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Scott Dixon takes pole, new lap record in Watkins Glen IndyCar qualifying

Dixon led for the majority of all the practice sessions, and he had the fastest qualifying lap time, so it came as no surprise today when Dixon cruised to victory 18 seconds ahead of the next auto.

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Team Penske’s Will Power will join Dixon on the front row, with Sebastien Bourdais and Helio Castroneves making up the second row.

Fast facts: Simon Pagenaud leads Will Power in the championship race by 28 points, though there are still nine drivers mathematically eligible for the title with two races to go.

Scott Dixon’s dominance at Watkins Glen International continued Sunday afternoon with the fourth victory of his career at the road course.

“It’s been nearly a sweep this weekend and you don’t get that too often”.

RAHAL RUINED: Graham Rahal, who won a scintillating duel with James Hinchcliffe last week at Texas, saw his day end early. He was release from the care center, but was not allowed back in the auto due to concussion-like symptoms. It’s always interesting, and, well, at the least we’re able to do good lap times on the reds, and sounds like the blacks were the way to go.

In Sunday morning’s 30-minute warmup, the New Zealander practiced his starts and almost lost it once. It is a lot faster and no more second and third gear corners. But today, after it bit us pretty good in Toronto, it was a nice way to turn it around. He also won this race the last time it took place, so he has experience winning at Watkins Glen. “I think that’s not very fair, is it?”

The Chip Ganassi Racing Teams quartet of cars has been strong all weekend and three of them made it through to the Firestone Fast Six, with Scott Dixon continuing his weekend pace for pole and and Tony Kanaan in fifth. Both took advantage of a full-course caution to make their final pit stop with 19 laps left in the race, four laps beyond the normal fuel window.

The GoPro Grand Prix has twice as many championship points at stake to win or lose.

As the season comes to a climax, Pagenaud is confident the No. 22 vehicle will come out on top as long as he focuses on his own driving without being distracted by Power’s surge, which has pulled him within 28 championship points.

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Custer twice held off Nemechek on late restarts, but was bumped with two turns remaining before an aggressive door-to-door drag race through the grass to the checkered flag.

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