Heat Index looks at drivers who made the biggest moves in the preceding race.

Starting 23rd in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway was "just a one-time thing," according to JR Hildebrand, whose qualifications attempt in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car went awry on the warm-up lap on the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval. It was his lowest starting spot in nine IZOD IndyCar Series oval races.

Hildebrand didn't remain toward the back of the 25-car field for long in the 228-lap race. In fact, he charged to a fifth-place finish -- his second of the season and fourth of his career. The position gain was the most of any driver. Race winner Justin Wilson moved up 16 spots in the No. 18 Sonny's BBQ car for Dale Coyne Racing, rookie Josef Newgarden advanced 12 spots to 13th in the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car, and James Jakes earned his first top 10 by gaining 11 positions in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing.

"We didn’t exactly start the weekend on a high note, but we sure finished on one,” said Jakes, who was competing in his 23rd IZOD IndyCar Series race.

Hildebrand, who was a lap down on two occasions, had a similar observation. He was running 16th by the team's initial pit stop on Lap 36 and was fourth on a Lap 71 restart. Hildebrand was able to overtake three-time Texas race winner Helio Castroneves on Lap 210 to move into the fifth position.

"We're definitely happy to come home with a top five in the National Guard Chevy," Hildebrand said. "This is a place where Panther has been good, so there's always a little bit of an expectation that when we come in here we can work our way up to the front.

"The last few stints the car was super loose, but we were able to keep the speed up enough that we didn't lose a lot of time or positions. And when the car was good we could hammer on it and catch up. I definitely think all the drivers like being able to drive the (new) car.

"I was going full swings back and forth during a run to make the car work better, and that's fun for us when you're the one that makes it work and you can see the results. It's still an engineering project, but as a driver it's super nice to have a lot more input into what's going on."