IndyCar: Dixon Wins The Bommarito Automotive Group 500

Scott Dixon pulled off another win today after starting 16th in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, fending off Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward who finished 2nd.

The Kiwi started 16th in the Gallagher Grand Prix two weeks ago and won that race on strategy also.

Scott Dixon - Bommarito Automotive Group 500 winner - Photo By_ Joe Skibinski — Scott Dixon – Bommarito Automotive Group 500 winner – Photo By_ Joe Skibinski

Saving fuel while leading a race high 123 laps of 260 laps, Dixon won in decisive fashion, nearly doubling the track record for margin of victory (22.2256 seconds; previously 11.804 by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000).

Dixon accomplished the feat despite starting the race in P16, which is the furthest back any race winner has started in track history.

He only needed three pit stops by saving fuel, one fewer than the other 27 drivers in the field.

“It’s all these guys, man,” Dixon said about his Chip Ganassi Racing crew. “Chip steers the ship. We took a pretty good grid penalty today. We had to go the alternate route, and it worked out perfectly. This team was perfect. They gave me the (fuel) number I needed to be getting, so massive thank you to everybody on the PNC Bank No. 9 crew.”

The Iceman captured his 55th career INDYCAR SERIES victory (2nd all-time), his 25th on an oval and his second at Gateway (2020 Race 1). With the win, Chip Ganassi Racing took home their 253rd overall victory.

David Malukas drove his HMD Trucking Honda to third place.

Arrow McLaren’s’ Alexander Rossi finished fourth and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top five.

Alex Palou, the championship points leader, finished his day in seventh and now holds a 74-point advantage in the championship standings. Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 9 and No. 10 teams are now the only teams that remain in title contention with two races remaining.

Josef Newgarden ended his day when he his PPG Team Penske Chevrolet made slight contact with the wall in turn 2 on Lap 211.

There were only two yellow flags in the 260 lap race. The first yellow came out on Lap 1 when Ed Carpenter hit the back of AJ Foyt Racing’s rookie, Benjamin Pedersen, which ended the young rookies’ day early.

The second came on Lap 121 when Takuma Sato made contact with the wall in Turn 2. His Chip Ganassi teammate, Dixon, took advantage of pitting during the yellow flag.

Race Results

Pos	No	Name	Laps	Behind	Gap	Led	ST	Engine	Points	Team
1	9	Scott Dixon	260	0.000s	0.000s	123	16	Honda	491	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	5	Pato O’Ward	260	22.2256	22.2256	18	3	Chevy	429	Arrow McLaren
3	18	David Malukas	260	22.7279	0.5023	0	6	Honda	230	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
4	7	Alexander Rossi	259	1 LAPS	5.3962	4	7	Chevy	339	Arrow McLaren
5	3	Scott McLaughlin	259	1 LAPS	0.4488	0	10	Chevy	426	Team Penske
6	26	Colton Herta	259	1 LAPS	0.2674	13	2	Honda	331	Andretti Autosport w/Curb Agajanian
7	10	Alex Palou	259	1 LAPS	1.1927	0	14	Honda	565	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	6	Felix Rosenqvist	259	1 LAPS	0.1670	0	4	Chevy	270	Arrow McLaren
9	12	Will Power	259	1 LAPS	0.3370	4	8	Chevy	388	Team Penske
10	8	Marcus Ericsson	259	1 LAPS	0.5683	0	15	Honda	397	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	21	Rinus VeeKay	259	1 LAPS	2.7302	0	20	Chevy	237	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	28	Romain Grosjean	259	1 LAPS	1.4561	0	5	Honda	271	Andretti Autosport
13	14	Santino Ferrucci	259	1 LAPS	14.3309	0	26	Chevy	187	AJ Foyt Enterprises
14	20	Ryan Hunter Reay	259	1 LAPS	0.7707	0	23	Chevy	102	Ed Carpenter Racing
15	27	Kyle Kirkwood	259	1 LAPS	0.3531	0	22	Honda	327	Andretti Autosport
16	30	Conor Daly	259	1 LAPS	1.6446	0	11	Honda	134	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
17	45	Christian Lundgaard	259	1 LAPS	0.2329	0	19	Honda	343	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	60	Linus Lundqvist	258	2 LAPS	6.6808	0	12	Honda	35	Meyer Shank Racing
19	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	258	2 LAPS	0.4806	0	18	Honda	156	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
20	15	Graham Rahal	258	2 LAPS	2.2266	0	21	Honda	251	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	51	Sting Ray Robb	258	2 LAPS	12.1693	0	24	Honda	122	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
22	78	Agustin Canapino	258	2 LAPS	5.0076	0	28	Chevy	159	Juncos Hollinger Racing
23	06	Helio Castroneves	257	3 LAPS	4.8630	0	13	Honda	184	Meyer Shank Racing
24	33	Ed Carpenter	254	6 LAPS	3 LAPS	0	27	Chevy	46	Ed Carpenter Racing
25	2	Josef Newgarden	210	1 LAPS	0.1890	98	1	Chevy	440	Team Penske
26	11	Takuma Sato	119	Contact	17.2218	0	17	Honda	70	Chip Ganassi Racing
27	77	Callum Ilott	58	Contact	0.5866	0	9	Chevy	221	Juncos Hollinger Racing
28	55	Benjamin Pedersen		Contact		0	25	Chevy	107	AJ Foyt Enterprises

Lucille Dust reporting live from WWTR