Dixon Capitalizes on Palou Mistake; Wins at Mid-Ohio

Scott Dixon embracing his children after winning the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. The win secured his 21st consecutive season with at least one victory. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)

LEXINGTON, Ohio – A record crowd at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio witnessed a historic victory from someone not named Palou or Kirkwood.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion Scott Dixon capitalized on a late-race mistake by championship points leader Alex Palou with five laps remaining to earn his 59^th career victory, and more impressively, his 21^st consecutive season with at least one win dating back to 2005.

“It was definitely a tough race,” Dixon said. “We had fantastic cars. But just so much fun to try and pull off what we did and do it with what we had was fantastic.

“They were supposed to (remove downforce) from the front wing on the last stop. 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.”

Palou opened up a nearly two-second lead when he lost the handling into Turn 9 and veered off-track, allowing Dixon to get by in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon held off a last-ditch effort by Palou in the No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and won by .4201 seconds, the closest finish of the 2025 season so far.

Christian Lundgaard brought home the No. 7 Velo Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in the third position. Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Andretti Global Honda, while the 2024 Mid-Ohio winner Pato O’Ward finished fifth in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Alex Palou navigates the esses at Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course during the Honda Indy 200. (Photo: Anthony Sylvia | The Podium Finish)

“Just a stupid mistake, honestly,” Palou said. “A mistake on my part. The car was amazing all weekend, all race. I just lost it a little bit on (corner) entry and kind of really couldn’t get power going on.

“Nobody to blame but me. Just got a bit wide on entry and lost it completely.”

Starting from the ninth position, Dixon was forced to lean on his uncanny ability to save fuel in key moments of the race and managed to pull off a two-stop strategy when much of the field was on the three-stop strategy.

Needing help from yellow flags to make the fuel strategy work, Dixon got the break he needed during the final caution of the race during Laps 31-34 when Christian Rasmussen came to a stop on the inside of Turn 9 in the No. 21 Splenda ECR Chevrolet.

Dixon made his final pit stop on Lap 61 while Palou was pushing his No. 10 car to the limits to maintain his lead while he made his final stop on the three-stop strategy.

Palou made his last stop on Lap 72 and entered back into the action ahead of Dixon and expanded his lead to 1.8 seconds with 13 laps remaining on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course.

“We still had to save fuel all the way to the end, so it was definitely very tight,” Dixon said. “I didn’t see what happened. I saw he went off in Turn 9. We got a little bit lucky with that.”

Despite the late-race bobble and handing the win to his teammate, Palou entered the weekend at Mid-Ohio with a 93-point advantage over second place Kyle Kirkwood. He leaves the Honda Indy 200 with a commanding 113-point advantage over Kirkwood with seven races remaining on the season.

Sunday’s July 4^th weekend event saw eight lead changes among four drivers with Rinus VeeKay in the No. 18 askROI Dale Coyne Racing Honda being the biggest mover of the race, improving 17 positions from his 26^th place starting position.

Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet gets towed away after a Lap 1 incident in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. (Photo: Anthony Sylvia | The Podium Finish)

The woes for Team Penske continued at Mid-Ohio, and it all started on the first corner of Lap 1. Josef Newgarden locked up the rear tires and lost control of his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet before entering the esses and collected Ohio native Graham Rahal. Newgarden finished the race in last place.

“I’m not sure,” said Newgarden. “I either had just a massive rear lockup and spun or I got touched, I don’t know. To me initially it felt like I locked the rears (tires).”

Unfortunately, Newgarden’s teammates did not fare much better. Two-time series champion Will Power had mechanical issues on Lap 12, forcing him to retire from the race. New Zealander Scott McLaughlin failed to make any headway from his 21^st starting position and salvaged a 23^rd place finishing position at the end of the 90-lap race.

Next up for the NTT INDYCAR Series is the double-header race weekend at Iowa Speedway on July 12-13. The Synk 275 powered by Sukup will take place at 5 p.m. ET Saturday, July 12, and the weekend will wrap up with the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, July 13. Both races will air on FOX Sports, INDYCAR Radio Network and INDYCAR Nation SiriusXM channel 218.

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