Tag: scott dixon

Dixon crushes fuel strategy to win WWTR as Newgarden finds wall

Scott Dixon humbled his IndyCar rivals for the second straight race with another brilliant fuel-saving run to glory, this time at World Wide Technology Raceway, making only three stops to his rivals’ five, and lapping everyone except his fellow …

Scott Dixon humbled his IndyCar rivals for the second straight race with another brilliant fuel-saving run to glory, this time at World Wide Technology Raceway, making only three stops to his rivals’ five, and lapping everyone except his fellow podium finishers, Pato O’Ward and David Malukas.

Also for the second straight race, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden suffered a shunt, after leading 98 laps, so he is now out of title contention, as runaway points leader Alex Palou came home seventh.

Following the grid penalties for early engine changes, pole-winner Scott McLaughlin started 10th, while the four Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas of Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato were clustered from 14th through 17th.

That left Penske’s Josef Newgarden – recent oval dominator – leading the field with Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta in a surprising second place, ahead of a pair of Arrow McLaren Chevrolets – Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist – with Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport, David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing, Alexander Rossi (McLaren) and Will Power (Penske) following. Alongside McLaughlin would be Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing.

One of the big questions of the race would be when Firestone’s alternates – on their oval debut – would come into play. The series had ruled out any driver starting on the softer rubber.

At the drop of the green flag, Newgarden led confidently away chased by Herta, while Malukas jumped both the McLarens that started ahead of him. At the back, Ed Carpenter thumped into the rear of Benjamin Pedersen, spinning the AJ Foyt Racing car into the wall. Out came the yellow, and race control looked at the order crossing the most recent timing loop before the yellow and ordered Malukas to drop back behind O’Ward, while Power was up ahead of the slow-starting Grosjean. Under caution, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Augustin Canapino and Santino Ferrucci pitted, the latter taking on the alternates. Carpenter also stopped for a new nose cone following his contact with Pedersen. Soon after, he had to serve a 30s stop and hold penalty.

The restart on lap 11 saw Newgarden maintain his lead ahead of Herta, while Malukas repassed O’Ward for third, with Rosenqvist also demoting his teammate ahead of the third McLaren of Rossi sixth. Grosjean got back around Power. Behind the No. 12 Penske, Palou and McLaughlin re-entered the top 10 after rookie Linus Lundqvist, in the Meyer Shank Racing Honda, fell back after a bold restart.

Up front, Newgarden appeared to have everything in hand, gently easing to 0.9s clear of Herta by lap 30, and not until lap 41 would he push his lead to over 1s before hitting the dirty air of Carpenter. That said, Herta was eager not to cook his tires, too, so hung back from the lead and kept a wary eye on Malukas and the McLarens behind him.

Takuma Sato made the first of the scheduled stops, choosing not to run the alternates yet. He came out and couldn’t get up to speed on his cold tires and held up Herta. That allowed Malukas and the McLarens to swiftly zap past the Andretti driver, thus Herta made his first pitstop. He was swiftly followed by Palou, who did take on the reds, which were showing encouraging durability on Ferrucci’s car (54 laps) although the Foyt driver did stop under this round of stops to take on primaries.

Newgarden pitted on lap 62, leaving Power and Dixon up front until they pitted on lap 66 — Power grabbing primaries, Dixon taking alternates. The overcut had not worked for them, however, since Power was now down in 10th and Dixon in 13th.

Up front, Newgarden, on alternates, was leading, and while Herta did resume second after his stop, he couldn’t hold off O’Ward’s alternate-tired car. Behind Herta was Malukas, Rosenqvist, early stopper Ericsson, Rossi and Palou on alternates, and McLaughlin and Power on primaries. Power then lost 10th to Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing).

The softer rubber allowed Newgarden and O’Ward to break away up front, 6s clear of Herta who was clearly holding up Malukas and Rosenqvist. NBC broadcast the No. 5 team telling O’Ward to keep the pressure on the leader, to ensure he couldn’t save fuel and therefore commit him to three more stops.

Grosjean made his second stop, from 12th, on lap 95 to get off his alternate tires, and Lundqvist did the same.

Newgarden and O’Ward were coming back toward Herta when they elected to come in, two laps and one lap, respectively, after Power, who had stopped early to take on alternates. As Newgarden and O’Ward resumed, they came out behind those who had yet to make their second stops, and briefly the McLaren driver was a strong threat to Newgarden.

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However, it was the long-running Dixon who led – by a lap – when the caution flag flew for Sato crashing on lap 120 after several alarming moves earlier on.

Several top runners took this opportunity to stop again, including Newgarden, O’Ward, Rossi, McLaughlin, Malukas, Canapino and Ericsson. Unfortunately, Ericsson suffered a pit incident, sliding into Power’s pitbox ahead with a loose left-rear and getting heavily delayed.

