It’s sort of becoming old hat.
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– Scott Dixon soundly thrashed the Verizon IndyCar Series field at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, winning the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen Presented by Hitachi for the fourth time. It still felt awfully good, nonetheless. “Even though we still have to race hard, it’s going to be a lot more comfortable”. “These are weekends you don’t forget”, Dixon said after his 40th victory overall moved him alone into fourth place on the career list. You just think of the problems and maybe strategy not going your way or having a mechanical (issue) and taking you out of it. We’d been fast in practice, fast in qualifying, obviously got the pole.
Dixon produced another textbook performance at one of his favorite tracks to claim his 40th career Indy auto race win, tops among active drivers and fourth all time.
Before the Glen race, Pagenaud held a 28-point lead over his Team Penske teammate Will Power, with only the double points race remaining in two weeks at Sonoma (California) Raceway.
Bolstering the team advantage theory, Ganassi’s Tony Kanaan had the fastest lap of the race and qualified fifth before a suspension failure sent him to a 19th-place finish. Pagenaud finished seventh while Power was a victim of an accident, finishing 20th. He wasn’t immediately cleared by IndyCar’s medical team due to concerns about concussion-like symptoms.
Those two are the only drivers mathematical eligible for the championship, while Dixon and Castroneves are tied for third and Newgarden is in fifth.
When the series returned to the historic road course in upstate New York’s wine country in 2005, Dixon won the first three races, his victory that first year snapping a 40-race winless streak.
In Sunday morning’s 30-minute warmup, Dixon practiced his starts and almost lost it once. He led 50 of 60 laps.
Power’s drive toward the championship suffered a damaging blow when his No. 12 Team Penske Chevy made contact with Charlie Kimball on lap 39 coming out of the high-speed esses. Kimball hit Power’s left rear tire in the narrow section of the track at the top of the hill.
“I went down on the inside”.
“I had nothing for Scott”, Pagenaud said. “It’s just a shame”. We were looking really, really good. “I just hope Will is all right because I want to take this fight to Sonoma”. “I should know better”.
Rahal, who started 20th after being penalized in qualifying on Saturday, finished 21st. “I think saving fuel is more of a mental thing”. Newgarden also completed the last 19 laps on one tank in the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet, overtaking James Hinchcliffe, who ran out of ethanol on the last lap, for second place.
WHO’S NOT: Ryan Hunter-Reay finished 14th for Andretti Autosport as his late-season slump continued. This was IndyCar’s first race here since ’10.
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.
During the post-race press conference, Dixon said he was donating his race winnings to Justin Wilson’s family. He cruised to his fourth Watkins Glen career IndyCar Series victory in Sunday’s IndyCar Grand Prix at The Glen.
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But the 2015 series champion rekindled a special sort of dominance Sunday at Watkins Glen International. Castroneves’ finish left him tied for third in points, 104 points behind, with race victor Scott Dixon.
