Dixon on fire with win in Texas
New Zealand driver Scott Dixon won the Firestone 600 yesterday, his second career victory at Texas Motor Speedway and 37th overall, to close to within 43 points of the IndyCar series lead.
Dixon started on the fourth row of the grid after qualifying in seventh place but worked his way through the field and led for a total of 97 of the 248 laps in Fort Worth, Texas.
Crucially one of those was the final lap as he crossed the line comfortably ahead of team-mate Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.
The winning margin was 7.8 seconds while Dixon averaged 191.940 mph in what was the 12th fastest IndyCar race of all time.
After anxiety about how the cars would handle on the highspeed, high-banked Texas track with the new aero kits – especially after three Chevrolets went airborne during practice for the Indianapolis 500 – there were no accidents. Dixon’s No 9 car was sporting unfamiliar black, green and blue colours instead of the usual red and white due to a sponsorship deal for the race, but it was a familiar performance from the Kiwi as he added a second career win – the first was in 2008 – a ninth top-five and 11th top-10 finish at the oval track.
‘‘I can’t thank the team enough, I’m over the moon with this Energizer car and it’s great to have it in Victory Lane again,’’ Dixon said.
It was Dixon’s second win of the season and he joins series leader Juan Pablo Montoya, who was fourth in Texas, as the only other multiple winner this year.
The Kiwi started the race trailing Montoya by 63 points in the championship standings but reduced the margin by 20 and while he remains third overall, he’s now just eight points behind second-placed Will Power.