MONTEREY, California – Alex Palou may be the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series Champion, but Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon remains the “King of IndyCar.”
The 43-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand completed a dramatic end of the season by winning three of the final four races, including Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
Dixon’s 56th career IndyCar win came in a most unusual way.
Sunday morning’s 30-minute warmup was delayed because heavy fog prevented the medical helicopter from landing at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Once it arrived and was in place, IndyCar shortened the warmup to just eight minutes.
During that eight-minute session, the Honda engine on Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda experienced an issue. The team decided to swap the engine and take the six-grid position penalty that comes with an unapproved engine change.
Instead of starting fifth, Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda lined up 11that the start of the race.
His Chip Ganassi Racing team had just two hours to complete the engine change and crew members from all four of Ganassi’s Indy cars were working on the No. 9. It was completed and rolled to the starting grid, shortly after driver introductions and put in place for the start of the race.
“Right after warmup, we found an issue,” Dixon told NBC Sports. “We wanted to make sure we covered every base, and it wasn’t going to be a problem in the race. We decided to change it.
“With the warmup and delay we had with the fog, there was only one hour, 15 minutes for everyone on the 9 car to get that change done. It was very special to see them work so hard and ultimately, this is the best way to play it out.
“It’s an amazing group of people. I’ve been lucky to be part of this team for 20-plus years. Everybody works together. It takes a bit of time to make that happen and to have that harmonious situation is difficult.
“When you are thrashing in those situations, that is when this team is so strong.”
Mike Hull is the managing director of Chip Ganassi Racing and calls Dixon’s race strategy. The effort he saw from his team and driver has come to be expected.
“We have the guy who drives the car that never gives up and the guys that work on this car don’t give up either,” Hull told NBC Sports. “It’s great to repeat what he does.
“I wish these points would carry over to next year. Today, the 9 car needed help and we helped.”
At the start, before the field could make it through Turn 2, mayhem ensued, and Dixon’s car was in the middle of the action. He made contact with Rinus VeeKay’s Chevrolet.
Race control issued a drive-through penalty to Dixon’s car on Lap 8 for avoidable contact, forcing him down the pits once the race went green.
“I don’t think I did anything egregious,” Dixon said. “There was a lot of chaos going on, cars coming back on track. It was called on the 21 (VeeKay) and the contact with me, but he was coming back on track. I don’t know how that is my fault. You are going as fast as you can, trying to make any spot. I don’t think I tried to end anybody’s day or drive anybody off. Some of these penalties, you give up one spot, but Scott McLaughlin and I both had drive-through penalties.
“I thought it was uncalled for.”
.@scottdixon9 doing Scott Dixon things 😆 The Ice Man takes the #FirestoneGP checkered flag! pic.twitter.com/zvUm26bqZT
— Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) September 10, 2023
That placed him at the back of the lead lap, and the team decided to have him pit for fuel to get off sequence to the rest of the field.
It was a perfect decision.
Dixon would later top off for fuel on Lap 36 during one of a record eight caution periods. It put Dixon in the middle of the field.
Dixon would make the last of his three pits stops on Lap 64 but with the cars in front of him having to make another pit stop, the race eventually would cycle back in his favor.
On Lap 76, Romain Grosjean was the leader and Pato O’Ward was in second place. Both of those cars pitted on that lap and that put Dixon in the lead.
“I was shocked that the 5 (O’Ward) had to pit,” Dixon admitted. “That was interesting.
“They had a tire selection they needed to complete.”
Once in front, Dixon was able to drive away from Scott McLaughlin to score the 56th victory of his legendary career by 7.3180 seconds.
“You want to have a race where there are no issues,” Dixon said. “Had we stayed where we qualified in fifth, the race would have played out very similar.
“With Mike Hull and Chris Simmons and Chip Ganassi, they always look at the race backwards, how you get to Lap 95 and how do you play that backwards? I think we would have pitted the same time we did.
“The drive through didn’t make us a bottom feeder, there were plenty of those today, but it was the right strategy at the right time.
“We didn’t do anything crazy. We had good speed and were able to pass people when we needed to and were in a great spot for that last restart.”
It was also his first career win at the legendary 11-turn, 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – one of the few tracks where the six-time legend has never won a race.
“That’s very special,” Dixon said. “It’s a special track. It’s an iconic circuit that I’ve loved to watch in the late 1990s when I first came to America and when I got to race on it for the first time in 1999 in Indy Lights.
“First win here. Man, what a place.”
Before Dixon pulled onto pit lane as the winner, teammate Palou lit up the tires with an impressive burnout on the front stretch to celebrate the second NTT IndyCar Series championship of his career.
Palou was the champion, but Dixon remains “The King.”
His 56th career victory is second to AJ Foyt’s all-time record of 67. His six IndyCar Series championships are second to Foyt’s seven.
On Aug. 12, the day began with Dixon seeking his first IndyCar win of the season. Less than one month later, Dixon finished the season with three wins in the last four races.
“I was definitely bummed this morning when we had the failure,” Dixon told NBC Sports. “We all try to do the best we can and to get a grid penalty at this place, how we saw practice, it was either going to be a green-to-checker race, or it was going to be a yellow central.
“Thankfully, it turned out to be a yellow central race and there was a ton of them so we could play the strategy game.
“The car was super-fast, no doubt about that.
“We had a great start, went from 11th to fourth, got the drive-through penalty on the second caution, which was bizarre, but ultimately, we came out with the win.
Palou may be the champion, but “Long live the King.”
“It’s cool to end the season with three wins in the last four, and have some momentum heading into next year,” Dixon said. “But it’s second in the championship.”
Can Dixon make it to victory No. 60 in 2024?
“For sure,” he said with a smile. “We are going to try.”
On Friday, team owner Chip Ganassi gave Dixon a tremendous accomplishment that still holds true with the way he won on Sunday.
“You’ve seen last couple of races he’s served up a masterclass in IndyCar racing and how it’s supposed to be done,” Ganassi said.
Long live, “The King.”