Dixon thus resumed in front and was clearly going to go for a three-stop race, emulating his fuel-saving effort that won him the Indianapolis road course two weeks ago. Behind O’Ward were Rossi, McLaughlin, Malukas, and Canapino. Power, Palou and Herta waited several laps under yellow to make their third stops and dropped to 12th, 14th and 13th respectively.

Meanwhile, IndyCar had been sweeping the track clear of marbles before the restart came on lap 135. Dixon held off Newgarden, O’Ward and Rossi, while McLaughlin and Malukas swapped back and forth and back again, Malukas eventually keeping fifth.

Newgarden and O’Ward touched to the chagrin of the McLaren driver, as he tried to pass the Penske ace. Further back, a less fortunate Penske driver was Power, who dropped to 12th when Herta and Palou got around him. On lap 145, he lost 12th to Rosenqvist, too, who was running reds. Canapino, meanwhile, had to serve a drive-through for striking personnel during his pitstop, so was now a lap down.

McLaughlin passed Malukas for fifth on lap 151, with 109 laps to go, while Palou demoted Herta for 10th on lap 153 after running side-by-side for more than a lap.

O’Ward pitted from third on lap 164, and Rosenqvist also stopped to get off his alternates and onto primaries. Then Newgarden, Malukas, McLaughlin, Rossi and Palou pitted. Significantly, Newgarden emerged behind O’Ward.

This left Dixon up front, 9s ahead of teammate Ericsson who had 4.5s on a battle between Herta and Power, with Grosjean and Kirkwood a further seven seconds down. Ericsson stopped on lap 177 of the 260, with Herta stopping next time by.

Power stayed out, trying to pare down his deficit to Dixon despite being trapped in traffic. Kirkwood pitted from third on lap 188, while Power stopped on lap 189 having trimmed the gap to Dixon down to 7s. Dixon pitted on 195, Grosjean on 196, and thus O’Ward hit the front, 0.5s ahead of Newgarden. Rossi, McLaughlin and Malukas ran 4s behind. All would have to stop one more time, and both Malukas and Rosenqvist elected to take that stop early — pretty much forcing all those on the same strategy to do the same, including Newgarden.

The No. 2 emerged in traffic, and after a couple of laps on his final set of tires, he drifted high into the wall exiting Turn 2, clouting it with both right-side tires. Almost simultaneously, McLaughlin got high after rubbing wheels with Malukas, and fell down the order.

O’Ward, after running fast laps in the lead, pulled in after seeing one of his main foes, Newgarden, fall out of contention.

Once Herta pitted for the final time, that left Dixon leading Power by 0.5s. Dixon, who had stopped on lap 196, could make it to the end; Power, having pitted six laps earlier, would surely need to pit again unless there was a late caution. The pair ran 16s clear of Kirkwood (another one needing a caution) while O’Ward was fourth, 20s behind Dixon. Malukas, Rossi, McLaughlin and Herta were a lap down.

Kirkwood acknowledged the inevitable, pitting from third on lap 243, while Power pitted on lap 247, easing the pressure on Dixon, who allowed Malukas to unlap himself. The Coyne driver homed in on O’Ward but came up 0.5s short, but the pair were 22s behind the winner.

Rossi was a lapped fourth, ahead of McLaughlin, Herta, Palou, Rosenqvist, Power and Ericsson.

RESULTS

Gallagher GP Victory Lap with winner Scott Dixon

Scott Dixon, winner of the Gallagher Grand Prix, enjoys a hearty beer with RACER’s Marshall Pruett and tells the tale of his day and the history he made along the way with Chip Ganassi Racing. Or click HERE to watch on YouTube. Presented by: RACER’s …

Scott Dixon, winner of the Gallagher Grand Prix, enjoys a hearty beer with RACER’s Marshall Pruett and tells the tale of his day and the history he made along the way with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Or click HERE to watch on YouTube.

Presented by:
RACER’s IndyCar Trackside Report at the Gallagher Grand Prix is presented by Skip Barber Racing School. With multiple locations in the US, Skip Barber Racing School has developed more winning racers than any other school. Their alumni have taken the podium in all facets of motorsports including NASCAR, INDYCAR, SCCA, World Challenge and IMSA. Click to learn more.

Dixon shocked how easy fuel and tire saving was at Gallagher GP

Chip Ganassi Racing legend Scott Dixon, who won Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix, said he was surprised by not only the consistent pace of his car but also by how “easy” it was to save enough fuel to run only two scheduled stops. Having been knocked …

Chip Ganassi Racing legend Scott Dixon, who won Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix, said he was surprised by not only the consistent pace of his car but also by how “easy” it was to save enough fuel to run only two scheduled stops.

Having been knocked into a spin on the opening lap at Turn 7, the six-time IndyCar champion was able to pit on lap five to get off the unfavored primary tires and run alternates the rest of the way, and also top off with fuel so that he could make two more scheduled stops when the front runners needed three.

