IndyCar
PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon Wins 3rd INDYCAR Race In-A-Row
ELKHART LAKE, WI (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon won his third straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES race Saturday at Road America, holding off Team Penske’s Will Power on a couple of late restarts to grab the victory.
“I don’t know how that happened,” said Dixon in Victory Lane. “Huge thank you to everybody on the PNC Bank team. The car was really hard to drive this morning but we dialed it in a little better during the race. That was awesome man”.
“It was a good drive,” said Team Owner Chip Ganassi. “We didn’t start exactly where we wanted to today but he persevered.”
Dixon’s crew made a crucial decision during the second round of pit stops to call Dixon in early while he was stuck in traffic running sixth.
Dixon came out of the pits ahead of the traffic alongside a hard-charging Power, who pitted a lap before the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. While Dixon and Power were battling it out, the leader of the race Josef Newgarden came to pit road.
Disaster stuck for Newgarden when he stalled the car on pit road. Team Penske got the PPG Chevy restarted and the defending series Champion returned to the field in 15th position.
The pit-stop cycle shuffled the running order and Power and Dixon found themselves at the front of the pack followed by Santino Ferrucci in the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan Honda.
“We came out of the pits they’re (the team) like ‘you and Power first and second’ and I was like ‘how?'” marveled Dixon.
The trio had a 5-second lead on fourth place Ryan Hunter-Reay with 20-laps left in the 55-lap event. Three laps later the caution flag came out for this week’s Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast guest Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing. Harvey suffered brake failure, sending the No. 60 AutoNation SiriusXM Honda into the gravel trap.
“I went into the corner at Turn Three and my brakes locked up and the wheels spun,” said Harvey. “There wasn’t much I could do when the brakes failed in that way. All year we’ve had a fast car and that is what is frustrating because this was a weekend that we could have had a top five. Something randomly happened that took us out of contention which is greatly disappointing for myself and the whole Meyer Shank Racing team. I know that we have the speed and these guys will work hard to figure out exactly what went wrong so that we can come back equally as strong tomorrow.”
Dixon’s “Wolfpack” crew executed a flawless pit stop under caution giving the 5-time series Champion the lead off pit road ahead of Power.
Dixon took the ensuing green flag with 14-laps-to-go and held off Power going into Turn 1 but before the lap was even complete, the caution was back out when Conor Daly was sent off the track by contact with Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward as the pair went into Turn 7.
“It really hard to go 2-wide through there but I had enough of a run you’ve got to take a chance,” said Daly. “I don’t really race with him that much but it was tough there, that’s probably on both of us.”
The subsequent restart saw Dixon get away from Power but the yellow came out again when rookie A.J. Foyt Racing driver Dalton Kellett ended up in the gravel in Turn 14.
The green flag came back out with 8-laps to go and Dixon beat Power into Turn 1 and rookie Alex Palou beat Hunter-Reay to get third place.
Dixon built a lead of 1.2-seconds in one lap, 1.6-seconds in two laps and maintained that lead with 5-laps to go. Dixon extended the lead to 1.8-seconds with 4-laps to go, 2.3-seconds with three laps to go and 2.5-seconds with one lap to go.
The win was Dixon’s 49th career win leaving him three shy of INDYCAR legend Mario Andretti for 2nd place on the all-time wins list. The victory marks the 2nd time Dixon has won three races in a row. The first time was in 2013 when Dixon won Pocono and both Toronto races.
“It’s not me man,” said Dixon. “The team does such an amazing job to cover all the bases. We’re in the business of winning so we’ve got to win. Proud of everybody on this team and obviously our partners like PNC Bank and Honda. It’s really cool to win today.”
Dixon goes into tomorrow’s second race at Road America with a 62-point lead over Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud in the INDYCAR Championship standing.
Dixon will look to make it four-straight wins to start the NTT INDYCAR SERIES tomorrow in Race 2 of the REV Group Grand Prix presented by AMR Doubleheader at noon (ET, NBC) from Road America.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 19, 2026) – A great pit stop helped Alex Palou pass Felix Rosenqvist in the pits and Palou did the rest, winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“Incredible,” said Palou, who picked up his third win of the season and 22nd of his IndyCar career. “Feel so, so lucky with the opportunity I had to win the 500 last year, the Long Beach GP this year, it just feels like I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness.”
