INDYCAR

Dixon wins on IndyCar's return; Kanaan finishes in 10th 

Scott Dixon won the opening leg of the 2020 IndyCar season, held this Saturday (06) at the Texas Motor Speedway oval. The Chip Ganassi driver dropped in second position, but surpassed pole position Josef Newgarden even before the first quarter of the race, leading 157 of the 200 laps of the race.
Newgarden lost space after the last pit stop and was overtaken by Simon Pagenaud. The Penske duo crossed the separate line for just over a second, while Dixon opened more than four seconds ahead, getting the lead only in the last three laps with the green flag-fruit of Felix Rosenqvist's crash 10 laps from the end.
Chip Ganassi's Swede made a good run, but was surprised by an aggressive overtaking by Marco Andretti and ended up trapped behind James Hinchcliffe. In a quick overtaking maneuver, Rosenqvist took the dirty part of the track, lost the rear and went straight into the wall. Zach Veach (Andretti Autosport) finished in fourth position, ahead of experienced Ed Carpenter. Conor Daly finished in sixth position riding the grid's only Carlin after the British team announced that, due to financial problems, it would not run both cars leaving Felipe Nasr out. Colton Herta (Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport) was seventh, while Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) was eighth.
Rookie Oliver Askew had an impressive performance in his IndyCar debut. The arrow McLaren SP driver finished in ninth position, ahead of Tony Kanaan.
The Brazilian left in 10th and held the position until his first stop on the back of the track, with yellow flag fruit of the accident between Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Alex Palou( Dale Coyne Racing), Kanaan received a penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pits and had to leave at the end of the platoon.
The Texas Motor Speedway stage marked the return of IndyCar's activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, several measures were taken including the holding of the event in a single day and reduction of personnel, as well as tests for all the people involved. IndyCar returns on July 4 at the Indianapolis joint. 

Text: Gabriel Gavinelli