Dixon Capitalizes On Palou’s Misstep For Mid-Ohio Victory

Scott Dixon celebrates in victory lane at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. (James Black/Penske Entertainment photo)

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Even in the presence of current dominance, one can never count out the patience and experience of a longtime veteran in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Scott Dixon took the victory Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, after both conserving fuel on a two-stop strategy and taking advantage of the slightest of mistakes from Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou.

While points leader Palou was seemingly running away with the Honda Indy 200, putting on a master class of 75 laps led, Dixon only pitted on laps 30 and 61, waiting patiently behind his teammate for a moment to strike.

That moment arrived on lap 84 of the 90-lap distance, where Palou ran wide under pressure in turn nine, giving Dixon’s No. 9 PNC Bank Honda the break of a lifetime in a race where Palou’s name was all but etched on the trophy.

The win marks the Auckland, New Zealand native’s 21st consecutive season with a victory, the most all-time. The six-time series champion sits just one win away from 60, narrowing the gap even more between himself and legendary racer A.J. Foyt.

“It was definitely a tough race, full credit to everybody, and Chip Ganassi Racing. A one-two win, I’m not sure where Kyffin [Simpson] was, but I’m sure he was right there as well. They’re fantastic cars, it was my fault on qualifying,” Dixon said.

The 44-year-old Dixon started the day ninth, unable to advance with his other two teammates in Saturday’s qualifying session into the Firestone Fast Six.

With the two-stop strategy came an enormous amount of fuel-saving and tire conservation, skill sets that Dixon has boiled down into a science over his long Indy car tenure.

“[It was] just so much fun to try and pull off what we did and [to] do it with what we had, it was fantastic,” Dixon noted. “They forgot to take the front wing out on the last stop, so I just had to look at the corner and the car was going to turn. I was just hoping the rear tires were going to hold on.

Scott Dixon in action Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. (Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment photo)

“A blessing to have all the family here today, which is fantastic. They drove up this morning, so good to see everyone, obviously. I think that’s Kit’s first win, so that at the track is pretty cool.”

Kit, one of Dixon’s three children with wife Emma, was able to witness her father become the third winner of the year, as well as his first podium since the streets of St. Pete (Fla.) in March.

Palou settled for second after uncharacteristic mistakes from the three-time IndyCar Series champion proved to be his undoing.

The day had the potential to be the Spaniard’s seventh win of the year. Instead, he could only look back at what could have been.

“I don’t know, man. Just [a] stupid mistake, honestly,” Palou said of his late misstep. “The car was amazing all weekend, all race. Everybody on the [No.] 10 car did an amazing job on pit stops and strategy. We were running really good, but [I] just lost it a little bit on entry, and then couldn’t really get [the] power going on.

“Nobody to blame but me. Just got a bit wide on entry, and lost it completely. It sucks. It hurts a lot, obviously. It’s still a good day, but it hurts to lose it like that.

Palou earned his 39th career podium at the 2.258-mile road course, and still keeps a hefty chokehold on the point standings, with a 113-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood.

Filling the final step on the podium was Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who shared in the champagne for the first time since Barber (Ala.) Motorsports Park in April.

The Danish driver maintained prime position for most of the day, only falling back as far as 14th during pit stops from his second-place starting spot and running second to Palou much of the day.

He admitted later there were decisions to make as late as Sunday morning, as far as going with a two- or three-stop fuel strategy.

“I think this morning we were really good on trying to see if we could cut the fuel number for a two-stop [strategy], and obviously, there was a big debate going into the race if that’s what we were going to do,” Lundgaard said. “I think once you’re out there, you’re not really clear on who’s on what strategy, and I will honestly say there was a point I didn’t even know [what] the pattern was on that two-stop side.

“But we got back to the podium, so we’re happy.”

Two positions behind teammate Pato O’Ward in the championship standings, Lundgaard sits 167 points behind Palou heading into the Iowa doubleheader.

Finishing fourth was Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who also suffered a bobble on pit road that cost precious seconds on track.

Fifth and sixth, respectively, were O’Ward and Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who both finished well ahead of where they started in 14th and 15th.

Marcus Armstrong finished seventh, while three-time season winner Kirkwood ended the day in eighth.

The biggest mover of the day, Rinus VeeKay, leapt from 26th to ninth in his No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, with CGR’s Kyffin Simpson placing 10th to put all three team cars in the top 10.

The woes for Team Penske in 2025 continued, as Josef Newgarden tangled with RLL’s Graham Rahal at the start of the race and finished last, crashing out without completing a single lap.

Teammate Will Power didn’t fare much better, with a fire out of the left rear during a pit stop on lap 11. The best effort for owner Roger Penske came from the No. 3 of Scott McLaughlin, finishing 23rd.

The NTT IndyCar Series heads next to the corn fields of Newton, Iowa for two days of action from Iowa Speedway.

Race one of the doubleheader airs Saturday, July 12 at 5 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the IndyCar Radio Network, and SiriusXM IndyCar Nation, channel 218.