Today's 318th consecutive start made Scott Dixon the all-time leader in consecutive IndyCar starts. That looked like it would be the only good thing Dixon could take home from today's race after a lap one spin, but Dixon instead strung together a masterful race-long drive to secure a shocking win by less than a second.
Dixon's race went south immediately. He had moved up into the top ten on a quick start, but it went south in turn seven when teammate and general man of the moment Alex Palou moved to make a four-wide move on a few cars in front of Dixon. Palou was forced to lift out, causing a chain reaction that spun both Dixon and a third Chip Ganassi Racing driver, Marcus Armstrong. Dixon was able to continue without damage, but Armstrong was struck at low speeds by both Josef Newgarden and Romain Grosjean as the field-spanning crash continued.
The timing of the yellow meant that Dixon and a few other drivers had the chance to stop during the first caution without a major penalty. Those other drivers chose to continue on the primary strategy, but not Dixon. He and his team chose to instead start saving fuel immediately, a strategy they held through every stint as Dixon would go on to cut an entire stop under green on the rest of the leaders. With 20 to go, he found himself with three fewer laps of fuel and a five second lead on a surging Graham Rahal.
Rahal cut the lead slowly at first, then started slicing into it significantly in the closing laps as the pair worked through lapped traffic. He came within a second in the final handful of laps, but Dixon was eventually freed to stop saving fuel and would eventually pull a small margin to win by just half a second.
It is the 19th straight season in which Scott Dixon has won an IndyCar race. That, combined with his new record for consecutive starts, illustrates one of the most exceptional careers in racing history. While he has won the Indianapolis 500 just once, Dixon is a six-time champion who still has a far outside chance of reaching seven this year. He has done so while leading Ganassi through engine manufacturer changes, teammate changes, and business model changes, all while recording just one winless season in 21 years at the team.
Although the lap 1 crash opened the door for Dixon to fall onto what would become the winning strategy, it was also a major moment in the championship. The crash was effectively started by series points leader Alex Palou, but the apparent continuing Ganassi driver continued on as two of his teammates spun. Palou's closest championship rival, Josef Newgarden, then barreled into a spun Marcus Armstrong and fell one lap down as safety teams struggled to get his car started in time to continue on the lead lap. Palou finished 7th and Newgarden could not recover past 25th, ballooning Palou's championship lead to an enormous 105 points on Newgarden. Dixon's win is enough to pass Newgarden, so he slots into a distant second at 102 points behind Palou.
