Scott Dixon stands alone as the third all-time winningest driver in the history of the Verizon IndyCar Series, claiming his 43rd career victory Saturday night in the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.
While the victory marked a major milestone for the four-time series champion, he was quick to turn the attention of the feat to his Chip Ganassi Racing crew in victory lane.
“It means a lot, but more for the team,” he told the NBCSN broadcast. “42 wins have been with this team.”
Dixon ran the final laps as the fastest car on the track, continuously extending his lead over Simon Pagenaud who finished from where he started in P2. Alexander Rossi was unable to make the high line work as a passing route around Pagenaud in the race’s final laps, but took the positive points podium position after a costly mistake in Detroit cost him a win.
The race completed without two of its favourites to win, as Robert Wickens and Will Power both found themselves in incidents with lapped traffic. Wickens made contact with Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Ed Carpenter, ending his day after leading much of the race’s first half.
“It just sucks,” a visibly disappointed Wickens told NBCSN. “We had such a good car.”
Carpenter took full responsibility for the contact.
“It’s my fault,” he said, “it was just a stupid mistake.”
Closing into the race’s final stages, it was a timely mistake by Power that ended his night as his inability to hear the spotter over the radio resulted in contact with Zachary Claman DeMelo.
“If I heard ‘outside’, of course I would have left the lane,” Power said, having received a post-race penalty for avoidable contact. “It’s not the guy on the outside’s fault.”
Claman DeMelo was running P8 at the time of the accident, an impressive run for the Canadian rookie standing in for injured teammate Pietro Fittipaldi.
“I feel like I’ve shown my potential in IndyCar,” he told NBCSN.
James Hinchcliffe, making his return to oval racing in the same car that failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, rallied from a P15 start to finish P4. Hinchcliffe, disappointed with his qualifying run, maintained the possibility of climbing through traffic at Texas as the track’s surface cooled.
With his second victory of the season, Scott Dixon sits on top of the Verizon IndyCar Series standings, 23 points ahead of Alexander Rossi.
IndyCar will now take a well deserved break after a month of nearly nonstop action, returning to the track at Road America for the KOHLER Grand Prix on June 24.
