After his sublime spin and win at Indianapolis a fortnight ago, Dixon put on another fuel-saving masterclass to take victory – despite a nine-place grid penalty that meant he started 16th – by 22s from Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and David Malukas (Dale Coyne Racing).
They were the only cars on the lead lap. Dixon used a three-stop strategy, while most of his rivals stopped five times.
Josef Newgarden’s quest to win all the oval races in a single season for the first time in IndyCar history failed when he hit the wall late on while duelling for second, having led the early stages for Team Penske.
Polesitter Scott McLaughlin (Penske) had to start the race from 10th after a nine-place grid penalty that half a dozen cars took for using a fifth engine. That allowed Newgarden to lead the 28-car field to green, ahead of Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) and O’Ward.
The caution flag flew almost immediately as Benjamin Pedersen’s AJ Foyt Racing car was rear-ended by Ed Carpenter into Turn 1 and spun into the wall. Carpenter was given a 30s penalty.
The race restarted on lap 11 with Newgarden leading Herta, O’Ward and Malukas – who had rocketed up to fourth from sixth on the grid – and the other McLarens of Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi. Malukas went around the outside of O’Ward at Turn 1 to grab third, with Rosenqvist further demoting O’Ward.
Series dominator Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) was the best placed of the penalised starters, up from 14th to take ninth from Linus Lundqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) and running ahead of McLaughlin.
Malukas passed Herta for second and he lost momentum, so O’Ward, Rosenqvist and Rossi managed to jump past him too. Herta bailed into the pits, as did Palou – who opted for the alternate tyres, which were making their oval debut at this event.
Source: Autosport