Dixon clocked a lap record in qualifying at Watkins Glen raceway, heading off Australian Will Power, who will join him on the front row of today’s grid.
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IndyCar stewards reviewed the Kimball-Power contact during the Grand Prix at the Glen and took no action. I’ve got to take the blame, too.
“2010 was the last time IndyCar was here I’ve been waiting for them to come back ever since”, he said.
“Nobody is going around here with one hand on the wheel, I can tell you that”.
Pagenaud failed to make the final six for the first time this season and will start seventh.
Pagenaud, who does not have a medical degree, said he saw Power and thought he seemed “totally normal; he seems OK”.
Power won four of the last seven races to narrow the gap on leader Simon Pagenaud. Jeff Gordon won the pole here in 2003 for the NASCAR Cup race, was wrecked on the first turn of the race by Greg Biffle, and finished 33rd.
Fastest in all three practices, Dixon topped the Fast Six on Saturday with a track-record-smashing time of 1 minute, 22.5259 seconds at 147.008 miles per hour to win the pole for the Grand Prix at The Glen.
In this case, Dixon’s advice is the same to both Pagenaud and Power.
“(A lead) is never safe, never safe”, he said after this race. “I haven’t seen the replay, but he’s just a pain in the ass”.
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Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves was second-fastest behind Dixon on 1:23.0327 and Will Power third with 1:23.0717.
Dixon credited the win to the set up of his Chevrolet, which allowed him to conserve more fuel than his rivals.
He also dismissed the idea that he should have raced Power any differently given that Power is fighting for a championship and he is not. “But I think to lead all three practices, qualify on the pole, and then win the race, it was definitely a very dominant weekend”. He also won for the second of the season, and fourth at The Glen. Power has been the pole victor five of the past six years; Pagenaud’s best start was a fourth last year, and his best finish is third in 2014. Likewise, Mikhail Aleshin had his best time annulled during the final Fast Six qualifying group for qualifying interference as well. Power’s come-from-behind charge to the title in 2014 was one of the exceptions.
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