DIXON CONTINUES HIS TORRID START

Scott Dixon raced to his third straight victory Saturday with an improbable triumph in the opener of a weekend doubleheader at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., as Indycar welcomed fans to its races for the first time this season.

Dixon took the lead shortly after a caution flag and beat Will Power by 2.5386 seconds. They were followed in order by Alex Palou, Ryan Hunter-reay and Colton Herta.

Dixon has won each of the three Indycar races in the pandemic-delayed season. He’s the first Indycar driver to start a season with at least three consecutive victories since Sebastien Bourdais reeled off four straight to start the 2006 campaign.

The only other drivers to open an Indycar season with at least three straight victories are A.J. Foyt (seven in 1964) and Al Unser (three in 1971).

This marked the first time spectators were allowed in an Indycar event this season.

“It’s so cool to be back on a track with fans,” Dixon said. “And there’s tons of them here today.”

Saturday’s race took drivers 55 laps around a course that’s just over 4 miles long with 14 turns.

Dixon qualified ninth and wasn’t a factor early in this one as Josef Newgarden was in command for the first half of the race.

Newgarden had grabbed the pole position earlier in the day and seemed on his way to winning at Road America for the second time in three years until he stalled coming out of his second pit stop and fell back in the pack. He ended up 14th.

Power owned a narrow lead over Dixon when Jack Harvey went off the track to produce a caution flag with 17 laps remaining. Dixon pulled ahead of Power coming out of the pits on the restart and stayed ahead after two more caution flags.

Exclusive Kentucky club

The Kentucky Speedway winners’ club is exclusive — just five drivers have combined to win the first nine NASCAR Cup races.

All have championships, with the 400-mile race providing a springboard to the title for Kyle Busch (2015), Brad Keselowski (2012) and Martin Truex Jr. (2017). That trio also has multiple Kentucky wins, which speaks volumes of their mastery of the 1.5-mile oval.

Denny Hamlin is fifth in the standings but holds a onepoint playoff edge over firstplace Kevin Harvick, who’s coming off Sunday’s Brickyard 400 triumph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that matched Hamlin’s series-best four wins this season. Harvick now carries momentum to a venue where he has six top-10s in his past seven starts.

Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile, simply seeks better luck at Kentucky following several subpar runs. Right now, the seven-time Cup champion is giddy just to race the No. 48 Chevy again after missing his first career race last week in Indianapolis following a positive COVID-19 test. Johnson was cleared this week after two negative tests; NASCAR has reminded teams to follow coronavirus protocols.

“Yeah, I’m super excited and in my head of optimism,” said Johnson, who is scheduled to retire from full-time NASCAR racing after this season. “I’m like, what a comeback story. It could really be a special moment. I’ve always been highly motivated, but it would be really cool to have great success (today).”