TORONTO – Move over, Mario Andretti, it’s time to make room for Scott Dixon as the second winningest driver in IndyCar history.
Dixon started on the front row and drove a masterful race to win Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto at Canada’s Exhibition Place.
The driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing started on the outside of the front row, made his first pit stop on Lap 18 and masterfully saved fuel throughout the race.
He was able to keep hard-charging Colton Herta in his rear-view mirror all the way to the checkered flag.
Dixon defeated Herta by .8106 seconds. It’s an IndyCar-record 18th-straight season that Dixon has won a race. The driver from Auckland, New Zealand has also won an IndyCar race in 20 seasons during his 22-year career that began in CART with PacWest Racing in 2001.
The only seasons Dixon has not won a race was in 2002 and 2004.
It was Dixon’s 52nd career IndyCar win, tying him with Andretti for second place on the all-time victory list. AJ Foyt is IndyCar’s all-time winner with 67 career victories and is the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times in his career.
“I have the utmost respect for my friend Scott Dixon and truly happy to congratulate him on 52 wins,” Andretti said on Twitter. “Also congratulate his team because nobody does it alone. I hope this is just a step on your continuing journey. Well done.”
Andretti’s congratulations put a smile on the race-winner’s face.
“It means a lot,” Dixon said. “I love Mario. I love Mario for so many reasons, what he’s done in the sport, achieved, what he gives back to the sport.
“I feel extremely lucky to have the likes of himself and A.J. here most weekends. Even to sit and chat with these guys, the generations that they raced in or the time they raced is a lot different from now.
“It means a lot to me, to even be mentioned in the sale conversation as these greats. I never thought it was possible. For me, it’s a huge credit to obviously the team that I work with now, but also the team that I started with, whether it was mum and dad to my brothers and sisters, all of my family, to the Scott Dixon Motorsport Group, which were the founders of getting a group together to put forward money and enable to get me to where I am today.
“As he stated, it’s a team effort. But those words from Mario mean everything to me.”
It was Dixon’s first victory of the 2022 season and his first since winning at Texas Motor Speedway on May 1, 2021.
“The strategy got me the lead early,” said Dixon, who pitted to switch from Firestone Reds to Blacks on Lap 18. “I ended a streak there, which is fantastic. It’s a crazy year for the No. 9. I feel bad for our partners at the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s amazing to be this close to Mario Andretti. We still have him and AJ Foyt in the pits. I feel so lucky to be part of this group. Hopefully, we will be in the title hunt now. I’m hoping this is the start of the roll. I think the team deserves it.
“It was tremendous to see all the teams at Chip Ganassi Racing do well this weekend.”
The win for Chip Ganassi Racing was the latest in a tumultuous week for the team as Alex Palou’s controversial contract situation with CGR and McLaren has dominated the news.
Palou drove a great race after starting 22nd. He finished sixth behind his teammate, Marcus Ericsson, who finished fifth.
Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist was third in a Chevrolet followed by Graham Rahal’s Honda.
“I hope this weekend makes Zak Brown think over some things,” said Rosenqvist, who wants to remain in IndyCar next season. Brown is the CEO of McLaren and recently signed Rosenqvist to a contract extension but has yet to assign him to a series.
“It was massively overdue,” Rosenqvist continued. “We had so many good races. Even last year when we had such a struggle year, we still had times where we were fighting for wins. Just things end up happening.
“Mid-Ohio was pretty much a perfect race until we had a technical failure that ended our race. Texas earlier this year. Just so many races. Obviously, I don’t like to say what could have happened.
“I think everyone on the team was ready for at least a podium, and also a win coming up here soon hopefully. Yeah, really, really good. Really good just for the guys on the car to give them something more than P4 or P5.”
Presumably, Rosenqvist could either be in IndyCar or Formula E for McLaren.
Rosenqvist is hopeful his performance will convince team principal Zak Brown of keeping him in IndyCar.
“I think if Zak was sure I was going to Formula E, he would have already said it,” Rosenqvist said. “I’m going to take that chance. If there’s a chance for me to be here next year, I’m going to try to prove I can do that.”
Rosenqvist’s status is clouded over McLaren’s shock announcement that it had hired Chip Ganassi Racing’s Palou for next season. Ganassi adamantly said he has a contract with Palou for 2023.
“By the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like Alex has — I mean, I don’t know what’s going on there,” Rosenqvist said of Palou. “At the moment it doesn’t sound like he’s going to race at all. Yeah, it’s up to lawyers and stuff.
“Honestly, it’s not my business at all. I think honestly it hasn’t really changed anything. This whole deal went down months ago. I didn’t know all the details of it that I know now, but nothing has actually changed.”
Dixon led 40 laps in the 85-lap race and showed why he may be one of IndyCar’s best-ever drivers at saving fuel while in the lead.
“All in all, we came away with the win,” Dixon said. “We had a good, clean pass into one on Herta. That was it. Yeah, it was a lot of fun for me.”
At the end, Herta literally lost sight of the race leader, even though he was in clear view.
“I couldn’t really see much because my head sock broke,” Herta said. “All of my hair went in front of my face. Honestly, I think a lot of it was from the balaclava. It sounds like a lame excuse, and I try not to make excuses. Yeah, I really couldn’t see much. I think Scott was probably the car that deserved to win. He seemed to be just that little bit faster. I was pushing really hard in the middle of the stint; he was able to tick off each lap a 10th better. Usually, the guy like that ends up winning, and he did.
“I’m happy with P2. I think we were probably second best right there with Felix. Happy with how it went.”
Ericsson continues to lead the NTT IndyCar Series standings, but Team Penske’s Will Power moved into second place, 35 points behind the leader. Palou is third, 37 points out. Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon both have 44 points, but Newgarden get the position based on his three wins to Dixon’s one.
Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP is sixth, 75 back, followed by Scott McLaughlin (-77), Herta (-97), Rosenqvist (-107) and Simon Pagenaud (-108).