INDIANAPOLIS – In the most Scott Dixon-esque way possible, the best IndyCar driver of a generation willed his way to the front late in Saturday’s 85-lap Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, taking control of the race from polesitter Graham Rahal with the use of his masterful fuel saving that for two decades has set Dixon apart from the rest of the field.
Almost out of nowhere, Dixon cycled to the front of the race nearly 7 seconds ahead at the conclusion of the leaders’ final stops on the heels of an early pitstop under yellow and the ability to run efficient middle stints of 27 laps apiece.
By the checkered flag, Dixon had held onto a half-second gap over Rahal, giving the Chip Ganassi Racing driver his first win of the 2023 season to extend his all-time IndyCar marks of 19 consecutive seasons with a victory and 21 campaigns with one overall.
“It’s been a trying year for us, but (this team) never gives up,” Dixon said. “What a day to win one.”
Here’s how he did it.
Saturday’s start was chaotic at both ends, with second-year Andretti Autosport driver Devlin DeFrancesco, who Friday made his first Fast Six of his young IndyCar career, snatched the lead out of Rahal’s hands by the exit of Turn 1 by going around the outside of the No. 15 Honda.
Back in the middle of the pack at the end of the back-straight, Alex Palou – who late this week made Arrow McLaren aware of his intentions not to race for the IndyCar team in 2024 after allegedly signing a contract with the team – appeared to tap the back of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong, sending the rookie into a spin.
Palou narrowly managed to navigate clear of Armstrong, but several cars behind weren’t so lucky. Romain Grosjean checked up but nudged the back of Dixon, sending the 43-year-old into a spin into the grass – importantly clear of the rest of the carnage. Grosjean then skidded into the sidepod of Armstrong, with Josef Newgarden, who qualified 19th and then lost six more spots Saturday’s grid for an unapproved engine change, with nowhere to go but over the top of the No. 11 Honda’s front wing.
In a move that made the difference in Saturday’s race, Dixon managed to get back moving before the field, now running under caution, came back around. He would then pit on Lap 5 during the caution period and get off of the lower-performance black primary Firestone tires. With Dixon having already started mid-pack in 15th, the stop didn’t lose him too much track position he picked up at the start, but importantly would allow him – with enough fuel-save driving – to only make two more stops the rest of the way once the field went green, while the leaders were left to make three.
DeFrancesco led the field back to green at the start of Lap 8, with Rahal quickly snatching back the lead, with last year’s Gallagher Grand Prix winner Alexander Rossi trailing Rahal in second place for much of the next stint of the race.
After the leaders pitted, Rahal’s teammate Christian Lundgaard popped around Rossi to take over, what at the time, seemed like effectively second place in the race. But well up ahead, Dixon’s lead on the race began to loom as one of the few off-strategy drivers still hanging on around the front.
Dixon made his second stop of the race from the lead on Lap 32, disappearing back into the mid-pack while Rahal continued to lead his RLL teammate by 1.5 seconds nearing the race’s halfway point. Just past that halfway point, Lundgaard became the final lead-group driver to pit on Lap 51, but the No. 45 Honda struggled getting the fuel probe in the car and lost more than 4 seconds to Rahal, effectively taking him out of contention.
From the lead with a 6-second lead on Rahal, Dixon pitted for the final time on Lap 60, and Rahal followed two laps later, holding a 6.9-second gap on Dixon, who needed to nurse his fuel mileage to get the rest of the way home in his series-record 319th consecutive start. With 15 laps to go, the No. 9 Honda held a 4-second advantage on Rahal, but the hard-charging RLL car nearly slashed that in half with 8 laps to go (2.4 seconds back).
By that point, both leaders were having to deal with lapped (or nearly lapped) traffic. Fellow veteran Ryan Hunter-Reay didn’t make it easy on both cars, helping Dixon hold onto a similar lead for a couple more laps, but by 5 laps to go, Rahal had closed within 1.25 seconds of the leader. He got perhaps his best chance heading into Turn 1 with 3 laps left, as Rahal cut within a half-second, but with both drivers able to bang their overtake buttons, he could get no closer.
“I thought all day we, frankly, dominated,” Rahal said post-race. “But we have nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, I’m not bummed, but I’m bummed. It’s just one of those things where, even when you do everything right, Lady Luck just wasn’t on our side.
“That first caution really hurt us because it lasted forever for no reason, and I knew (Dixon) would come in, and he did. I thought a couple of the lapped guys at the end did really good, and some did really poor. And when you follow like that, it really kills the front tire. I knew we had to make quick work of them, and that just hurt us a little bit.”
Somewhat under the radar for the first time this weekend, Palou cruised his way to a seventh-place finish, marking his 15th consecutive finish inside the top-8, dating to his win in the 2022 season finale. With Newgarden finishing two laps down in 25th, Palou added 17 more points to his championship lead, with Dixon assuming second place, 101 points back. Newgarden, who like Palou has won four times this season, now trails by 105 points with three races left in the title run.
