Restart draws large audience
Dixon extends record, ties Foyt with 18th season posting a victory
FORT WORTH — Through all of the uncertainty and unknowns after more than eight months since the last IndyCar race, Scott Dixon and another pair of former champs relied on their experience for podium finishes.
There were no spectators, and there won’t be for the next race on July 4, but the series finally started its season that was delayed by the novel coronavirus pandemic with a long, well-screened day — from the health screenings everyone had to go through just to get inside Texas Motor Speedway to the new protective windscreens over the cockpits of the cars.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough situation for the IndyCar Series putting together the race and making sure we could put on the show to entertain people,” said Simon Pagenaud, who was runner-up behind Dixon. “That’s what we do, that’s what this business is about.”
NBC Sports said Sunday that the Saturday night prime-time telecast drew nearly 1.3 million viewers, making it the mostwatched IndyCar race outside the Indianapolis 500 on any network since 2016. It was the biggest audience for an NBC telecast of any IndyCar race away from the Brickyard.
Five-time champion Dixon sped away in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda on a restart with three laps left for a comfortable 4.4-second winning margin over a pair of Team Penske drivers, 2017 IndyCar champ Pagenaud and polesitter Josef Newgarden, the defending and two-time series champion.
“Just awesome to be back here. It was awesome to get into racing again,” Pagenaud said. “The false start in St. Pete, it was the first time in my career I’ve ever experienced anything like it.”
Nearly three months after the season was about to start on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., and the extended hiatus that followed because of the pandemic, the all-in-one-day opener ended with Dixon taking the checkered flag at dusk. The 200-lap race on the 1½mile, high-banked oval came after practice and qualifying earlier in the day.
IndyCar’s next race is at Indianapolis, on the road course and not the 2½-mile track that hosts the Indy 500, which was pushed back from its traditional Memorial Day weekend date until Aug. 23.
Dixon’s 47 wins are the most among active drivers and third on the career list behind Houston native A.J. Foyt (67) and Mario Andretti (52). Dixon extended his own record by winning a race in his 16th consecutive season and matched Foyt’s mark of 18 seasons overall with a victory.