IndyCar
OPINION – Chip Ganassi, Scott Dixon and Mike Hull’s leadership put focus back on-track in Toronto
(Pittsburgh Racing Now) – In a tumultuous past week where Chip Ganassi Racing was making more headlines off-track, six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Scott Dixon put the focus right where his team owner wanted it – on-track, and added the cherry on top by putting the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda in victory lane.
Dixon picked up his 52nd career victory winning Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto on the streets around Exhibition Place, beating Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta.
The victory tied Dixon with motorsports legend Mario Andretti for second place on the all-time INDYCAR win list. 51-of those 52-wins, and all 6 of Dixon’s Championships, came in CGR machines. Dixon has been driving for Ganassi for 21-years.
Defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Alex Palou won his title in his first season with Ganassi, so when the team announced last Tuesday afternoon that they were exercising their option for the 2023 season, it came as no surprise.
What did come as a surprise was Palou taking to social media Tuesday evening to say that he informed the team that he was leaving after the 2022 season. Moments later it turned into a soap opera when McLaren Racing announced they signed Palou for 2023, but didn’t specify which series he would be competing.
When the team arrived in Toronto all eyes, microphones and cameras were on the 14-time Champions but the venerable team owner set the tone early.
“I think Chip was extremely calm,” recalled Dixon. “I think that’s real leadership. I think somebody’s kind of throwing their toys out of the cart, running around, that’s going to be a different reaction for everybody to see. He’s very calm.”
Someone else who is very calm is Dixon, who put everything into perspective telling Racer “if you’re going to have an example of how not to go about things, this is 100 percent how you would do it.”
“For me, honesty is key, man. Loyalty as well,” he said. “You know, it’s very easy in this community – it’s a small community – to change how you’re looked upon or respected quite quickly. Personal view for myself and how I would have done this? It wouldn’t be like this.”
Dixon added, “all my deals with Chip have been very straightforward. You know, you kind of sit down have a chat, [talk about] what everybody’s looking at doing. Even when I’ve had options [presented by other teams], I’ve gone to them and said, ‘Hey, these are my options. What should we do?’”.
Palou apparently didn’t take that route. I don’t personally know if did but maybe he should’ve talked to Dixon, who McLaren took a run at a few years ago, or Jimmie Johnson, who could drive for any team, in any series, but is with CGR. How about talking to Dario Franchitti? Franchitti drove for Andretti Autosport before joining CGR where he won two Indy 500’s and three Championships for Ganassi prior to retiring. That’s decades of experience to draw from.
I bet CGR teammate Marcus Ericsson, who was dumped by Arrow McLaren SP after only one season, James Hinchcliffe and Oliver Askew would’ve been able to give Palou some perspective on his possible future employer.
One key ingredient to success is consistency. Take the Pittsburgh Steelers for example. The Steelers have three head coaches since 1969 and have won 6-Super Bowls. The Bill Belichick/Tom Brady pairing yielded 6-rings. There’s that consistency again.
The consistency at CGR starts at the top with Managing Director Mike Hull, who’s strong and steady hand are the definition of leadership. People like Hull, Dixon and so many other talented individuals have been keys to Ganassi’s consistency, which has to play a large part in the success of the team over their 30+ year history, with the team owner right at the top.
“I think it was a great calmness and a sternness that he had that kind of clears out the noise that’s out there,” said Dixon.
Last week’s drama highlights that racing is a business, but I can’t help but think of the old adage ‘the grass isn’t always greener’. I started covering Chip Ganassi’s team in the late 90’s and have seen managers, drivers, crew members, etc. leave the team. The team members that have stayed continue to reel off wins and Championships.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing team are leading the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship standings after Team Penske was penalized for violating the series ‘push-to-pass’ parameters.
INDYCAR disqualified Josef Newgarden’s win and Scott McLaughlin’s third place finish in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and docked Will Power 10-Championship points for the infractions.
Dixon’s epic win in this past Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach vaulted him into second position in the Championship standings, 12-points behind Newgarden. That changed following Wednesday’s penalties.
Dixon now holds a 2-point lead over Andretti Global’s Colton Herta and a 12-point lead over teammate and reigning INDYCAR Champion Alex Palou.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward sits in fourth position, 15-points back, following his elevation to winner at St. Pete. Power sits in fifth position, 20-points behind Dixon despite the 10-point reduction.
Dixon heads into this weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park having never won at the picturesque 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course in Birmingham Alabama.
