IndyCar
Scott Dixon Holds Off Felix Rosenqvist At Mid-Ohio To Give Chip Ganassi 1-2 Finish
LEXINGTON, OHIO (Pittsburgh Sports Now) – PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon held off his hard-charging teammate Felix Rosenqvist to win Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex.
The epic battle was one for the ages as Dixon was on older tires and Rosenqvist, a rookie, was going for his first win. The pair made contact and raced each other hard but clean and Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda crossed the finish line 0.0934-seconds ahead of Rosenqvist and the No. 10 Clover Honda.
The final laps between @scottdixon9 and @FRosenqvist – what a finish!#BankOnThe9 | #CloverAllOver | #Honda200 pic.twitter.com/LNMLJDDmXK
— CGR IndyCar (@CGRindycar) July 28, 2019
“Oh man that was crazy,” said Dixon. “With about 15-laps to go, I started moaning to the team. I’m like, ‘man I think we’re going to have to pit again’. I was just a sitting duck, and if I wasn’t his teammate I think he would’ve knocked me off.”
“I really want to credit Chip for letting us race,” said Rosenqvist. “The last lap. I think everyone really enjoyed that. We were enjoying it. We were banging wheels in turn 2 there, (it) was a little bit exciting. Scott is always going to fight you hard, but fair and I think I did the same, and maybe one more lap we could have got him.”
The margin of victory, 0.0934-seconds, was the closest IndyCar finish at Mid-Ohio and the third closest on a road course in IndyCar history.
The history-making finish was a reminder that the 12-time IndyCar Championship team can never be counted out.
Rosenqvist started sixth and Dixon eighth and both cars began the race on the primary Firestone tires and all of the cars in front of the pair started on the alternate Firestone tires, which are faster but do not last as long.
Rosenqvist started sixth and worked his way up to third by lap 15. The rookie passed Andretti Autosports Alexander Rossi for second place on lap 19.
Dixon, was right behind moving in third on lap 20 and into second place when Rosenqvist came to pit road for his service on lap 29.
Will Power, who started on the pole and led the first 30-laps, came into the pits on lap 30 and Dixon came in right behind him.
Power’s teammates Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud, who made their first stops earlier, inherited the lead and second place and stayed there until the next round of green-flag pit stops on lap 40.
Disaster struck for Newgarden on the pit stop when fuel flow issues extended the stop to 13.9-seconds and Rosenqvist moved back into the lead at that point.
The Ganassi team chose a split-strategy for the two cars as Dixon was on a two-stop strategy and Rosenqvist was on a three-stop.
Rosenqvist pitted from the lead for the last time on lap 66 and his No. 10 NTT Data crew nailed it, changing 4-tires and adding fuel in just 6.9-seconds to get him out in second place.
Dixon led Rosenqvist by 9.7 seconds with 20-laps to go but as Dixon’s tires started going away his rookie teammate kept charging and cut the lead to 2-seconds with five laps to go and 0.3-seconds with the white flag waving, setting up that final lap battle.
“That’s what IndyCar racing is – it produces the best racing in the world,” said Dixon.
The victory was the 46th career victory for Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing’s 11th at Mid-Ohio. The win was the team’s 108th in the series, breaking a tie with Newman-Haas Racing for second-most wins in history, trailing only Team Penske’s 210-wins.
Dixon’s 46th win leaves him within six of Mario Andretti (52) for second place on IndyCar’s all-time wins list. A.J. Foyt ranks first with 67.
The victory also helped the Five-time Champion driver chisel some points off Newgarden’s points lead. Dixon sits 62-points back with four races to go and double-points available at the season finale at Laguna Seca.
The second place finish for Rosenqvist was his first podium finish with the team and also helped him pad his lead in the “Rookie of the Year” standings.
Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Felix Rosenqvist (left) and Scott Dixon (right) spray champagne on each other after giving team owner Chip Ganassi a 1-2 finish at Mid-Ohio.
The NTT IndyCar Series visits the Keystone State next with The ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway on August 18th. Tickets are available on the track’s website at www.poconoraceway.com.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 13, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood started on the pole position and held off reigning series Champion Alex Palou en route to winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, his third career victory and second on the streets of California.
“To win here, the 50th, with this team, with this group, with Honda, an Acura-sponsored event is absolutely massive,” said Kirkwood. “This was a flawless weekend for myself, for the team, for the crew, for everyone involved.”
Palou, who was trying to open the season with three straight wins came home second after starting third in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, giving Honda the Top 2 spots on the Podium.
“I’m super happy to be here,” said Palou, a three-time series Champion. “I think it’s been a great weekend. We really didn’t have that ultimate speed that the 27 car had. Every time I was having like a small chance, he just had a little bit more pace.”
Kirkwood started on the softer but quicker Firestone alternate tires as did most of the starters in the Top 10. Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was the first driver to start on the harder Firestone alternate tires leading to another interesting strategy day in regard to how long to run on the alternates.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was the first to ditch the alternates, opting to pit at the end of his second lap, the minimum amount of laps one can run either of the compounds.
Kirkwood’s Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin ditched their alternates after running 5-laps with Palou and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist coming in on the next lap.
