Straight shooter … Scott Dixon completes a crushing win for Chip Ganassi Racing at Texas Motor Speedway
Kiwi superstar Scott Dixon produced a clinical drive to post a crushing victory the Firestone 600 IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Dixon received the chequered flag after 248 laps having almost 8s to spare over his Ganassi team-mate Tony Kanaan.
Helio Castroneves was third ahead of his Team Penske team-mate and series leader Juan Montoya.
Dixon took the race by the throat after it had been earlier dominated by Simon Pagenaud and then by Kanaan.
Ganassi’s strategy proved the ace card by ordering high downforce as the Team Penske runners headed by polesitter Will Power elected to trim out with minimal aero.
Power, who brushed the wall coming out of Turn 4 with 50 laps remaining, was never a factor from the outset, eventually finishing 13th.
Dixon admitted that his crew were unsure what downforce to run for the race which saw its only caution period after 83 laps for debris.
“We were not sure on what downforce to run. Big credit to the team,” Dixon said, who realised Ganassi’s 99th IndyCar race victory.
“We were struggling with the downforce early on but I’m over the moon.”
The clean race saw the top five runners remain on the lead lap at the finish with Marco Andretti claiming fifth in the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport machine.
Carlos Munoz, the Race 1 winner from Detroit, was sixth ahead of Ganassi’s Charlie Kimball.
Australian Ryan Briscoe, filling-in for James Hinchcliffe, did a super job in the Schmidt-Peterson Honda, finishing eighth after running as high as fourth after starting 19th.
Honda runners James Jakes and Gabby Chaves completed the top 10 in what was the 12th fastest race in IndyCar Series history.
Penske’s Pagenaud who had looked strong at the front for much of the first 70 laps, finished 11th.
The disappointing season for Carpenter/Fisher/Hartman Racing continued with Ed Carpenter’s retirement with an engine problem after 147 laps.
Team-mate Josef Newgarden, the Alabama race winner, was forced out with what was believed to be a similar problem two laps later.
See below for full results
Pos
Car #
Driver
Manufacturer
Laps
Running / Reason Out
1
9
Scott Dixon
Chevrolet
248
Running
2
10
Tony Kanaan
Chevrolet
248
Running
3
3
Helio Castroneves
Chevrolet
248
Running
4
2
Juan Pablo Montoya
Chevrolet
248
Running
5
27
Marco Andretti
Honda
248
Running
6
26
Carlos Munoz
Honda
247
Running
7
83
Charlie Kimball
Chevrolet
247
Running
8
5
Ryan Briscoe
Honda
247
Running
9
7
James Jakes
Honda
247
Running
10
98
Gabby Chaves (R)
Honda
246
Running
11
22
Simon Pagenaud
Chevrolet
246
Running
12
8
Sage Karam (R)
Chevrolet
245
Running
13
1
Will Power
Chevrolet
244
Running
14
11
Sebastien Bourdais
Chevrolet
244
Running
15
15
Graham Rahal
Honda
243
Running
16
14
Takuma Sato
Honda
243
Running
17
18
Pippa Mann
Honda
242
Running
18
28
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Honda
241
Running
19
4
Stefano Coletti (R)
Chevrolet
239
Running
20
19
Tristan Vautier
Honda
156
Mechanical
21
67
Josef Newgarden
Chevrolet
149
Mechanical
22
20
Ed Carpenter
Chevrolet
146
Mechanical
23
41
Jack Hawksworth
Honda
62
Mechanical
Points standings
Pos
Driver
Points
1
Juan Pablo Montoya
348
2
Will Power
313
3
Scott Dixon
305
4
Hélio Castroneves
286
5
Graham Rahal
261
6
Marco Andretti
255
7
Sébastien Bourdais
244
8
Josef Newgarden
215
9
Tony Kanaan
215
10
Charlie Kimball
214
11
Simon Pagenaud
213
12
Carlos Muñoz
208
13
Ryan Hunter-Reay
183
14
Takuma Sato
180
15
James Jakes
155
16
Gabby Chaves
153
17
Jack Hawksworth
135
18
James Hinchcliffe
129
19
Luca Filippi
120
20
Stefano Coletti
115
21
Sage Karam
95
22
Simona de Silvestro
66
23
Tristan Vautier
65
24
Conor Daly
63
25
Ryan Briscoe
60
26
J.R. Hildebrand
57
27
Sebastian Saavedra
47
28
Francesco Dracone
38
29
Townsend Bell
32
30
Carlos Huertas
31
31
Pippa Mann
29
32
Alex Tagliani
27
33
Rodolfo González
27
34
Justin Wilson
25
35
Ed Carpenter
18
36
Oriol Servià
10
36
Bryan Clauson
10
36
James Davison
10
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