“Barber has been interesting,” said Dixon, a six-time series Champion. “Second six times. Never won there. The goal was always to try and step on the top step again.”
Dixon is hoping a recent test will help him park the No. 9 Honda in victory lane.
“We had a really good test at Barber,” added Dixon. “Only probably half of the grid did, so it will be interesting to see how that applies.”
The first 75-minute practice session gets underway on Friday from 2:40 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. and will be live-streamed on Peacock.
McLaughlin is the defending race winner.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Team Penske is in hot water for violating NTT INDYCAR SERIES rules regarding push-to-pass and Josef Newgarden has been stripped of his win in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Team Penske was in violation of the following “Push to Pass” parameters:
- Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
- Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.
The issue came to light at this past weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach when INDYCAR officials discovered the possible violation during the morning warmup. The Series made sure the advantage that was discovered could not be implemented during Sunday’s race.
The series then began an extensive review of data from the St. Petersburg race, which revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line.
It was determined that Newgarden’s No. 2 and the No. 3 of Scott McLaughlin gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 of Will Power did not. McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish and Power was docked 10-Championship points. All three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.
The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” said INDYCAR President Jay Frye. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”
Team Penske issued a statement where President Tim Cindric blamed the violation on software that was not removed following a test session.
“Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars. This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated INDYCAR rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by INDYCAR.”
Newgarden’s disqualification handed the victory to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward elevated PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon to the top of the Championship standings.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 21, 2024) Scott Dixon put on a Masterclass in winning Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Dixon started eighth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and used a combination of strategy and race craft to get the lead and hold off hard chargers Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and reigning and two-time series Champion Alex Palou.
“That was fun,” said a smiling Dixon about his second Long Beach win. “I think it was definitely a bit sketchy in the fact that the pressure is coming hard and strong. Huge credit to the team. A big weekend for Honda, Acura, HRC. I think we had almost 200 PNC guests this weekend here.”
Dixon and race leader Will Power pitted during a caution period triggered when Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Christian Rasmussen hit the wall on Lap 15. That handed the race lead to series points leader Josef Newgarden who was followed by Marcus Ericsson, Herta, and Palou as the different strategies began to play out.
Newgarden and the drivers who elected to stay out started to hit the pits on lap 30 with Herta stretching it to lap 33. Meanwhile Dixon, Power and those who pitted earlier cycled to the front of the field before making their second and final pit stops on laps 52-53, handing the lead back to Newgarden, Herta and Palou.
The differing strategies converged after Newgarden and the rest pitted for the final time between laps 58-62. Newgarden came out of the pits in second, trailing Dixon by about three seconds with seven-lap fresher tires.
Newgarden was able to cut into Dixon’s lead but the six-time series Champion used an expert combination of push-to-pass and fuel saving to stay out front.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Dixon. “I think what you kind of hope for in the long run is that you get some caution laps again, which would have made it a lot easier for us. Again, the pace was pretty solid, man. We didn’t really have to push crazy amounts. It saved the tires as well. The car had plenty of pace left at the end.”
Newgarden got to Dixon’s gearbox in the hairpin turn that leads onto the frontstretch on Lap 77 but Herta made contact with the No. 2 Chevy, lifting the rear wheels off the ground sending the car into anti-stall mode.
“It seemed pretty obvious,” said Newgarden, who lost two-spots in the process. “He just misjudged it and ran into me. I’m not saying we were going to get Dixon. It was very, very difficult for me to get the run I needed to. I think traffic was going to provide me an opportunity, so that run right there, I was really excited about it.”
“I think he (Newgarden) set up pretty wide and was cutting back in and was a little slower at apex, but ultimately it’s up to me to carry the right speed into the corner and not run into the back of people, and I just misjudged it,” explained Herta.
Dixon took advantage of the extra breathing room to lock down his 57th career win, which is ten shy of A.J. Foyt’s series leading 67-victories.
“It’s one of those things that I always say hopefully when you leave the sport, you’re happy with the stats,” said Dixon. “Of course, these are big stats. This is a big deal. We’re still a long way away from that.”
The victory was Dixon’s fourth in the last six points-paying INDYCAR Series races dating back to last year.
“It’s great to win early in the season,” said Dixon. “It’s huge. It’s big for the team, big for everybody’s morale. Hopefully that stuff carries to the marquee event coming up here shortly in the 500. But right now the focus is Barber next week.”
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst on Sunday, April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Live coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
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