Scott Dixon is battling to win his seventh IndyCar title and sits third in the championship with five rounds to go.
The New Zealander has taken two wins so far this season on the streets of Long Beach and a masterful drive to victory lane in a rain-affected race in Detroit.
He is the most successful driver on the grid with six titles and won his inaugural championship in 2003, Dixon’s first season in IndyCar.
Consistency has been key to the Kiwi’s title challenge this campaign, standing on the podium four times and scoring a pair of fourth places at Iowa.
The title battle is proving to be very competitive this year, however. Just 57 points currently separate the top four drivers, and that group represents three teams at the top of the standings.
Scott Dixon thinks he would be leading the championship if not for reliability issues
Dixon’s No. 9 failed to take the start of the race at Mid-Ohio after suffering from an electrical issue during the first race of IndyCar’s new hybrid era.
The hybrid system was supposed to be introduced at the start of 2024 but was delayed until after the Indy 500 and ultimately introduced at Mid-Ohio. Dixon eventually began the race several laps down, using the rest of the 80-lap event as a test session.
Dixon said, via quotes by the official IndyCar website: “I think we would maybe be leading the championship. It’s frustrating, but you can’t do anything about those situations. It’s out of your control.”
IndyCar is so competitive that fine margins make such a difference; he lost 50 points in Lexington to the race’s eventual winner, Pato O’Ward, for example.
Four of the remaining five races will be held on ovals, though, including a doubleheader at the Milwaukee Mile, which is returning to the calendar for the first time since 2015.
Dixon has incredible prowess on ovals, winning the Indy 500 in 2008 and more recently taking victory last year at Gateway, the venue of the next IndyCar round on the 17th of August.
Championship leader Alex Palou has never won on an oval
Despite all of Alex Palou’s success, winning two championships in the last three years, he is yet to win on an oval in IndyCar.
He took pole position for the Indy 500 on the way to his second championship last year but failed to take victory during the 107th running of the race.
Dixon said that he is not out of the title fight, and he knows his teammate Palou and the No. 10 car are a formidable combination.
“I think this time last year we were 120 points back,” he continued. “We closed [the deficit] to 60 or 70 [points]. Until we’re out of it, we’re never going to give up.”
Dixon added of Palou’s No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda: “They’re a tough team. I see all they do, and they do it well.”