He went on to claim the lead when the Rahal Letterman Lanigan and Arrow McLaren drivers made their third stops, and fended off polesitter Graham Rahal to the checkered lag.

“I felt like I had a fantastic start,” said Dixon, who started from 15th. “I think I picked up maybe five or six spots, then got to Turn 7 and there was a bit of a backup there. Just got spun around.

“We talked a lot in pre-race about pitting early, getting off the not-so-good tire for us, which was the black, doing it around lap four or six — trying to get the fuel mileage to get it done.

“I was actually shocked [at] the pace that we had. The car just kept doing the same lap times, mid 73s to 74 flats. The fuel mileage — huge credit to Honda and HPD, it was remarkably easy to get. I think the pace and obviously the tire deg that we didn’t really witness too much was fantastic. I think the only downfall for me was pushing too hard on the last stint on the first three or four laps, killed the tire a bit. The rest of the race we just kind of maintained a pace. It wasn’t that difficult to get.

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“[Had] some big laps early on in that last stint because I knew I was getting a fresh set of tires. Didn’t have to go that long; kind of hurt it. I guess made it a bit of a show and a bit of a race…

“It was just my mistake for pushing so hard at the start of that stint and kind of hurt the tire, otherwise I think it wouldn’t have been too difficult. Even in the second-to-last stint, we were on used reds. We were able to maintain the gap to Graham or actually pull away, so I figured once we get to the new tires, we can really go. That was not the right thing to do.

“We made a show of it. He was coming fast, man. It would have been interesting. I think once he got to us, it was going to be very tough to pass. We had similar overtake. The No. 9 car would have been very wide!”

Dixon said it was way past the mid-point of the race when he started to believe the team’s strategy would pay off.

“Probably halfway through the second-to-last stint on used tires where we were maintaining a gap [to Rahal],” he said. “He was behind me, where it pops up on my dash that he’s the next car. We had a like a 6s lead. I kept looking at it, running the lap times. He wasn’t gaining on us. ‘This is crazy, this might actually work out.’

“For me, the pace was not too difficult to get, but I think we were kind of in a happy spot of having to get fuel mileage and also looking after the tires where maybe some of those guys pushed quite hard early on like I did on my last stint.

“That was my first ‘Ah ha!’ moment where I’m [thinking], ‘We’re definitely in a strong position here to pull that off.’”

Dixon edges Rahal in a modern day IMS ‘spin and win’

Scott Dixon scored his 54th IndyCar victory after being knocked into a spin on the opening lap following a Turn 7 pile-up. The six-time champion made a late stop under yellow and then made only two more scheduled stops, masterfully saving fuel and …

Scott Dixon scored his 54th IndyCar victory after being knocked into a spin on the opening lap following a Turn 7 pile-up. The six-time champion made a late stop under yellow and then made only two more scheduled stops, masterfully saving fuel and charging. After everyone else’s final stops, he held a 7s margin over polesitter Graham Rahal, and although the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver closed the gap down to 0.5s, he couldn’t find a way around the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. It marked the 19th consecutive year in which Dixon has scored at least one win, and it came in his 319th consecutive start.

CGR teammate Alex Palou finished only seventh but has extended his championship lead to 101 points, after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden got caught up in the first lap fracas and finished 25th, two laps down.

 

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Hondas on the front row started the race on the Firestone alternates as did Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren, but the McLaren team had split strategies, for alongside Rossi was teammate Pato O’Ward on the primaries, as were Devlin DeFrancesco and Romain Grosjean in fifth and sixth in Andretti Autosport Hondas.

Rahal made a strong start and Lundgaard did not, immediately challenged by O’Ward. But it was DeFrancesco who made the best start of all down the outside, hung with Rahal into Turn 1 and had the inside for Turn 2 and they took the lead.

Along the back straight, the midfield was four-wide, and under braking for Turn 7, a collision between Ganassi teammates Marcus Armstrong and Palou was exacerbated by the very fast-starting Dixon getting collected by Grosjean who had lost positions almost from the drop of the green. The six-time champion spun but got restarted and pitted under yellow, as did Grosjean. Armstrong spun around and while most avoided him, Newgarden, who had started 25th after losing six spots to an engine change, found the stricken No. 11 car right in his path and mounted his right-front and stuck there. By the time the AMR Safety Team had got him down on all four wheels, the two-time champion had lost a lap, and he then had to limp to the pits for a new nosecone.

The race restarted at the end of lap seven with DeFrancesco pursued by Rahal, O’Ward, Lundgaard, Rossi, and Felix Rosenqvist, up from ninth. Rossi outbraked Lundgaard for fourth into Turn 1 to move onto O’Ward’s tail, taking advantage of his red-sidewalled Firestones. Behind Rosenqvist (who was on primaries) was Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood, Palou and Jack Harvey.

