Dixon Uses Experience (And Luck) To Beat Palou At Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, Ohio. — The old saying goes: ‘It’s never over until the checkered flag waves.’ That saying was never more paramount than it was at Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course on Sunday as Scott Dixon used both his mastery of the craft and a little bit of luck to collect his 59th career IndyCar Series win.
“It was definitely a tough race,” Dixon said. “Just so much fun. They forgot to take the front wing out in my last stop, so I just had to hope the car would turn. But, absolutely amazing job by this team this week!”
The weekend appeared to belong to Alex Palou, who, having won six races this season, looked poised to grab number seven after grabbing the pole position in qualifying on Saturday.
However, it was not Palou who was the biggest headline from qualifying… it was Team Penske. The series all-time winningest team have yet to win a race this season, which has been marred week in and week out by astounding bad luck. From failing to make it out of Q1 on Saturday, to Josef Newgarden wrecking on lap on and Will Power having engine issues on Sunday.
The day was over for both drivers essentially before it began. As the bad luck mounted for Penske, the good luck mounted for Ganassi.
It appeared that Dixon had the strategy to win the race with his mastery of tire conservation and fuel strategy. Dixon’s call to try to make it on two stops was one that we’ve seen work time and again for Dixon.
Alex Palou paced the field for pretty much the majority of the race, warding off attacks from the likes of Christian Lundgaard and Colton Herta.
Dixon’s crew made the call early to try make it to the end of the race with only two pit stops. Palou’s crew chose the more popular and aggressive three-stop strategy. For Dixon’s strategy to work, he needed the aid of some caution laps. He got that aid with Newgarden’s wreck on Lap 1 and another caution that came out on Lap 31 for Christian Rasmussen running out of fuel.
With the caution laps that he needed in hand, Dixon then sat back and let the race unfold around him. He pitted for the final time on Lap 62, hoping he would have enough fuel save and time to Palou to make it to the end up front. But, Alex Palou showed the surgical precision he has shown all season. He hit his marks and opened up a 26-second gap to Dixon, which was just enough for him to pit and stay out ahead of his teammate.
That appeared to be the final nail in the coffin for Dixon’s strategy as Palou zoomed away with a full tank of fuel and fresher tires. But, with just 7 laps to go, everything changed. Palou bobbled heading into a corner and lost all his momentum.
“Just a stupid mistake on my part,” Palou said. “Everyone on the 10-car did an amazing job. Just lost it in entry. Nobody to blame but me. It’s still a good day, but it hurt to lose it like that. Big, big mistake.”
It was a mistake that cost Palou the lead. Dixon, maintaining his fuel save, blew passed Palou for the lead and he would then masterfully hold Palou off in the closing laps to some how come away with the win.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Dixon said. “We still had to save fuel to the end. I didn’t see what happened (to Palou), but it was a tremendous weekend for us all (at Chip Ganassi Racing).”
The win marks the 21st consecutive season that Dixon has won an Indy car race. Also, it being his 59th career win, it moves him even closer to on the all-time wins list to AJ Foyt’s 67 career wins.
Christian Lundgaard was able to hold on for another podium finish in third place.
Despite the runner-up finish, Palou was able to extend his points lead heading to the next round at Iowa next weekend. He now holds a 93-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood.
