Dixon extends his record at Indianapolis
Streak of consecutive IndyCar seasons with a victory is now up to 19
The Iceman became the Ironman of IndyCar on Saturday. Capped it off with a win, too.
Scott Dixon kept his cool after getting spun around on the opening lap of the Indianapolis Grand Prix, used Graham Rahal’s late pit stop to take the lead and then held off the hard-charging pole winner for his first victory of theseason by 0.4779 seconds.
Dixon’s 54th career win, second in series history, was part of another milestone day. He has won at least one race in 19 consecutive IndyCar seasons, extending his own record, and it came onthe day he also broke Tony Kanaan’s previous series mark with his 319th consecutive start.
“Crazy day for me, I thought I had a fantastic start, picked up about five spots and then got to (turn) seven and there was a bit of a backup there and just got spun around,” said Dixon, who had his 200th podium finish. “So now I can say a spin and win and which is pretty cool.”
It’s another remarkable chapter in Dixon’s incredible career.
Only A.J. Foyt has won more races (67) or more series crowns (seven) than Dixon, who has done it all with Chip Ganassi Racing over 22 seasons — the longestdriver in team history. And while the trips to victory lane rarely come easily for the six-time IndyCar champ, Dixon always seems to find a creative wayto stay in contention.
It happened again Saturday after an early collision that sent Dixon to pit road on Lap 5. He spent the rest of the race running a different strategythan the other cars, a move that eventually helped him stay in contention after qualifying 15th.
“We’re going against the best ever, right? I mean it’s what 20 straight seasons or 19?” said Rahal, who ended a six-year pole drought Friday but failed to snap his six-year victory drought. “It’s ridiculous, it’s absolutely insane.”
“It’s very hard to win so you’re constantly changing, chasing a moving target, which is fun.” Dixon said. “I think that’s what keeps you inspired, especially when youhave a great team.”
Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal’s teammate, and 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi closed out the top five. O’Ward and Rossi both drive forArrow McLaren.
NASCAR Cup Series
Chase Briscoe grew up dreaming of driving into victory lane at Indianapolis MotorSpeedway. Heneeds it now.
With three races left in NASCAR’s regular season, Briscoe finds himself among a large group of drivers in must-win situations at Sunday’s Brickyard 200 to make NASCAR’s16-driver playoff.
“I feel like if I’m in position, I’m definitely going to be aggressive here,” Briscoe said before Saturday’s qualifying. “I do think this weekend is probably my best opportunity to be up in the mix.”
Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion and last year’s regular-season points leader, started the weekend in 22nd. Austin Cindric, the son of longtime Team Penske president Tim Cindric, also needs help to make the cut for the second straight year. He started the weekend ranked 21st and qualified 20th.
Daniel Suarez earned the pole, with Tyler Reddick second.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Ty Gibbs finally figured out how to beat A.J. Allmendingerin Indianapolis.
He made it to the front during the third stage of the Xfinity Series race — then pulled away from the recent king of roadcourses.
The 20-year-old drove into victory lane for the first time this season by beating Sam Mayer to the finish by more than seven seconds and relegating Allmendinger, the defending race champ and pole winner,to third.
Gibbs has 13 career Xfinity wins. “Definitely about time, really cool to get one here at theBrickyard,“the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. ”Awesome car, great car. The team did such a great job, this is just so special.”