Next time by, Rahal passed DeFrancesco into Turn 1, and then Rossi – who had predictably passed O’Ward – demoted DeFrancesco. Just a little further back, Palou passed Kirkwood along the back straight to snatch eighth, while both O’Ward and Lundgaard got around DeFrancesco on lap 11. The following lap the young Canadian had also fallen victim to Rosenqvist and McLaughlin, but teammate Kirkwood had gone in the opposite direction, re-passing Palou after the Spaniard was knocked sideways as he failed to pass DeFrancesco. The runaway points leader retaliated next time by and then passed DeFrancesco successfully.

Lundgaard used his alternates to get past O’Ward and move into third, now 2.5s behind Rossi who was still within one second of Rahal.

Kirkwood pitted from eighth and Will Power pitted from 15th on lap 14, both collecting fresh alternates, and the following lap Rosenqvist did the same. O’Ward, coming from primaries, was more than happy to stop and get off his primaries and take on a set of new alternates.

McLaughlin, who had been promoted by O’Ward and Rosenqvist making their first stops, pitted from fourth on lap 20, while Rossi – who had been 1.2s behind Rahal – flicked into pitlane on lap 21 to pick up fresh primaries. That left Rahal and Lundgaard up in an RLL 1-2, just 3s apart, with Palou 3.6s back, pursued by Ericsson and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ryan Hunter-Reay. They, Linus Lundqvist and Sting Ray Robb were now the only drivers to have not stopped.

RHR stopped on lap 23, and then leader Rahal got out of the danger zone by collecting new primaries, and Palou and Ericsson followed suit. Rahal ­just got out ahead of Rossi and, despite warm tires, the McLaren driver couldn’t get in position to challenge. In fact, the more likely change was for second, as Lundgaard set a strong in-lap and was well serviced by the No. 45 RLL crew on lap 26, so that he emerged right on Rossi’s tail. In fact, the Arrow McLaren driver on primaries was a sitting duck, and Lundgaard on fresh alternates dived up the inside of Rossi into Turn 1 next time by to claim second and started working on his 2.5s deficit to primary-tired Rahal.

Once those who had pitted under the very early yellow made their second stops – Grosjean (lap 29) and Dixon (lap 32) – the RLL battle was for the lead. Interestingly, despite a supposed tire advantage, Lundgaard was not gaining much on his teammate, and at this point they still remained 2s apart. On lap 33 of the scheduled 85, Rossi ran 4s behind Lundgaard, 1.3s ahead of O’Ward, with Palou a similar distance behind him. McLaughlin was sixth, 3s ahead of Rosenqvist, while Kirkwood, Ericsson and Power ran in convoy, completing the top 10.

That lasted only until the end of lap 36 when Power made his second stop and took on his third set of alternates. Nearer the front, O’Ward passed Rossi for third, while Lundgaard was now moving in on Rahal, the gap down to 1s by lap 38, and then O’Ward and Rossi pitted for a second time, both of them taking used alternates.

Palou and McLaughlin pitted on lap 42, and Palou emerged just behind Rossi, while Ericsson went three laps longer, his stop promoting O’Ward to fourth, between the out-of-sequence Dixon and Grosjean. At the front, Rahal had done fine job in traffic to get his advantage over Lundgaard out to 1.4s before finally pitting at the end of lap 48, just before he had to try and tackle Santino Ferrucci’s AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. He emerged in third behind Dixon but more significantly, 5s clear of O’Ward.

Lap 51 saw Lundgaard pull in for a disastrous stop, the Toronto winner stationary for 11s due to a refueling difficulty. Not only did it mean the Dane didn’t have a hope of beating Rahal on the overcut, he also lost out to O’Ward.

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So with 30 laps to go, Dixon, who was hoping to make it to the checker on just one more stop – like those pursuing him – led by 6.6s over Rahal who had 5.4s on O’Ward, with Lundgaard 0.6s behind, chased by Rossi, Palou, McLaughlin, Power and Kirkwood. That being the case, Dixon was looking ominously strong. The lap one spin and early stop was now looking the perfect strategy, thanks to the six-time champ’s brilliant fuel-saving. With all those ahead needing to stop, and a pitstop taking around 37-38s, Dixon’s 31s deficit to Rahal looked just fine…

Sure enough. Rossi, McLaughlin and Power pitted at the end of lap 61, O’Ward and Lundgaard stopped on lap 62 – in fact, all of those ahead of Dixon pitted, and so he sat up front, 7s ahead of Rahal who had 4.3s on an O’Ward, Lundgaard, Rossi train. The latter was 5s clear of Palou, who had 4.5s over the McLaughlin vs. Power battle for seventh. Kirkwood and Rosenqvist were ninth and 10th. The latter was the only driver in the top 10 running on primaries and thus was vulnerable to VeeKay and Ericsson who passed him on lap 67. In fact, he had more issues, and suddenly he lost pace and limped to the pits. On lap 68, Power passed McLaughlin for seventh and pulled away, starting to chip away Palou’s advantage.

