Scott Dixon combined masterful fuel saving and a rare mistake by teammate and NTT IndyCar Series championship leader Alex Palou with five laps to go Sunday to win the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
Dixon continued two remarkable series-record streaks with his 59th career victory, first win this season in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and seventh career win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: He has won at least once in 21 consecutive seasons dating back to 2005 and has recorded a victory in 23 seasons during his illustrious career.
“It was definitely a tough race,” Dixon said.
“We had fantastic cars. But just so much fun to try and pull off what we did and do it with what we had was fantastic.
“They were supposed to (remove downforce) from the front wing on the last stop. I just had to look at the corner, and the car was going to turn. I was just hoping the rear tires were going to hold on.”
Six-time series champion Dixon crossed the finish line just four-tenths of a second ahead of Palou’s No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the closest result this season in the series. Christian Lundgaard placed third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, while 2024 Mid-Ohio winner Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
NTT P1 Award winner Palou led Dixon by approximately two seconds and appeared to be headed to his seventh victory of the season on Lap 85 when he ran wide into the dirt adjacent to Turn 9 and slowed, with Dixon squeezing past for a lead he would not surrender.
“Just a stupid mistake, honestly,” Palou said.
“A mistake on my part. The car was amazing all weekend, all race. I just lost it a little bit on (corner) entry and kind of really couldn’t get power going on.
“Nobody to blame but me. Just got a bit wide on entry and lost it completely.”
Palou pulled to within three-tenths of a second with two laps to go but could draw no closer as Dixon put on a master class of choosing lines that maintained speed while slyly and legally blunting the momentum of his trailing rival.
Dixon’s ability to adjust his racing lines on the fly was most evident in Turn 2, the famous “Keyhole” corner, on the last two laps.
On Lap 89, Dixon opened the low line for Palou to explore and then eased from mid-corner across Palou’s lower line on corner exit, taking advantage of the wider line in the turn to pull away on the back straightaway. On the final lap, Dixon instead chose the low line through Turn 2, eliminating a prime overtaking spot for Palou.
Dixon’s victory was as masterful as it was improbable.
With a starting spot of ninth, Dixon and strategist Mike Hull decided to capitalize on Dixon’s legendary ability to save fuel and attempt to complete the race on just two pit stops, one fewer than most teams attempted.
The fuel mileage alchemy needed some laps under yellow to have a chance to succeed, and Dixon got that during the final caution period from Laps 31-34 when Christian Rasmussen’s No. 21 Chevrolet stopped off course in Turn 8 after running out of fuel.
Dixon made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 61. Meanwhile, Palou was pushing hard up front in the lead, knowing he had to build a sufficient gap on track to keep the top spot from Dixon after his final stop and make a three-stop strategy work.
Palou entered the pits for his final stop at the end of Lap 72 and rejoined the 13-turn, 2.258-mile circuit ahead of Dixon on track. He expanded his lead to 1.8 seconds by Lap 77 and appeared to be headed to his seventh victory of the season.
Then Palou bobbled with five laps to go, and Dixon pounced.
“We still had to save fuel all the way to the end, so it was definitely very tight,” Dixon said.
“I didn’t see what happened. I saw he went off in Turn 9. We got a little bit lucky with that.”
There was some solace for Palou despite the barbed disappointment of giving away a win. His championship lead, 93 points entering this event, grew to 113 points. That’s a gap of more than two races with seven races remaining this season.
Marcus Armstrong had another solid result this weekend, qualifying 8th and finishing 7th, running in the Top 5 for a good portion of the race and even in podium contention before a late pit stop for fuel saw him fall back to 7th.
Scott McLaughlin had a race to forget, finishing 23rd after qualifying 21st on the grid. McLaughlin needed to pit 5 times, which hurt his race, as well as struggling with the car all weekend.
He was the sole Team Penske car to finish after Josef Newgarden crashed before turn one on the opening lap, and later Will Power’s car caught fire on pit road.
SEE: Race Results
The NTT IndyCar Series returns next weekend, a doubleheader at Iowa Speedway on July 12-14. (NZST)
Header Image: Penske Entertainment – Joe Skibinski
