Scott Dixon Should Relish 59th Career Win No Matter Circumstances
But Scott Dixon shouldn't care.
He was in position to win the race Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with his two-stop strategy if Palou made a mistake and was able to capitalize.
For a driver to earn his 59th career victory and to now have won in 23 different seasons, including 21 consecutive times, that is a big deal. Mistake or not by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate.
"I had big dreams to be racing, but to be in this scenario, to be with this team, to get to work with the people I get to work with on a daily basis is unbelievable," said Dixon, who has driven for Ganassi since 2002 and has won six series titles. "I don't know what this is — 24 years or 23 years with the same team, is pretty sweet.
"I pinch myself every day."
Dixon knows this season has not gone the way he has wanted. He had watched teammate Palou win six of the first nine races, the first of which Dixon felt he should have won, had he not had radio issues and had known which lap would be the most optimal to pit.
"It was nice to have that flip on Alex after what happened on St. Pete this year," said Dixon with a smile, not in a mean way but knowing that he gave one away and now got one back.
Teammates are still competitors and Dixon was glad that Palou made a mistake. It wasn't like Dixon had forced Palou to go off track in Turn 9 with five laps remaining. It was just a mistake that drivers occasionally make.
"I didn't know if it was him, and then obviously I see it's a black car. He's had multiple colors this year, so it's always hard to figure out. And I saw that he was kind of struggling to get going," Dixon said.
"I hate to say it, but I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that he was rejoining the track."
Even with the win, Dixon sits fourth in the standings, 148 points behind Palou. So it's not like Dixon is thinking about using this victory as a stepping stone to another championship. It was his first podium since the season opener in St. Petersburg. It was just his fourth top-five finish.
"It's not always going to be your day," Dixon said. "It's not always going to be your year. I've seen plenty of those where it just doesn't work out.
"We've been frustrated. It's been tough. ... We've just got to do a better job, we've got to work harder, and hopefully, we can keep working on that door, and it opens like it did today."
That is what made the victory so fulfilling for Dixon and his Ganassi team. Frankly, the door has been harder for them to open. Dixon has won several races, thanks to saving fuel, and this was his first victory with the new hybrid system, where it is hard to take advantage of that skill.
Meanwhile, Palou has made the strategy work all year by managing tires and having the most optimal set for the final stint. He has been so smooth and so flawless — until Sunday.
"Nothing in particular happened. Just lost it a little bit, then kind of got into the marbles and went out [of the groove off-course]," Palou said. "It was a big, big mistake by my part."
If Palou makes more mistakes, he can expect Dixon and others to pounce. Dixon was finally in position after starting ninth. It was not a great starting spot but it was better than where he has started for much of the season.
That gave him the ability to do his thing on the two-stop strategy.
"Each race I go to, I'm there to win," Dixon said. "This year has been super frustrating for us, for all of us on my car. Anytime we could have something roll our way, it just hasn't.
"We've had a load of mechanicals. It's been extremely frustrating. Indy, I think, was one of the best 500 cars I've had and it was over before it even started [with a brake fire]. This is big for team morale and for everybody involved.
"We know we can win. Just hopefully we can get on a roll here."
