“I think (Toronto) was a perfect drive for me. “It’s a very fine line there how aggressive you need to be and not do anything stupid,” he said. Those are the final two races on the schedule.Īs for Ericsson, he drove a smart race Sunday. He won last year’s race at Portland International Raceway from the pole, and he finished second at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. What happens from here remains to be seen, but it would be unwise to count the Spaniard out of this championship pursuit. “It was a huge day for the team, three cars in the top six,” Palou said. Of note, he battled Ericsson hard for the fifth spot late in the race, but his actions did not appear to cross the line. Palou had a misstep, of course, banging the Turn 2 wall Saturday, but he drove a masterful race, climbing from the 22nd starting position to finish sixth. If that was a lingering situation during the race weekend, it didn’t manifest itself into a public problem. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda in 2023, instead supporting McLaren Racing’s claim of a signing. “I was just trying to keep my job.”Ĭhip Ganassi’s organization was the subject of considerable pre-race chatter when Alex Palou denied he would return to the No. “Honestly, at the age of 20, man, trust me, I had other things on my mind at that point,” he said. I don’t think I was even 21 at that point.”ĭixon said it would have been impossible to think then of all the wins that would come. “I remember the day I won my first race, the next day was a real struggle, probably had a few too many drinks that night. Keep in mind that his first series win came 21 years ago (2001 at Nazareth Speedway). 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) are 44 points behind Ericsson, but Newgarden occupies the fourth spot in the standings because he has more victories this season than Dixon, with three.ĭixon has long had difficulty putting his career in perspective, but tying Andretti and extending his record to 18 consecutive seasons with at least one victory is undeniable. Sunday’s win was Dixon’s fourth at Exhibition Place, and he’s in fifth place in the standings. But consistency has been his hallmark, so don’t count him out. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda is the fact he has won races at only two of the remaining six tracks (Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the World Wide Technology Raceway). He also won three straight July races in 2013, including a doubleheader sweep in Toronto. In 2007, Dixon won three consecutive races in July, part of four wins in the final eight races. Let’s take a look in today’s edition of Fifth Gear:ĭixon has been historically strong in the second half of seasons, with 30 of his 52 race wins coming after the calendar turned to July. He would be wise to watch for Dixon in his mirrors, and of course reigning series champion Palou and the Penske duo of Power and Newgarden, former champions each. Obviously, there are a lot of miles left in this season, but Ericsson is looking more and more like he’s in the driver’s seat for the championship. More recently, CGR accomplished the feat with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997-98) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1999), Andretti Green Racing did so with Andretti Green Racing with Tony Kanaan (2004), Dan Wheldon (2005) and Dario Franchitti (2007), and Team Penske did it with Power (2014), Simon Pagenaud (2016) and Josef Newgarden (2017). No other team in the sport’s history has had three drivers win consecutive titles, although three in four years has been done a few times in the modern era, beginning with Penske Racing from 1984-88 when Rick Mears won a championship on either side of teammate wins by Danny Sullivan (1986) and Al Unser (1987). But Ericsson is increasingly putting himself in a position to become the third consecutive Chip Ganassi Ganassi driver to win the series championship, following Dixon in 2020 and Alex Palou in 2021. Seven races remain, and this weekend’s doubleheader at Iowa Speedway sponsored by Hy-Vee offers two of the most important days left in the chase for the Astor Challenge Cup. Will Power, who is second, fell 15 points by finishing 15th, allowing Ericsson to extend his lead to 35 points. Only AJ Foyt (67) has more.īut don’t overlook that Marcus Ericsson, in his third season with Chip Ganassi Racing, not only maintained the series points lead with a fifth-place finish, he increased his advantage over the field. Sunday’s race win by six-time series champion Scott Dixon was his first of the season and tied him with Mario Andretti for second place on the sport’s all-time wins list, each with 52. It works well that Chip Ganassi likes winners and leaders because he has both followed the Honda Indy Toronto, the 10th race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
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