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.
LEBANON, TN (July 18, 2026) – Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is sitting atop the speed chart after the first NTT IndyCar Series practice at Nashville Superspeedway.
Kirkwood’s No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda turned a fast lap of 23.7447 (197.097 mph) around the 1.33 mile oval to best Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who turned a fast lap of 23.7605 (196.996) in the No. 10 DHL Honda.
Team Penske’s David Malukas was third quick with a 23.8362 (196.340) in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Malukas’ car however got loose in Turn 2 and slammed backwards into the wall.
Malukas exited the vehicle under his own power and walked to the AMR Safety Vehicle. Malukas was taken to the infield care center. NTT IndyCar Series officials issued an update a short time later saying he was being taken to a local hospital by private vehicle for further testing. He has not been cleared to return to the cockpit at this point.
Malukas was also assessed a nine-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change entering this weekend.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon rounded out the Top 10 with a quick time of 23.9932 (195.055) in the No. PNC Bank Honda. Palou and Dixon’s CGR teammate Kyffin Simpson was 20th at 193.346.
Qualifying takes place at 3:00 p.m. on Fox and the IndyCar Radio Network.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 2, 2026) – Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing following the conclusion of the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series Season the team announced in a statement Thursday before the series races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Complex this weekend.
MADISON, IL (Sunday, June 7, 2026) – The king of World Wide Technology Raceway has returned to his throne.
Josef Newgarden won for the sixth time in 11 starts at the 1.25-mile oval just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, enduring two rain delays during the race Sunday night to win a feverish, fascinating Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. The victory was Newgarden’s second this season, as he also won in March at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway oval.
SEE: Race Results
The two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has captured 15 of his 34 career victories on ovals shorter than 1.5 miles. This win came as he was still recovering from a lower leg injury suffered two weeks ago in the 110th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
“Great job to the group,” Newgarden said. “Just a methodical night. We had a good car to start. It wasn’t perfect, but it really came to us just when we needed it. It was a track position day.”
Newgarden, who started eighth, drove his No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to victory by .6613 of a second over the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda of fellow Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who still managed a season-best finish. Christian Rasmussen finished a season-best third in the No. 21 Splenda Chevrolet of ECR.
Rinus VeeKay continued the trend of season-best finishes by ending up fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, with Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet that featured a throwback livery honoring the 2009 Indianapolis 500-winning car driven by Helio Castroneves.
Newgarden took the lead for good on Lap 221 after a spirited duel with Rasmussen that began almost immediately after a restart on Lap 212. Rasmussen dove under Newgarden in Turn 1 for the lead on Lap 215, but Newgarden drove past Rasmussen in Turn 3 for the top spot on Lap 219.
One lap later, Rasmussen again drove under Newgarden for the lead in Turn 1, one of his race-high 38 on-track passes. But Newgarden countered again in Turn 3 one lap later for a lead he would not surrender. It was the most decisive of an event-record 268 passes for position in this frantic race.
Ericsson sped under Rasmussen for second in Turn 3 on Lap 225 and set his sights on Newgarden. But one lap later, a plume of smoke trailed from the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet fielded by A.J. Foyt Enterprises for Caio Collet, who was enjoying the best race of his rookie season by leading seven laps and running consistently in the top five in the second half of the race.
That triggered the last of four caution periods, with another wrinkle to concern Newgarden and the lead pack. A host of trailing cars entered the pits for fresh Firestone Firehawk tires, while the top eight cars stayed out.
McLaughlin made a spirited charge toward the front on the restart on Lap 234, climbing from ninth to fifth in just four laps. But the Kiwi and the other cars that pitted for tires didn’t have enough traction from the fresher rubber or speed to challenge the top four down the stretch.
Meanwhile, Newgarden maintained a gap of around one-half of a second over Ericsson over the closing 10 laps and never was threatened.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Marcus,” Newgarden said. “I thought he was incredibly strong. I don’t really think there was much between us, so it was a matter of who was going to get position on each other, and that was going to seal the deal. He drove a great race.”
Said Ericsson, seeking his first win since March 2023 at St. Petersburg: “I’m very proud of our performance, but at the same time it’s tough to lead that many laps … I thought we had it at some points, but Josef is the best in the business on these short ovals.”
Two red-flag periods totaling 50 minutes kept strategists’ heads spinning on the pit wall as various permutations and fuel options were considered.
Chip Ganassi Racing rolled the dice earlier in the race by calling NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou and his teammate Scott Dixon to the pits to top off fuel as soon as the pits opened after the first red flag period, which lasted 38 minutes. The hope was to get enough caution to need one fewer fuel stop than rivals or be out front when a race-ending rain shower arrived.
But neither happened, and Palou paid the price dearly.
The four-time series champion entered the pits on Lap 203, two laps after Dixon had to enter a closed pit for emergency service as his No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was running out of fuel. Palou’s No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda sputtered when it entered the pit lane and ran out of fuel, and he was forced to coast to his pit box for a stop made even longer when his engine wouldn’t refire.
Palou’s car restarted, and he returned to the track to finish 17th. The two short oval races this season have been Palou’s Achilles’ heel. He finished 24th after contact in March at Phoenix, and that result and tonight’s disappointing showing are his only finishes outside of the top seven all season.
Reigning series champion Palou’s lead in the standings was trimmed to 49 points over Kyle Kirkwood, who finished sixth in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda of Andretti Global.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 21 at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
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