“These are the weekends that you definitely don’t forget”, Dixon said afterward, “just in the sheer fact of we had such a smooth one, which made it hard also going into the race”. Even though we had been fast in practice and got the pole, you are thinking that strategies or mechanical issues won’t go your way.
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“But Charlie kept going left until he just got my bumper with his front wing”.
As always, the veteran racer pointed out that his success was not a one-man effort.
Dixon and his No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar was the fastest auto on the track when speed was needed and then late in the race while other’s were running out of fuel, Dixon and his racer were able to get the most mileage out of what little fuel was left in the vehicle. “Huge credit to everybody at Team Target and the whole Ganassi organization, from the people back at the workshop to the guys that are here on the weekend to make this opportunity possible”. “He seems OK. I’m just glad he is all right because I want to take this fight to Sonoma”. “I love coming to upstate NY and this track is one of the old-school great American tracks that we’re lucky enough to come back here and race”. It was great to see so many fans here, given the short period of time the track had to get ready for it. The two Penske drivers are the only ones still in contention for the title.
Power, who started second at Watkins Glen, was in a position to tighten up the points race, but on lap 39 he was involved in a heavy crash on the back straight that knocked him out of the race and possibly out of the championship. It’s another track that he shines at, and he shone brightly this weekend. Mikhail Aleshin crashed to bring out the caution on lap 15 when his left rear tire exploded.
“Unfortunately it doesn’t”, he explained. He just kept following I think the 26 auto over, and ran me onto the grass, and when I bounced off the grass I bounced into him.
Aside from KVSH Racing and Sebastien Bourdais, all regular team/driver combos are attending next Thursday’s test at Sonoma Raceway, along with three Indy Lights drivers. It’s disappointing and I’m a little ticked off.
Dixon credited Ganassi’s baseline of information, which includes data gained in the pre-DW12 era of auto and more recently at road courses such as Road America and Sonona Raceway, where the season concludes September 18. “It’s so hard. You can’t equate for a yellow coming out when they do, and today we were on the other side of it”. “We were actually battling for second going into the Bus Stop with Will”. “It was tough, but we were able to fly up the field there at the end”.
“At that point, there was so much fuel saving there was no racing going on for us”, Pagenaud said. With this win, Dixon moves to 4th on the all-time list with 40 IndyCar victories. Figuring out where this one would rank amongst those 40 wasn’t easy.
New Port Richey’s RC Enerson, in his second series race, was ninth.
“I went down on the inside”. Once the green flag waved, he consistently opened big leads and saved enough fuel over the final laps to win by 16.5 seconds in a flawless performance both on the track and in the pits. But it was a lot.
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Wearing the traditional Watkins Glen winning wreath, Scott Dixon gives victory cheer. I was sorry to have gotten into him, but frankly if he would have known I was there, I know he wouldn’t have run me off the road. “We would have gone by him if he had given me room”. Kansas I think rings a bell back in the day where the team had a very dominant streak going, and Mid-Ohio we’ve had something close to that, but I think to lead all three practices, warmup, qualifying the pole, and then win the race. “I think we should have a double-points race here and probably race two or three times (a season) at The Glen”.
