By all means, Scott Dixon enjoys the spoils of his win at Mid-Ohio. (Photo Credit: Stephen Conley/TPF)
Scott Dixon has never been one to waver from a challenge at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. After all, it has been his second home with five career wins.
However, his young teammate, Felix Rosenqvist put Dixon on notice by essentially saying, “I’m coming for the title.”
The final 20 laps of the Honda 200 saw Dixon on a two-stop strategy compared to his teammate, who was on a three-stop strategy. Because of this, Rosenqvist had fresher tires, which essentially erased Dixon’s eight second lead.
“I just used up my tires to early getting around lapped traffic,” Dixon said.
Notably, the No. 9 team ran the final 40 laps on the alternate red (softer) tires that allowed for extra grip but faster wear.
Rosenqvist’s team used a three-stop strategy and put on the primary black tires. With this in mind, during the closing laps, Rosenqvist struggled with lap cars.
“They just ran really hard, and this track is tough to pass,” Rosenqvist said. He added that he may have just needed one more lap but ran out of time.
Contact
Both Chip Ganassi Racing teammates touched in Turn 2 on the final lap. Rosenqvist thought that Dixon was giving him a lane, knowing he was faster.
“He’s just really clever, and going to race you hard, but clean,” Rosenqvist said in regards to his tires.
For Dixon, this is his sixth career win at Mid-Ohio.
“I’m not sure what it is about this track,” Dixon observed. “I’ve just always enjoyed it and I’ve been fast every time I’ve come here. I’m just really glad to get back to victory lane, as it’s been since 2014 here (since his last win).”
A little controversy came on the final lap as points leader Josef Newgarden was running ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Coming to the keyhole, Newgarden chopped off Hunter-Reay, resulting in a spin in Turn 2.
Hunter-Reay would go on to finish third and said he wasn’t sure what Newgarden was thinking, especially with what he had to lose. Newgarden would end up 14th and surrendered 30 points to Scott Dixon. Moreover, he now sits 62 points back and said that was big for them.
With four races remaining, Dixon didn’t want to be 100 points out.
Final Results
| 1 | Scott Dixon | 9 | 8 | 90 | 01:45:15.6974 | 38 | Running | 53 | 115.837 | 2 |
| 2 | Felix Rosenqvist | 10 | 6 | 90 | 01:45:15.7908 | 15 | Running | 41 | 115.835 | 3 |
| 3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 28 | 10 | 90 | 01:45:16.9552 | – | Running | 35 | 115.814 | 3 |
| 4 | Will Power | 12 | 1 | 90 | 01:45:22.6852 | 26 | Running | 34 | 115.709 | 2 |
| 5 | Alexander Rossi | 27 | 2 | 90 | 01:45:26.4923 | – | Running | 30 | 115.639 | 2 |
| 6 | Simon Pagenaud | 22 | 4 | 90 | 01:45:27.6003 | – | Running | 28 | 115.619 | 3 |
| 7 | Spencer Pigot | 21 | 13 | 90 | 01:45:28.0645 | – | Running | 26 | 115.611 | 3 |
| 8 | Colton Herta | 88 | 7 | 90 | 01:45:28.6520 | – | Running | 24 | 115.6 | 3 |
| 9 | Graham Rahal | 15 | 15 | 90 | 01:45:35.6263 | – | Running | 22 | 115.473 | 3 |
| 10 | Jack Harvey | 60 | 9 | 90 | 01:45:36.1736 | – | Running | 20 | 115.463 | 3 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 18 | 5 | 90 | 01:45:36.4689 | – | Running | 19 | 115.457 | 4 |
| 12 | Santino Ferrucci | 19 | 14 | 90 | 01:45:36.9670 | – | Running | 18 | 115.448 | 3 |
| 13 | Ed Jones | 20 | 18 | 90 | 01:46:01.7059 | – | Running | 17 | 114.999 | 3 |
| 14 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | 3 | 89 | 01:44:04.4693 | 11 | Off Course | 17 | 115.857 | 3 |
| 15 | Marco Andretti | 98 | 19 | 89 | 01:45:16.3412 | – | Running | 15 | 114.538 | 3 |
| 16 | Max Chilton | 59 | 16 | 89 | 01:45:16.6852 | – | Running | 14 | 114.532 | 3 |
| 17 | RC Enerson | 31 | 22 | 89 | 01:45:17.6530 | – | Running | 13 | 114.515 | 3 |
| 18 | Matheus Leist | 4 | 21 | 89 | 01:45:17.8297 | – | Running | 12 | 114.511 | 3 |
| 19 | Takuma Sato | 30 | 17 | 89 | 01:45:31.0570 | – | Running | 11 | 114.272 | 4 |
| 20 | Tony Kanaan | 14 | 23 | 89 | 01:45:35.1899 | – | Running | 10 | 114.198 | 3 |
| 21 | Zach Veach | 26 | 20 | 89 | 01:46:04.4672 | – | Running | 9 | 113.672 | 3 |
| 22 | James Hinchcliffe | 5 | 11 | 87 | 01:45:38.5204 | – | Running | 8 | 111.573 | 5 |
| 23 | Marcus Ericsson | 7 | 12 | 2 | 00:22:17.6833 | – | Contact | 7 | 12.154 | 1 |