Kirkwood came in on the following lap as more front runners ditched the alternates for the longer lasting primary Firestones handing the lead to Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who started on the harder, longer lasting primary tires. Lundgaard used the strategy to lead 26-laps to come home in third place.
“We went off strategy compared to what we expected most of the field to do,” explained Lundgaard. “We were the first primary tire runner in the field. “I told the team this morning, even before warm-up, let’s try to go aggressive, and let’s see what we can do. We have the most tires of everybody. We had two sets of alts, three sets of new primaries.”
In the end nobody had enough for Kirkwood who moved up to second place in the Championship standings, 34-points behind Palou with Lundgaard now in third place, 46-points back.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is May 3rd at Barber Motorsports Park.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 12, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta alongside as the duo locked-out the front row helping Honda sweep the Top 5 qualifying spots.
Kirkwood’s fast lap off of 1-minute, 6.1921 seconds (107.034 mph) in the No. 27 PreFab Honda on his last lap in the Firestone Fast Six earned him his first pole of 2025 and third of his career.
“Amazing day for Honda and Andretti Global,” said Kirkwood. “A front row lockout for us in the #27 and #26 cars and just a great day for Honda power—top five here at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This is a huge result for us as a team, a huge result for Honda, and it gives us a great starting spot to give ourselves the best chance of winning here tomorrow. Should be a great one!”
Herta missed out on the pole position by a mere 0.2311-seconds in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda (106.662 mph).
“Happy to be starting on the front row for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach,” said Herta. “I think we have some really strong cars here at Andretti Global and locking out the front row gives us a great shot tomorrow.”
Reigning Series Champion and points leader Alex Palou will start third in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda after a fast lap of 1-minute, 6.6254-seconds (106.338 mph). Palou won the first two races of the season and would love to make it three straight.
“It’s a solid qualifying for us,” said Palou. “You always want more, and we felt like we were going to be fighting a little bit more, but it was good! It was fun out there and to fight. We just missed it a little bit. Great job by Honda locking out the top five and for us, starting third, it’s a great opportunity to decide on a strategy and have a clean race and move up. The #10 DHL Honda has been amazing so hopefully we can get the win.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist will start fourth with Andretti’s Marcus Ericsson rounding out the Top 5.
Up next is the pre-race warmup at noon ET Sunday (FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network), followed by the 90-lap race at 4:30 p.m. (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
THERMAL, CA (March 23, 2025) – Alex Palou is off to a great start to defending his 2023 and 2024 Championships by winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Thermal Club Grand Prix to start off 2025 with back-to-back victories.
“it’s amazing,” said Palou. “We love this feeling obviously. I think everybody does. We never take anything for granted, at least they don’t, anybody in the team. They just keep on working and giving me better cars and all the tools that I need to try and win and fight for the races.”
Palou, who became the first driver to win back-to-back races to start the season since teammate Scott Dixon in 2020, gave all the credit to his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crew.
“It’s been incredible, an incredible weekend with lots of speed and perfect execution on pit stop, strategy,” said Palou. “It was especially hard for us when we were at the beginning of the race at a disadvantage on the tires compared to the 5 and the 7, when they started using their new alternates very early on. You could see they’re going away. You’re like, Man, I know I still need to go slow and keep my rear tires on, although you see they’re pushing a little bit more than you.”
Palou survived the first stint in third place as the tire strategy continued to play out on the remaining stops until he passed pole-sitter Patricio O’Ward with 10-laps to go and pulled away for his 13th career victory.
O’Ward led an Arrow McLaren front row lockout starting on the pole position and led a race-high 51-laps but the No. 5 Chevy didn’t have enough to hold off Palou when it mattered most, after the last pit stop of the race.
“Obviously we were the car that had everything to lose because we were starting on pole,” said O’Ward. “I think we led like 50-something laps, 51 laps. It kind of sucks to lose it there in the end.”
O’Ward and his team started the race on new Firestone alternate tires whereas Palou started on used alternates keeping the sticker reds for his last run.
“We ran a red, black, black, black race,” explained O’Ward. “I think it should have been a red, red, black, black or any sort of combination with two reds and two blacks. I think we missed it on the 5 car. We can only see why we chose that, try not to make that mistake again.”
Christian Lundgaard, who started second, finished third in the No. 7 Chevy to give the McLaren team two car on the podium.
“I think the car that I had yesterday was potentially a little more preferred for me than today,” said Lundgaard, who scored the fourth podium finish of his career. “I think we made some changes going into warm-up that felt nice in warm-up, but it was 40 degrees cooler. We carried those into the race. To me that didn’t really seem to be the preferred.”
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda followed by Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist in fifth in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda, giving Honda three cars in the Top 5.
Will Power was the biggest mover of the day, picking up 15-positions to finish sixth in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Palou holds a 39-point lead over O’Ward and a 41-point lead over Scott Dixon in the Championship standing heading into the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 13, 2025.
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Kirkwood, Herta power Andretti and Honda to front row lockout at Long Beach
Kyle Larson dominates NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway
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Alex Palou wins The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix
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