The Ice-man held off a fiery and fast charging Graham Rahal by just 0.4779 seconds to record his 54th victory in the NTT INDYCAR Series, having been spun around on lap 1.
Dixon pitted for extra fuel on lap 5 in order to make an alternate 3 stop strategy work, taking the lead from Friday’s NTT P1 Award winner Graham Rahal on lap 63 when the driver of the #15 car made his final stop.
Using extra push to pass, whilst combining masterful fuel saving and perfect precision, Scott Dixon did not allow Rahal to close sufficiently on him, and recorded his first win of the season, maintaining a record of 19 consecutive seasons in the sport with a race win and moving him to 2nd in the championship standings, 101 points behind Alex Palou.
Behind the two front runners came Pato O’Ward, who secured his 6th podium finish of the season, ahead of Christian Lundgaard and teammate Alexander Rossi in 5th.
Will Power recovered from a tough qualifying to finish 6th, with championship leader Alex Palou in 7th, gaining more ground on his competitors as his lead in the points standings opened to over 100.
Scott McLaughlin drove his #3 Gallagher Chevrolet to 8th in the Gallagher Grand Prix, with Nashville winner Kyle Kirkwood in 9th, and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10. Linus Lundqvist was 12th for Meyer Shank in only his second weekend in the series, finishing just behind Rinus Veekay.
Results: 2023 Gallagher Grand Prix
The biggest loser of the day was Josef Newgarden, who started the race 84 points behind Alex palou, but from the back of the field with ground to make up. A lap 1 incident saw his championship hopes fall flat just before the series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway, a place where Newgarden has not lost at since 2020.
Driver’s Standings: 2023 NTT Indycar Series
A chaotic lap 1 saw Devlin DeFrancesco go from 5th to 1st at turn 1 and drama all throughout the field, as Newgarden came to grief when an incident between Palou, Dixon, Grosjean, Herta and Armstrong caused a roadblock.
Newgarden was unable to avoid the oncoming danger, broke his front wing, and finished the race in 25th, 2 laps down.
Dixon demonstrates his class with ultimate recovery drive
On a weekend where Scott Dixon recorded the longest race streak in Indycar of 319 consecutive starts, it looked as if this record breaking weekend would be one to forget for the New Zealander.
Having been spun round on lap 1 by Romain Grosjean in a chain reaction shunt which began with contact between Alex Palou and Christian Lundgaard, Dixon’s hopes of a good finish to mark the occasion appeared to have been thrown away in an instant.
However, Scott Dixon is no ordinary driver. He never gives up, and this scenarios presented him with an opportunity to pull off a miracle. Mike Hull devised Dixon a strategy that played to the Kiwi’s strength: fuel-saving.
Dixon managed the race perfectly, being aggressive at the right points, but also managing his tyres and fuel to perfection. He led a number of laps during the middle portion of the race, but even then a victory seemed unlikely.
He made his final stop on lap 60, with 25 laps to navigate on his final stint. Rahal pitted on lap 63, 5 seconds back from Dixon after his final stop. The driver of the #15 closed in significantly, taking advantage of having much fresher tyres and more fuel to burn.
The pair had to navigate lapped traffic, and Rahal was left feeling significantly aggrieved by Ryan Hunter-Reay, who made his life particularly difficult. Rahal gesticulated to the Ed Carpenter Racing driver as he eventually passed him.
On lap 83 of 85, Rahal got extremely close into turn 1, but was unable to make a move stick. This would turn out to be his final passing opportunity of the race, as Dixon would use his superior push to pass count to pull away a touch on the final lap.
From 15th on the grid, via a spin and 24th at the end of lap 1, to victory lane, Scott Dixon can be extremely proud of his afternoon’s work.
When asked about his remarkable fuel saving ability, Dixon said ‘Lifting. I don’t know, man. I would say Honda.
‘I knew we weren’t out of it. I was kind of bummed because I’m like, Man, I had a really good start, picked up a load of spots. It was wiped out within a half lap.
‘We had a like a six-second lead. I kept looking at it, running the lap times. He (Rahal) wasn’t gaining on us. This is crazy, this might actually work out.’
Graham Rahal so close but so far in 2023
At the very circuit where Graham Rahal was bumped from the Indy500 just a few months prior, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway nearly provided the perfect comeback. After a great lap in qualifying saw him start on the pole for the first time in 6 years, a first win since Detroit in 2017 was on the cards.
An unbelievable move from Devlin DeFrancesco on lap 1 saw the Canadian go from 5th to 1st, as Rahal’s lead in the race lasted mere metres, but after Rahal repassed him on lap 9, it looked as if the race was perfect for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver.
He managed the gap to Rossi in the first stint, opened up a gap to Lundgaard in the second and fought off all the challengers in the third. However, looming in the distance was Scott Dixon, and his amazing alternate strategy.
Rahal got close to Dixon, cutting the gap from 6 seconds down to just a few tenths, but it was not to be. The hunt for that elusive first win in 6 years will go on.
‘I thought we did all right today. But that’s the way racing goes.’ said Rahal.
‘We got that last stint, and I knew we were going to have to make a lot of time. Catching him about 7/10ths a lap. Traffic came into play.’
At the end of the day we have nothing to be ashamed of. I thought we laid it all on the line, did a great job as an organisation this weekend.’
Whilst the result may sting for Graham Rahal, he can take significant comfort in the fact that a pole position and a podium finish marks stark contrast to his last visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Having been bumped from qualifying in his own car, and then unable to start the race on time when he subbed in for Stefan Wilson, that terrible Month of May feels like a long time ago. After this weekend, Rahal knows that he does indeed belong in the NTT INDYCAR Series.
Graham Rahal was denied the ultimate redemption at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, such is the nature of the beast. It took a monumental effort from the greatest of them all.
The Championship swings towards Palou as Newgarden hits trouble
With the gap standing at 84 points and Worldwide Technology Raceway being the next circuit on the calendar, Josef Newgarden knew that a good result here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway could swing the championship back in his favour.
Unfortunately, an engine change saw him moved to the back of the grid. Newgarden knew he needed to make up places in the opening stanza, but found himself on the wrong side of an incident on the opening lap.
Lundgaard chopped across Palou at turn 7, causing a significant chain reaction. Cars went everywhere, with Dixon, Grosjean and Armstrong all being spun around. Newgarden went into turn 7 unsighted, and hit Armstrong side on sending him up into the air, and with it went his championship hopes.
A sizeable 84 points became a virtually insurmountable 105, as no more cautions fell in the race. Newgarden will go to WWTR knowing he has not been beaten then since the introduction of the aero-screen in 2020, but also needing significant amounts of luck to maintian any hope of winning in 2023.
Palou has not finished outside the top 8 all season, and so whilst winning seems unlikely for Newgarden, nothing is impossible in this series, as proved by Dixon tonight.
The NTT INDYCAR Series continues on August 27th at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Driver’s Standings: 2023 NTT Indycar Series
Results: 2023 Gallagher Grand Prix
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