Up front, Rahal was charging hard, and closed the gap to Dixon down to 4s with 15 laps to go, while pulling his margin over to O’Ward to 5.7s. With 10 laps to go, Rahal’s deficit was down to 3s, and two laps later it was 2.5s, and next time by Dixon was struggling to lap Hunter-Reay with the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan car only 1.9s in arrears. Rahal was then held up by the Carpenter car and the gap stalled at 1.6s. Once he was through, Rahal immediately closed in on the leading Ganassi car and at the end of lap 82 he was only 0.5s behind, as Dixon struggled to get around DeFrancesco. Fifteen seconds back, Power passed Palou for sixth.

Down the front straight, at the start of the penultimate lap, Rahal was barely 0.25s behind and Dixon was having to protect his line, but Rahal got wide in the Turn 12-14 sequence. He charged back after it but it wasn’t enough. Dixon was flawless.

O’Ward completed the podium, 8s from victory, but 1.2s clear of Lundgaard and Rossi. Power’s charge from 16th to sixth was overshadowed by Dixon’s spin and win, but was impressive nonetheless, while Palou’s seventh compared with Newgarden’s 25th, two laps down, means the Ganassi ace now holds a 101-point championship lead…but now over Dixon, who is four points ahead of the Penske ace.

RESULTS

Dixon tops final practice for IndyCar’s Gallagher GP

Scott Dixon will start on the eighth row of the grid for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course but he led a Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 1-2 in final practice. Initially, most of the drivers were keen on a pit stop practice, …

Scott Dixon will start on the eighth row of the grid for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course but he led a Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 1-2 in final practice.

Initially, most of the drivers were keen on a pit stop practice, before the serious race-representative running commenced, assessing the two Firestone tire compounds. For Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who will start 20th, there was a real sense of urgency because he would miss the final 10 minutes for being late to the driver weigh-in. Whether it was urgency or anger that drove his efforts, he went fastest after 10 minutes of the half-hour session.

Closest to him at this stage was rookie Marcus Armstrong, top Chip Ganassi Racing qualifier earlier in the afternoon.

Then at the halfway point, 2021 Indy road course winner Rinus VeeKay put Ed Carpenter Racing on top with a 1m11.4844s lap before this was shaded by Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing.

Alex Palou, points leader but only ninth-placed starter tomorrow, then came up with a 1m11.1365s for P1, and Kyle Kirkwood, Long Beach and Nashville winner, slipped into fourth.

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The closing four minutes saw the Kiwis take flight, Scott Dixon jumping to the top for Ganassi, and Scott McLaughlin taking third for Penske.

Agustin Canapino — who marginally outqualified Juncos Hollinger Racing teammate Ilott — was again impressive, finishing the session in ninth, just behind Marcus Ericsson who was among a few drivers who took a trip through the Turn 1 runoff area.

UP NEXT: Coverage of tomorrow’s Gallagher GP will begin at 2:00pm local (Eastern) time, and the race will be broadcast on the USA Network as well as Peacock.

RESULTS

Indy launches sprint to the checkers in IndyCar title race

The IndyCar season is in its final sprint to the checkered flag as 13 races are in the books and the last four will be settled in a rapid-fire manner, starting this Saturday during the series’ second road course visit to Indianapolis. Championship …

The IndyCar season is in its final sprint to the checkered flag as 13 races are in the books and the last four will be settled in a rapid-fire manner, starting this Saturday during the series’ second road course visit to Indianapolis.

Championship leader Alex Palou was unable to win his fifth race of the year at Nashville’s Music City Grand Prix, but it didn’t matter. His immense luck produced the next-best outcome when Kyle Kirkwood earned 53 of the maximum 54 points that Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon — Palou’s closest challengers — so desperately needed. If Palou can’t win, having a non-title contender come out on top is a cause for joy for the Spaniard.

Palou also managed to finish ahead of Newgarden and Dixon in Nashville, extending his lead at a moment in the championship where they could ill afford to lose ground. The losses, though, were minimal. Where Newgarden entered his home race with 80 points to draw down, he limited the damage by placing fifth to Palou’s third on Sunday, but the gap has slightly widened to 84.

It’s a similar story for Dixon who went from a deficit of 120 points before Nashville to 126, and if you consider how only 216 points are left to capture this season, the light is fading from his hope to reel in Palou.

The fact that Palou won the Indy GP in May and the two road courses that followed is another foreboding item to consider. He and the No. 10 Ganassi crew have been IndyCar’s best road racing team of 2023, and from the four closing races, three are on road courses…

Palou can’t depart Indy with the championship in hand, but he can certainly move it to a place where only crashes or blown engines with the No. 10 car would bring it back into reach for others over the next month.

For Dixon, Saturday is all about finishing ahead of Palou, and if that doesn’t happen, we’re in game-over territory for the six-time champion.

