Dixon nails third win at Texas track
Only two ahead of on-form Kiwi on Indycar victory list
Scott Dixon didn’t spend much time sharing the spot with Michael Andretti for the third-most wins in Indycar history.
A week after a matching victory, Dixon led the last 119 laps in the Indycar Series race at Texas at the weekend to move ahead of Andretti with career win No 43.
“It’s really cool. Obviously I have massive respect for a lot of these drivers,” Dixon said. “But when you look at those names, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, the Unsers, to me it still seems very strange that Dixon is on that list, too.”
Dixon trails only A.J. Foyt’s 67 wins and Mario Andretti’s 52.
After taking the lead on the
11⁄ 2- mile (2.4km) Texas oval in the 248-lap race, he never gave it up. It was Dixon’s third victory at Texas, a week after he won the first of the two races at Detroit.
“The car was just stuck,” Dixon said. “Whatever we did, the car was just nailed. It was a bit loose at times, but I can’t thank the team enough. The pit stops were fantastic.”
Before separate late incidents involving Will Power and Ed Carpenter, the top two finishers at the Indianapolis 500, Dixon was close to lapping the field.
Indycar said Power and Carpenter both would be penalised for avoidable contact with rookie drivers.
Power held the points lead coming into the race, but Dixon took over that with his 4.3-second win over Simon Pagenaud. Alexander Rossi finished third, with James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounding out the top five in the first night race of the season.
Team Penske swept the top three qualifying spots. Pagenaud started and finished second, while polesitter Josef Newgarden was 13th and Power finished 18th.
The win gave Dixon a 23-point lead over Rossi after nine of 17 races. Power was third, 36 behind Dixon. “It’s not bad,” Dixon said. “But it’s going to be hard to hold on to. We’ll see how the next races go. The car has had good speed all season and we’ll try to keep it going.”