Scott Dixon spoils Penske’s IndyCar party at Road America

Scott Dixon didn’t want any part of that plan. The Honda driver for Chip Ganassi Racing was able to hang tough during the first segment, leap-frog to second after his pit stop on Lap 14 and put himself in position to take the lead on a restart on Lap 31 when he drove by race-leader Newgarden with a bold pass to the outside in Turn 1.

Dixon was the only driver that found a way to beat the Penskes as Newgarden finished second, Castroneves third, Pagenaud fourth and Power fifth.

Team Penske president Tim Cindric saw his driver, Newgarden, reel in Dixon over the closing laps and cut the lead to 0.6 seconds with three laps to go. But Dixon gained a few tenths over the final two laps to win the race.

“Josef had a great car,” Cindric said. “Scott Dixon did a really good job. For us it was hard to restart on cold Blacks (tires) over those other guys. I felt like we were going to clear those guys and be find but the yellow came out and that is what happens.

“It’s one thing to catch him but it’s another thing to get by him. We didn’t have enough to get by him.”

Despite seeing all four of his drivers finish in the top five, Team Penske saw Dixon increase his lead in the points to 34 over Pagenaud.

“It’s disappointing because we lost points in the championship,” Cindric said. “We have really fast cars and that is a good thing but any time you don’t win when you think you have cars fast enough you are disappointed.”
Scott Dixon captures IndyCar Road America win

Newgarden tried to pedal his Chevrolet to Dixon’s Honda at the finish but had to settle for second. There were only two cautions in the race and the final came on Lap 46 after Tony Kanaan crashed into the Turn 11 wall. When the green flag waved on Lap 48, there were only seven laps left.

“It stings a little bit coming home second when you feel like you have a winning car,” Newgarden said. “Scott was great today. So was Ganassi Racing. Those guys did a great job. Certainly, they are very deserving of the win.

“But that’s tough coming up a little bit short.”

But it was the Lap 31 restart that stung the most because Dixon had switched to the faster Firestone Reds and Newgarden was still on the harder, longer-lasting Firestone Blacks.

“I felt like when the caution came out and we were on the primary tires, Helio and Scott had the alternates, I thought this is probably not going to be very good on the restart,” Newgarden said. “It was hard to get temperature in them to get up to speed for the restart.

“I don’t know if it sealed our fate, but once the race was over, I was like, ‘That’s what sealed our fate. It was an ill-timed caution. If that didn’t come out, we would have gotten 10 laps or so on the tires, we would have been okay.’

“Once we shuffled back to third, it was about trying to get back by those guys. At that point, we were on the same strategy pretty much the last stint. So, it was hard to do anything with Scott. I felt we were a touch quicker than him, but couldn’t do anything on that final stint.

“It’s tough coming up short, but a great weekend for us at Team Penske. We were strong all weekend. We just didn’t get it done when it counted in the race, so that’s going to sting.”

Source :http://autoweek.com

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