For Newgarden, staying close is his objective; if he can shadow or finish ahead Palou, the one big salvo he’s waiting to fire is on August 27 at the 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois. With three wins at World Wide Technology Raceway, the Team Penske driver owns the place and the odds are entirely in his favor to sweep all four ovals this year. Getting to WWTR with 84 points or fewer to carve into is his make-or-break mission in Indy.

Newgarden has one more oval race opportunity up his sleeve to close the gap, but he’ll need to stay ahead of Palou at Indy first. Brett Farmer/Motorsport Images

For those who prefer to have their racing championships go down to the wire, misfortune will need to introduce itself to Palou on Saturday afternoon and steer clear of Penske’s lone contender.

Elsewhere in the field, Romain Grosjean’s gotten his season back on track with a couple of clean and solid runs at Iowa and a quality sixth-place result at Nashville. It appears the close-to-winning version of the Swiss-born Frenchman is making a welcome return. He’s still chasing that first victory, and if he can hold onto the good momentum he’s built, there’s no reason to count him, or teammates Kirkwood and Colton Herta out from standing in victory lane at the Brickyard.

David Malukas has been just as impressive, if not more, since Mid-Ohio where he finished sixth, then added a 12th and an eighth at Iowa, and started fifth last weekend. The fire and resulting rear wing failure weren’t of his making, so if we take his overall output into account, the sophomore IndyCar driver is doing all the right things to attract interest from the teams he wants to join.

It’s also getting down to desperation time for some of the teams and drivers who’ve been everything from mildly dissatisfied to stunned by how their seasons have gone.

After 13 races, Arrow McLaren remains winless, and the last time that happened, it was 2020 — the first year of McLaren’s involvement — where Pato O’Ward took four podiums and earned fourth in the championship, all without tasting victory. In 2021, Arrow McLaren was a winner by Round 4 with O’Ward, and did it again at Round 4 in 2022 with the Mexican.

He’s taken five podiums in 2023, but wins for O’Ward — along with teammates Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi — have proven elusive. They’d love to have some of the bullet-proof luck that Palou has enjoyed, but we’ve also seen a strange trend where stellar qualifying performances and impressive output in the early stages of a few recent events have been undermined by crashes, misfortune, or fades in the second half of the races.

The same strange dynamic remains where Dixon, Will Power and Herta are winless as well. For Dixon, Saturday will mark 391 days since his last victory. For Power, the defending IndyCar champion, the number is 433, and for Herta, an unfathomable 455 sleeps will have been had since he was celebrated as an IndyCar race winner.

Together, they accounted for nearly 25 percent of all wins in 2022. To reach the twilight of the current season with that percentage at zero is yet another shocking development that defies every prediction.

Rain turns fortunes upside down for bulk of IndyCar field in Toronto

The driver leading the NTT IndyCar Series championship who’s had a nearly perfect season lines up 15th. The driver closest to him (Alex Palou), Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who goes into Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto race holding second …

The driver leading the NTT IndyCar Series championship who’s had a nearly perfect season lines up 15th. The driver closest to him (Alex Palou), Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who goes into Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto race holding second in the championship, starts seventh.

Josef Newgarden, the driver sitting third in the standings, will take the green flag from 11th on the grid, and you’ll have to look to fourth in points to find the first title contender who didn’t have a rough day in qualifying on the slippery street circuit — Marcus Ericsson on the second row in P4.

Colton Herta, last year’s Honda Indy Toronto polesitter and the polesitter for the last two NTT IndyCar Series races, had intentions to earn another, but was a big surprise in his failure to transfer into the Firestone Fast 12. The Andretti Autosport driver, fastest in the session prior to qualifying, wasn’t alone.

Beasts in the dry, Herta’s frustrating run to 14th was compounded by Kyle Kirkwood—fastest on Friday—who lines up eighth and Romain Grosjean who settled for ninth.

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The greatest surprise, though, was the aforementioned Palou, whose worst start of the year prior to Toronto was seventh. To the Spaniard’s credit, he was in worse shape last year in Canada when he started 22nd and rocketed to eighth, so all hope is not lost.

“I just think we didn’t really put together everything we had,” said an untroubled Palou. “We’re going to have to start from the back, but we know we have a fast car and we can make it from there. It’s gonna be a pretty busy race. It’s the first (challenging starting spot) of the year; hopefully the last one, but yeah, we will have to work for it, for sure.”

Dixon looking to turn consistency into wins

Scott Dixon and his new race engineer Ross Bunnell have been immensely successful during the opening nine races of their relationship at Chip Ganassi Racing. The six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and Bunnell, who joined the No. 9 Honda program …

Scott Dixon and his new race engineer Ross Bunnell have been immensely successful during the opening nine races of their relationship at Chip Ganassi Racing. The six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion and Bunnell, who joined the No. 9 Honda program during the offseason after learning his craft at Dale Coyne Racing, hold second in the championship as a result of the great consistency they’ve achieved.

