Victory a notable milestone for Dixon

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon won his 42nd IndyCar race, pulling even with Michael Andretti for third on the career list.

Dixon did it by outlasting three of Andretti’s drivers — including his son.

Dixon raced to his first IndyCar victory of the year, beating Ryan HunterReay by 1.8 seconds at Belle Isle yesterday. Hunter-Reay drives for Andretti Autosport, and so do Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti, who finished third and fourth.

‘‘I’m sure Michael was on the radio probably telling Hunter-Reay to get after it a little bit there,’’ Dixon joked.

Dixon hadn’t led a lap all season until yesterday, but this was his fourth top-five finish in seven races in 2018. IndyCar’s active leader in victories, Dixon now has at least one in each of the last 14 seasons. This was also his

99th top-three finish, breaking a tie for fourth with Al Unser on that list.

In the first of two IndyCar races this weekend at Belle Isle, Dixon led for 39 of the 70 laps on the 2.35-mile street course. After starting on the pole, Marco Andretti was in front for the first

22 laps before giving up the lead during a cycle of pit stops.

‘‘We wanted to stay as close as possible just in case they pitted quite early,’’ Dixon said.

‘‘We knew they kind of had to get to lap 20 to make it work anyway, and then we started to pile on the pressure a little bit there to be close on that pit stop exchange.’’