INDYCAR

Dixon delivers beatdown in Indy GP

Scott Dixon caught a nice break with a caution flag, but otherwise there was no catching the Kiwi who scored a dominant win in Saturday’s Indy Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Dixon finished 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Graham Rahal and third-placed Simon Pagenaud as he upped his IndyCar victory total to 48 (only four behind Mario Andretti for second all-time) and made it 2-0 in 2020 for Chip Ganassi’s PNC Honda.
“I think we kind of got lucky with that caution but then we got the balance right and checked out,” said the 39-year-old veteran who made three pit stops to Rahal’s two. “We started pretty aggressive on blacks which was pretty tough but we hung with the leaders and had the pace.
“Definitely a little bit of luck but I think it also played into our strategy.”
Starting seventh on the harder black tires, Dixon abandoned his two-stop pit strategy and pitted on Lap 11 for the softer red tire compound. He was two seconds a lap quicker than the leaders after that which put him in the mix as polesitter Will Power paced the first 17 laps.
Rahal started fourth in the RLL Honda, slipped into third on the opening lap, and was leading the pack of two-stoppers (that included teammate Spencer Pigot, Conor Daly and Santino Ferrucci) when he made his initial stop on Lap 27 of the 80-lap distance.
Power was back on point after everyone had stopped but Rahal was only 10 seconds behind in fourth — facing one more pit stop while Dixon was looking at two more stops.
But then rookie Oliver Askew brought out the race’s only caution on Lap 36 when he pounded the front-stretch wall coming out of Turn 14. That ruined Rahal’s chances as well as other three-stoppers yet to make their second stop (Power, Josef Newgarden), but it was a godsend for Dixon.

By Robin Miller