“I think it’s been a pretty ​​smooth transition with Ross so far,” Dixon told RACER. “The background is, it’s been a little up and down with three engineers for the 9 car in three years, so to get that continuity is not always super-easy. But it’s been really good with him; he’s just super-motivated, very eager to dive into things, but he also has a confidence in how he does things.

“I think the toughest part, which a lot of people don’t understand, is the 9 car team is a bit of a tough one to be on. You’ve got [Ganassi performance director and Dixon’s former race engineer] Chris Simmons there, you’ve got Chip [Ganassi], you’ve got [managing director and race strategist] Mike [Hull], and there’s already a lot of confident people there. So if you start to speak up, you better be confident in what your view is. And I think he’s really done a good job at understanding how to fit in there.”

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Having stood on the right and the left side of the podium, the last milestone for the duo to achieve is their first victory, and they’re days away from landing in one of Dixon’s favorite playgrounds — the streets of Toronto — to get the job done.

Dixon owns four of Ganassi’s eight wins on the Canadian street circuit, and as the defending winner of the Honda Indy Toronto event, he heads to the 1.8-mile, 11-turn track with an excellent chance to repeat and welcome Bunnell to victory lane in the process.

“Toronto was our first win last year, too, so going back-to-back obviously would be huge,” Dixon said. “We’ve been close already, but you always talk about the missed opportunities as opposed to the ones that you get right. I feel like we’ve had a lot more to show, even more than what we have shown, because the car has been really good.

“But we’re just getting over the peak of the mountain, and then hopefully, we can get onto a bit of a roll. Any year in IndyCar is super tough, apart from [teammate and runaway championship leader] Alex [Palou], who’s been doing a hell of a job. But it will come. Toronto, it’s been a good track for us in the past, and I was impressed with the tests that we had at Iowa. I’m much happier with the car than what we’ve had there, so it’s a lot of progress and I like the direction that we’re moving.”

Dixon ​has ​rallied to win IndyCar titles after being well behind in the championship, which makes the job of catching Palou with his 116-point advantage feel like less of an impossible task. The odds are certainly stacked in Palou’s favor, but Dixon isn’t ready to raise the white flag and surrender.

“I feel like I’ve seen this movie several times before, and that’s what’s fun about IndyCar racing,” he said. “Even going to Le Mans and talking to people there, they all say, ‘I just love IndyCar racing because you never really know who the hell’s going to win.’ I think that’s true for a lot of our seasons.

“Last year, Will [Power] just had a hell of a smooth year and really nailed it and did a hell of a job, but I’ve had it where I won and then the next year came around and it all went flat. So it is fun in that aspect because there are so many strong driver and team combinations now and even across that it’s really hard to predict who’s going to win. That’s why all of us love it so much, because it’s that damn hard to get right.

“I saw [Josef] Newgarden was commenting about Palou and how he hasn’t really had a problem this season, but some people just have those years where everything clicks. It’s the timing of things, too. Say your engine blows up in practice, opposed to qualifying or the race, and that almost feels like good luck because otherwise, if the timing was off, it can change how the whole year really rolls. And Palou’s group have just done a tremendous job. It’s good to see them in their stride. But I’d say everybody else chasing them is feeling a bit scrappy.” ​

IndyCar aces not optimistic blue flag rules will be changed

Backmarkers being allowed to hold up the leaders in an IndyCar race is a topic that reared its head again at in the Honda Indy 200, after AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen proved particularly obstructive on his way to 26th place. Mid-Ohio race …

Backmarkers being allowed to hold up the leaders in an IndyCar race is a topic that reared its head again at in the Honda Indy 200, after AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen proved particularly obstructive on his way to 26th place.

Mid-Ohio race winner Alex Palou saw his lead over Colton Herta shrink from 8.3s to 3.8s while trying to lap the rookie without using up too much push-to-pass boost, which is supposed to be for passes for position.

The fight to stay on the lead lap is understandable, to a degree, since if there is a full-course caution, the driver will get his lap back when the field bunches up. But more surprising was that even once he was lapped by the leader, Pedersen was similarly adversarial to the other frontrunners.

“I think that the blue flag rule, it’s crazy,” said Will Power, who finished third. “You use push-to-pass up and have to race somebody that’s going to be a lap down like you’re racing for position. The series is so tight and competitive, and everyone is so good now that I think we could have a blue flag rule. It’s not like we have yellows constantly, and you’re going to get your lap back.

“Maybe they do it in the second half of the race, but it’s ridiculous when a leader gives up 10s.”

Turning to race runner-up Dixon, Power said: “I think you were 5s down the road, I closed it right up. Probably would have overtaken you if I didn’t get held up while going a couple of laps longer.

