the second caution, as Grosjean lost control out of Turn 2, sliding out of the groove and into the SAFER barrier, before bouncing across the track and into the infield grass. As the DHL car was scooped onto the flatbed, O’Ward, Carpenter, Sato, McLaughlin, VeeKay, Kanaan and Power were among those who hit pit road.

On lap 156, the green flew again, and Newgarden drafted past Ericsson into the lead, while Ferrucci passed Rossi and Rosenqvist for third, and the following lap Ferrucci was past the No. 2 Penske into second, and into Turn 1 next time by, the Foyt car went up the inside of Ericsson into the lead.

Behind Rosenqvist and Rossi, Kirkwood ran sixth ahead of Palou, Daly, Dixon, Sato, Simon Pagenaud, O’Ward and Power. Then on lap 164, Kirkwood passed the man he replaced at Andretti, Rossi, to claim fifth, and the following lap Daly drafted past Palou for seventh. On lap 166, Kirkwood moved again, getting around Rosenqvist for fourth, and on lap 167 he passed Newgarden around the outside for third. Meanwhile, Power slid wide at Turn 2, and broke a toelink on the wall.

Of those yet to make a fifth pit stop, Ferrucci blinked first and pitted on lap 169, and there was a fumble as a wheel rolled out of the Foyt No. 14 team’s pitbox. However, he received only a monetary fine and a warning. It was still a slow stop, but he was still in the hunt. He got around Newgarden and then Rosenqvist, but both of them re-passed him, as did Rossi.

Ericsson and Rosenqvist ran in lockstep, while Newgarden and Rossi squabbled over third. Yet O’Ward, who had led the early fifth-stoppers, had worked hard and emerged in third. He wasted little time in passing teammate Rosenqvist, then Ericsson. However, it wasn’t yet for the lead, as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing led the Juncos Hollinger pair of Ilott and Agustin Canapino, having not yet made their final stop.

Then on lap 186, after Newgarden passed him at Turn 1, Rosenqvist slid up to the wall in the dirty air, smacked it hard, and slid down to the middle of the track. Ferrucci and Rossi swerved to the inside around his stricken teammate, Ferrucci went to the high side to avoid the wreck, but Kirkwood — also on the high side — was far less lucky. His left-rear wheel just clipped the McLaren and was torn off. It cleared the debris fence, yet by some miracle it fired into a gap between grandstands. However, Kirkwood’s car was spun around, flipped up and ground along the barrier, then the track, upside down. Kirkwood, mercifully, was left complaining only of sore knees, while NBC were able report that no one was injured by his errant wheel, damaging only a parked street car.

Hunter-Reay led Ilott and Canapino into the pits, leaving O’Ward heading Ericsson, Newgarden, Rossi, Ferrucci, Palou, Daly, Dixon, VeeKay and Herta for the restart with nine laps to go. However, the restart was waved off as O’Ward was adjudged to have brought the field to the green at too slow a pace.Now with eight laps left, there were no issues with the start, but O’Ward was still a sitting duck. He clung to the inside wall, but Ericsson drafted alongside him along the front straight to and edged ahead, while Newgarden swept around the pair of them to snatch the lead. On the run down to Turn 3, O’Ward tried outside, then inside Ericsson, and was three-quarters alongside when Ericsson turned in. O’Ward’s left front hit the rumble strip, while his right-front rubbed the Ganassi car’s left rear. That pitched the No. 5 into a spin across the track and into the outside wall, where it lifted its nose but stayed right-side up. After coming to rest, his car was damaged further by Canapino, who was without steering, having been an innocent victim of a crash caused when McLaughlin ran into the back of Pagenaud, spinning the Meyer Shank car out of control.