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US Open prize money pool increases to a record $90 million for 2025
The US Open will see a massive increase in prize money for its winners this year. On Wednesday, the tournament announced a significant upgrade in prize money, with the New York City showcase being the first competition to reach $90 million in player compensation. Following the $70 million prize money set in 2024, which established a record, the tournament is seeing a 21% increase in the purse this year. The staggering amount of money to compete for is only a 15% fraction of the tournament's $559.7 million revenue, according to the US Open site. The singles winners for the men's and women's tournaments will take the largest winning payout in tennis, each pocketing $5 million, which is a 39% bump from the $3.6 million prize in 2024. Prize money did not just grow for the title winners but also for other participants: The upgraded purse will compensate runners-up ($2.5 million, up 39%), semi-finalists ($1.26 million, up 26%), quarter-finalists ($660,000, up 25%) and Round of 16 competitors ($400,000, up 23%). This materialized after years of a strategic focus on redistribution to provide significant payouts to all participants. Aside from increasing the prize money, the US Open also looked to lower the out-of-pocket expenses for players. Competitors will be given a $1,000 travel stipend and two rooms in the player hotel or $600 per day if they opt to stay elsewhere. Players can also avail free racquet stringing of up to five racquets per pound. These accommodations total $5 million toward player support. The US Open's prize money significantly dwarfs the other majors, with Wimbledon paying $72.7 million, the French Open paying $65.4 million and the Australian Open paying $62.9 million across all players. Before the increase, a handful of players raised concerns about their share of tournament revenues. Tennis' top players hired WTA chief executive Larry Scott to speak to the Grand Slam event organizers on their behalf. The players were fighting to receive a bigger portion of the tournament revenues. While team sports in the US give players close to 50% of the profit, tennis players generally receive between 15% and 20% of Grand Slam revenue, according to The New York Times. Additionally, the Professional Tennis Players Association, led by Novak Djokovic, has filed an antitrust lawsuit, naming the four Grand Slams as 'co-conspirators' to a 'cartel' encompassing the men's and women's tours, the International Tennis Federation, and the International Tennis Integrity Agency. The PTPA shared that it is having 'productive discussions' with the four majors, which resulted in their removal from the updated complaint filed in June. Since then, the ATP and WTA have filed to dismiss the lawsuit. The US Open will be played at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, from August 24 to September 7.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lions haven't had "any intense talks" with Aidan Hutchinson yet
The Lions want to sign star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson to a contract extension, but they have not had any "intense talks" yet. 'Look, we'll definitely get some dialogue going soon here, but those things take time, especially the larger the deal is," General Manager Brad Holmes said Wednesday on 97.1 The Ticket. Holmes said at the Scouting Combine that the Lions were in the "planning stages" for a Hutchinson extension. Since then, edge rushers Maxx Crosby (three years, $106.5 million), Myles Garrett (four years, $160 million) and T.J. Watt (three years, $123 million) have signed extensions. Hutchinson is scheduled to make $5.575 million this year and $19.872 million in 2026 on the fifth-year option. In three seasons, he has 28.5 sacks and 65 quarterback hits. He played only five games last season before fracturing his tibia and fibula in a game against the Cowboys, but he has returned looking like himself. 'As the player, he's [Hutchinson] looked great,' Holmes said, via Ryan Mathews of 'I'm really not all that surprised just because of tracking him since college, since his early days at Michigan, he had that big injury [fractured ankle] at Michigan, and he came back, I think nobody would argue, a better player. I don't want to say it's exactly the same because the games haven't kicked off yet, but what he's showing in practice, the change of direction, the explosiveness. I mean, he's not [showing] any effects, but I'm not surprised when a guy like him has that kind of mindset.'
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Myles Garrett: Shedeur Sanders works hard, takes his craft seriously
The Browns will start Shedeur Sanders at quarterback on Friday, giving him his first professional game action — albeit in the preseason. Star defensive end Myles Garrett was asked about his impressions of Sanders in his Wednesday press conference following Cleveland's joint practice with Carolina. Garrett has been spotted at times chatting with Sanders on the field between reps throughout training camp. 'I mean, he's funny, he's optimistic, lighthearted, but he works hard," Garrett said, via transcript from the team. "He takes it seriously, his craft and he's watching what the others are doing and doing it his own way, in which only he can. So, looking forward to see him on these preseason games and how he manages the offense. But I think he looks good, but all the guys look good right now. "[H]e's definitely coming to me a couple times to see what I'm thinking [when] I'm going through my rush or what the defense's mentality is.' A fifth-round pick in this year's draft, Sanders has mainly been working with the second- and third-team offense during training camp. Those are the players he'll be on the field with on Friday night, as head coach Kevin Stefanski said the plan is to rest most starters after they received most of the reps in Wednesday's joint practice.
