Racing
John Oreovicz, Autos, Open-Wheel 9y

Scott Dixon savoring toughest championship yet

IndyCar

SEARS POINT, Calif. -- The Verizon IndyCar Series proved Sunday that its season does not need to end on an oval to produce drama and excitement.

Scott Dixon powered to a championship-winning victory in the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway, edging season-long points leader Juan Pablo Montoya on a tiebreaker.

It was Dixon's 38th race win, tops among active drivers, and his fourth Indy car championship, tying him with Mario Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Sebastien Bourdais, and second only to the seven titles achieved by A.J. Foyt.

With Dixon in front and having clinched the bonus points for leading the most laps, Montoya had to finish fifth to become the first wire-to-wire Indy car champion since Johnny Rutherford led the 1980 CART-sanctioned championship from start to finish.

He came desperately close, working his way from 12th place to sixth in the closing laps, but he crossed the line 1.18 seconds behind fifth-place finisher Ryan Briscoe to see a second Indy car championship slip out of his grasp.

That left Dixon and Montoya tied with 556 points each, with Dixon's three wins to Montoya's two making the difference. It was the second time Montoya ended the year tied on points with another driver; he won the 1999 CART-sanctioned Indy car championship with seven wins to Franchitti's three.

"We had a great year; started the year with a win, won the Indy 500 and led the points all year," Montoya said. "I did everything I could. Drove my butt off, just luck of the draw, I guess."

While Dixon experienced an almost perfect day, leading Ryan Hunter-Reay across the line by 6.11 seconds, Montoya's championship hopes suffered a severe blow on the 38th of 85 laps when his Team Penske teammate Will Power had a slow exit from Turn 5. Montoya hit the back of Power's car, sending it into a spin and damaging his own front wing.

After pitting for repairs, Montoya was mired deep in the field. He took advantage of attrition to work his way back to sixth, but it was not enough.

Montoya and Graham Rahal, who arrived at Sonoma second in the standings but dropped to fourth in the final tally after he was spun out by Bourdais late in the race, were both unhappy about the fact that double points were awarded for the season finale.

"They like the excitement for the last race," Montoya said. "Is it fair for a normal championship? No, but we went through the year knowing it was double points for the last race.

"When you put in so many variables, it doesn't even matter what you do all year," he added. "Dixon had a [crap] season all year and had one good race, and we paid the penalty."

Montoya conveniently forgot that he also won a double-points race this year at the Indianapolis 500. Excluding bonus points for qualifying and laps led, Dixon outscored Montoya in double-points races this year 164-156.

In any case, it was yet another come-from-behind championship victory for Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing, and yet another last-gasp failure by a Team Penske driver.

Since 2002, Penske has had a driver in championship contention in the final round 10 times, but only carried home two titles (Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006 and Power in 2014).

Helio Castroneves has lost out at the final round for Penske five times, Power three, and Briscoe (who now drives for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport) once.

"Dixon ran a good race and it's unfortunate our guys got together," team owner Roger Penske said. "We had a great year and won the Indy 500, so we're going to move on.

"That's the sport it is -- when you have double points at the end, that's what happens," he continued. "We know what a good team Ganassi is and I take my hat off to them for all that they've done."

With 11 Indy car championships, Chip Ganassi is now just one behind Penske. But Ganassi has scored all 11 of his titles since 1996, whereas the first of Penske's 12 season crowns came way back in 1977 with Tom Sneva.

Dixon has played a major role in that sustained run of success for Ganassi. He joined the team midway through the 2002 season and has earned all but one of his Indy car race victories while driving for the Indianapolis-based organization.

"This is what we came here for this year," Dixon said from Victory Lane. "This weekend was a long shot, but we knew we had a shot at it.

"I still can't believe it," he added. "As Chip said, this one is the sweetest by far. I've got to thank my crew. They did an amazing job and my pit stops were phenomenal. We knew winning was our only shot at it and the pit stop that jumped us ahead of [Power and Josef Newgarden] is what made our strategy work out."

Dixon overcame the traditional slow start to his season with an early win at Long Beach. He added a dominant victory at Texas Motor Speedway, but failed to make the podium in the previous six races heading into Sonoma.

Once again, the northern California road course proved to be to the New Zealand native's liking as he won for the second year in a row and third time since 2007.

It was Chip Ganassi Racing's 100th Indy car race win since 1994.

"I'm shocked," Ganassi admitted. "We went over all the scenarios this morning and we knew we had the car to run at the front, but we needed a lot of things to happen today and it seemed like they all happened.

"Scott is arguably the Indy car driver of our generation," he added. "His stats speak for themself. He's up on the list of all-time winners and there's not anybody I'd rather have driving our cars, I can tell you. On the track, off the track, he's the complete package."

Dixon has raced Indy cars since 2001, but he's still just 35 years old. It's reasonable to conclude the best years of his career could still be ahead of him.

"You have dreams, but reality is pretty crushing some times," Dixon reflected. "I was pretty lucky with the transitions I had from my younger career.

"For the way my career went and the turns it took, the stars aligned and I found my home with Mr. Ganassi's team in 2002," he added. "Of course I've exceeded my expectations to no end. All I really wanted to do is come over here and race.

"We've been through a lot of ups and downs in our career together, but we've achieved a hell of a lot."

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