Rosenqvist was out front when the caution flag flew on Lap 57 for debris in turn four, which set up the showdown between the Meyer Shank Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing pit crews.
“This full-course yellow put everything on that pit stop,” said Palou. “The guys did an incredible job once again.”
“Having the pit location and the pit crew we have, it certainly was on the top of our minds coming down pit lane knowing we have a shot at getting the win here,” said Barry Wanser, No. 10 Team Manager. “Again, the guys came through.”
“That last pit cycle was kind of the defining moment,” said Rosenqvist, who led a race-high 51-laps. “I don’t even think we had that bad of a stop. We had to come around the 14. I don’t know if Alex had an open in. Details like that matter. It didn’t seem like a super slow stop, but he probably nailed it or his crew.”
Despite falling short of a win, Rosenqvist said there were plenty of positives to take away from the team’s trip to the West Coast.
“I think all in all we got to be happy as a weekend for us at Meyer Shank Racing. We had a win yesterday with Nick in IMSA. We had a pole there as well, then a pole here and a P2. We just fell short of a grand slam.”
Scott Dixon finished third in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, giving team owner Chip Ganassi two cars on the podium and the 6-time series Champion his best finish of the season
“Huge weekend for the Ganassi cars,” said Dixon. “I think probably one of the best for qualifying between all us, which was really good. It was nice just to have a clean weekend, no major issues, no damage, no mess-ups or anything like that. That was a lot of fun.”
Palou and Dixon’s teammate Kyffin Simpson brought the No. 8 Sunoco Honda home in tenth place, so all three CGR cars finished in the Top 10.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood finished fourth after starting third and gave up the Championship lead to Palou. Kirkwood now trails the four-time Series Champion by 17-points.
Pato O’Ward rounded out the Top 5 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Next up for the IndyCar Series is two days of testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 28-29 as teams get ready for the Indianapolis 500.
The next race is the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 9, on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at IMS, which kicks off the Month of May.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 18,, 2026) – Felix Rosenqvist is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach after turning a fast lap of of 1 minute, 7.4635 seconds in the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda.
The pole capped a great day for Meyer Shank Racing who on the IMSA race on Saturday.
“So great to put it on pole here and it’s been a long time, so it feels good,” said Rosenqvist. “But what a day for Meyer Shank Racing with the win in the IMSA race today and now the pole for the IndyCar race.”
Pato O’Ward, Rosenqvist’s good friend and former teammate, will start from the front row after qualifying a season-best second at 1:07.5076 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“That was nerve-wracking to watch my ole buddy Pato do his run, and I wasn’t sure if we’d get it,” said Rosenqvist. “But the SiriusXM Green Day Acura has been great and hope we can have a good day tomorrow.”
“This is by far the best qualifying day I’ve had,” said O’Ward. “I’ve been happy with the car I’ve been given from practice one. Hats off to Arrow McLaren and Team Chevy. I know we’re leading their pack.”
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou will start from the third position in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda with 2026 Championship points leader Kyle Kirkwood right beside in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Andretti Global Honda.
David Malukas will start fifth in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, the best qualifying car for Team Penske.
Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon will start sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The qualifying effort was Dixon’s best of 2026.
Next up is a 30-minute warmup Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (FS1, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).
The 90-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile iconic temporary street circuit starts at 5:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).
LONG BEACH, CA (April 18, 2026) Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is picking up right where he left off at Long Beach. The 2025 winner of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach was quickest in the second NTT IndyCar Series practice session at the iconic street circuit.
Kirkwood’s fast lap of 1-minute, 7.5417-seconds was 0.2333-seconds quicker than Team Penske’s David Malukas.
Saturday’s practice session was sort of similar to Friday’s session as Andretti Global and Team Penske were 1-2 on the timing chart, except Friday’s session was led by Will Power, who beat out Scott McLaughlin for the top spot.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was fourth quickest on both days in the No. 10 OpenAI Honda.
Knockout style qualifying takes place at 6:30 p.m. ET with the Firestone Fast Six shifting to single car attempts.
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