“We should have a talk about it,” he continued to the assembled media, before Dixon interjected, “We do every year.” Power nodded, “We tell them every year. They’re like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we hear you.’ Then… crickets.”

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Asked if there was a simple solution, Power replied: “The problem is, it takes a lot of people to police that because if there’s a blue flag rule and the first guy passes, then you’ve got to have a command blue for everyone. But I think if everyone just understood, if you get the blue flag, you have to let the driver go within the lap.

“That, I think, is their issue – the amount of people in race control that would have to police that. It becomes a bit difficult. But we’re at the stage where this competition is so tough, maybe we have to add some people to do that.

Dixon said that disabling push-to-pass for the backmarker should be part of the solution, to which Power commented, “That was the one where they say, ‘Well, how do we police? Do we disable it for everyone after that?’ It sounded like that was a big problem.

“But it’s not like a ton of people go a lap down anymore anyway. Yeah, disabling the push-to-pass would be a big step if you are going to be a lap down, yeah.”

Although angry at the time he was seeing his lead evaporate behind Pedersen, Palou was calm in front of the media afterward.

“It’s IndyCar; I know the rules,” said the winner, “But at the same time, it’s very frustrating when you are leading and you try to open the gap, and they don’t let you pass, but they are using the overtake, like 20s, 30s a lap, to try to stay up front. On top of that, once you are side-by-side that they are so aggressive defending. Obviously it’s really frustrating when you are leading.

“I knew I had to get past also because you are using more overtake, you are using more fuel, you are using more tires, and you’re not able to do the race you want, just because of a backmarker car that wants to stay on the lead lap.

“The issue is that once you pass them, they let everybody pass because they already lost the lap, right? So, yeah, it’s frustrating. I know it’s the rules.

“I would like it to change. It’s not going to change. So, yeah, whatever. I’m more relaxed now!”

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Dixon, Power praise Palou after his fourth win in five races

Scott Dixon and Will Power, who finished second and third in the Honda Indy 200, have been unstinting in their praise of Alex Palou, who at Mid-Ohio notched up his third straight victory. Between them, this trio has captured the last three IndyCar …

Scott Dixon and Will Power, who finished second and third in the Honda Indy 200, have been unstinting in their praise of Alex Palou, who at Mid-Ohio notched up his third straight victory.

Between them, this trio has captured the last three IndyCar titles, but with nine races gone in the 17-race season, Palou’s points lead is out to 110 points over second-placed Dixon, and 151 over seventh-placed Power. Neither of these two veterans has won a race yet this year.

Said Power, who took his third podium of the season, “Obviously everyone needs to beat Palou, but… that’s going to be a very tough challenge to beat him in the championship this year. He is so on point in every respect. He is not missing a thing, which is very difficult in this series. To be extremely fast, there are a lot of guys that are, but then being able to do all the disciplines as well plus the intricacies of fuel save, tire conservation, in-and-out laps, qualifying… It’s bloody hard to have that all nailed, and he is doing it.”

Dixon said: “As Will commented, it’s not just Alex, but Julian (Robertson, race engineer), the whole No. 10 car group are just doing a phenomenal job… Barry (Wanser, strategist) as well. It’s never a single person. The effort is big I think on all the cars in Chip Ganassi Racing right now, but they’re firing on all cylinders.

“It’s hard. I think we had a pretty good race today, but obviously we still didn’t have enough to overcome that. I think had a few things changed, same as with Will, same as anybody out there, could have been a bit more racier. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to beat.”

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“Yeah, just from a strategy standpoint as well, which I know from the first time he won a championship, that group on that car is very smart,” added Power. “They’re putting it all together. Yeah, it’s an absolute team effort, but he is also nailing it.

“I think Ganassi in general seems to have a very good package right now, all-around. So they’re a tough group, all good drivers, obviously a very strong team. I think we all have a little bit of work to do.”

Asked what he’d seen from inside the team that made Palou special, Dixon replied, “I think he is just covering all bases. As Will alluded to there, the qualifying is solid, the race pace is solid, strategy is solid. It’s just a really good all-around package right now.

“It’s never only one thing, but having quick pace is something that is huge, obviously, with how tight the competition is now, but even today we didn’t qualify on the front. We were fourth and sixth, but he was still able to overcome the three possibly quicker cars in qualifying.

“Some others may have had some problems on pit road or just whatever it was. He has done a hell of a job to cover all bases.”

Asked to compare him with four-time champion Dario Franchitti, with whom Dixon was teammates for five seasons, Dixon said: “I think it’s always different. The racing is definitely different from what we had back then. So the guy we obviously know is a big talent. You see some talents come along that just really are quick but maybe inconsistent or something like that, but he is definitely the full package.

“Dario is a legend of the sport and won a ton of races – big races – and obviously a ton of championships, too. It’s early in Alex’s career. He has a big, wide runway to go yet to see what comes. We’ll see if he even sticks around in IndyCar.”

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