Dixon victorious in delayed IndyCar opener
Allmendinger picks up Xfinity victory
FORT WORTH — IndyCar packed every bit of its delayed season-opening event into one long, hot day in Texas without any fans in the stands. Scott Dixon was the fastest for most of the day at a place he knows well.
Dixon, a five-time IndyCar champion, took the checkered flag at dusk Saturday for his fourth win at the 1½-mile, high-banked oval, where drivers had also practiced and qualified earlier in the day. The 39-year-old New Zealander raced to his 47th career victory and matched A.J. Foyt’s record of 18 seasons with a win.
After a restart with three laps left following a caution when his young teammate Felix Rosenqvist crashed, Dixon sped away in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda for a 4.4-second victory over Simon Pagenaud. Defending IndyCar champion and polesitter Josef Newgarden finished third behind Pagenaud, his teammate at Team Penske.
Nearly three months after the start of the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, IndyCar finally got on the track for what would usually be the midpoint race of its season.
The massive grandstands that can seat well more than 100,000 people were empty, and not because of extreme heat — temperatures in the mid-90s with a heat index around 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout practice, qualifying and even much of the race. No spectators were allowed, as will also be the case for the next race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4.
Gov. Greg Abbott rode in the pace car for the first professional sporting event in Texas since sports shut down nationwide because of the coronavirus. The only at-track spectators were the people watching from their condos in the building overlooking Turn 2.
Dixon had the top speed during the two-hour practice session earlier in the day, and qualified second to start on the front row alongside Newgarden. He went on to win the IndyCar title each of the three previous times he won the race at Texas.
Rosenqvist had been running behind Dixon for several laps when he crashed trying to move through traffic. He got high going onto the backstretch with nine laps remaining, bringing out the final caution. He finished 20th out of the 23 cars that started the race.
Dixon led 157 of the 200 laps, and had an earlier six-second lead over Newgarden wiped out by a caution for debris. Newgarden led twice for 41 laps and fourthplace finisher Zach Veach led the remaining two laps. Ed Carpenter, the series’ only driver-owner, rounded out the top five.
Because of the extended day at the track, the length of the race was shortened to 200 laps from its usual 248 at Texas, and was finished under two hours.
Texas became the season opener while keeping its originally scheduled date, which was supposed to be the ninth of 17 races. That would have been two weeks after the Indianapolis 500, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 23.
XFINITY: In Hampton, Georgia, A.J. Allmendinger won a NASCAR oval race for the first time in his long career.
Taking advantage of mistakes by the three leaders, the 38-yearold Californian cruised to victory by nearly two seconds over polesitter Noah Gragson in the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.
“Oh my god,” Allmendinger said as he climbed from his No. 16 Chevrolet. “I won on an oval.”
Allmendinger, who first came to prominence in open-wheel racing, claimed a single victory during more than a decade in the top-level Cup series, and he had three previous Xfinity wins — all on road courses.
Now, he filled in a big hole on his résumé.
“All I ever wanted to do was win on an oval,” said Allmendinger, who has only a part-time ride in the Xfinity Series after losing his Cup ride after the 2018 season. “I have a lot of success in so many forms of racing.”
Allmendinger started 30th but spent much of the day in the top 10.
Then, after the final caution of the day, the top three cars — Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier — were all caught speeding on pit road.
That pushed Allmendinger into the top spot on the restart with 34 laps to go. He held on the rest of the way.
Cindric won the first two stages. But his mistake heading into the pits knocked him back to a 16thplace finish. Allgaier salvaged a sixth-place showing, while Briscoe settled for ninth.
TRUCK SERIES: Also at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, Grant Enfinger passed Austin Hill on the last lap to win the Truck Series race in overtime.