Dixon proves he has what it takes to win title No. 5
Scott Dixon has his first win of the season — giving him at least one in each year since 2005 — and remains atop the points standings, but the championship remains fairly wide open, with six drivers within 50 points of Dixon.
As the Verizon IndyCar Series heads into an off week, a look at some highlights from Road America. Dixon’s drive for five: There were at least three races this season in which Dixon could have and maybe even should have won — St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Barber Motorsports Park and Texas Motor Speedway come to mind — but Sunday at Road America wasn’t one of them.
The Team Penske cars were better. Didn’t matter, though. Dixon was too crafty, too patient, too good.
Dixon, who started fifth, passed Will Power and Helio Castroneves on his first pit stop and overtook Josef Newgarden in Turn 1 on a midrace restart. And that was that.
“It stings a little bit coming home second when you feel like you have a winning car,” said runner-up Newgarden, who made a valiant effort to chase down Dixon late but couldn’t find a way around the 36-year-old four-time champion. “We were quicker than him, but we weren’t quick enough to overtake him. We were probably only 2-, 3/10ths quicker than him in outright speed, which wasn’t enough to do much with him. … He’s obviously one of the toughest to race against.”
It should be mentioned that the Chip Ganassi Racing cars were impressive in their own right. After some late makeovers to three of its four cars — including Dixon’s — CGR fared quite well outside of Dixon’s win. Charlie Kimball turned in a sixthplace finish, while Max Chilton came in ninth. Still, the Penske brigade thought it let one slip through its fingers.
“It’s a shame we missed a win for Team Penske, because we had the best cars this weekend,” fourth-place finisher Simon Pagenaud said. Ed Jones is pretty good: He’s making a habit of this, the unassuming rookie of Dale Coyne Racing. Jones has a distinct way of creeping up on the field. It happened in the Indianapolis 500 — where he finished third — and it happened again Sunday at Road America, where Jones finished seventh.
Jones started 11th and really had to fight to stay midpack.
“It was a really tough race,” Jones said. “The car was loose, and we were on the knife’s edge the whole time. I was hanging on the whole race, but the team had some good pit stops and we were able to move up.”
Move up he did. Slowly but surely — a phrase that has come to define Jones’ racing style this season.
He’s not going to take unnecessary chances, but he will capitalize on others’ mistakes and misfortunes. Tony Kanaan crashes while trying to pass Alexander Rossi? Take advantage on the re- start and move up a spot. Ryan Hunter-Reay takes damage while trying to make a move on Kimball? Move up a spot.
As a result, Jones has begun to creep up the championship standings; he’s 10th and climbing.
Bad blood brewing: Apparently the mayhem in Texas has created long-term consequences.
That’s not to say one particular driver has a problem with another, but the frustrations of that mess seem to have carried over.
Hunter-Reay, who was taken out in the big crash at Texas, made no bones about calling out Kimball in his postrace statement Sunday, saying, “In the end we had a good car, we were moving forward, passing for sixth with three laps to go. Charlie made a late block and took off my front wing. I had a good race going until Charlie moved out late like that.”
Then there was Kanaan, who, according to most, caused the big crash at Texas. He took a jab at Rossi after the 20-year IndyCar veteran crashed while attempting to pass the 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion.
Conor Daly summarized the race like this: There was “a lot (of ) ridiculous driving at the end. … I got caught with cars that were a lap down that were making silly decisions on the last restarts.”
One explanation for this overflow of anger is that many drivers involved in these incidents have endured frustrating seasons. Hunter-Reay has been on the receiving end of all kinds of rotten luck and perhaps was aggravated enough to speak his mind. The same could be said of Daly and, to a degree, Kanaan.
At this point, there are drivers in the paddock with championship dreams dead and little more to drive for than pride. And when that gets damaged, anger and honesty often are the result.