Scott Dixon Wins Indy Gran Prix
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – RIS – Scott Dixon won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the second time in his career twelve years after the first one. The five-time series champion won by a dominant 19.9469 seconds over Graham Rahal in the IndyCar Grand Prix.
Dixon finished runner-up in each of the last three races on the track's 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. Second wouldn't do, and he did it in fine fashion.
“It's so good to be standing here, racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Dixon said after pumping his fist in a mostly empty and silent renovated winner's circle. “We got lucky, man."
He beat the legends, or at least relatives for the win. pole-winner and three-time race champion Will Power stalled in the pits. And he had to pass Rahal, whose team-owning father won the Indy 500 in 1986.
It was surprisingly a relatively easy drive for Dixon, whose 48 IndyCar wins rank third behind A.J. Foyt (67) and Mario Andretti (52). Team Penske had dominated the race lately. Roger Penske bought the trac in the off-season and this was the first race run since that purchase, Power and Simon Pagenaud split the previous six races on the road course, the last five as teammates for the series powerhouse. Pagenaud finished third Saturday after qualifying 20th.
The race ended IndyCar’s one-month hiatus and kicks off a busier schedule that features four races over the next two weeks. It was also the opener of an unprecedented IndyCar-NASCAR weekend. Dixon’s car owner, Chip Ganassi will race again in the NASCAR Cup race tomorrow.
Ron Fleshman
RIS NASCAR Editor. Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.