DETROIT — Scott Dixon made some savvy decisions that paid off at the Detroit Grand Prix, including choosing not to pit for rain tires early and calculating that he would have enough fuel to finish.
The Chip Ganassi Racing veteran also had some good fortune on his side.
“Some of it today was a little bit of luck,” the 43-year-old New Zealander acknowledged.
Dixon won a record fourth Detroit GP, outlasting the competition in a caution-filled race Sunday to become the first IndyCar driver with two victories this year. Already a six-time season champion on the premier American open-wheel circuit, this was the 58th win of his IndyCar career, trailing only A.J. Foyt’s total of 67 in the series.
Dixon was responsible for the fifth and final lead change on the 66th lap, and he held off a late charge from Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson — who wound up nearly a second behind as the runner-up — to break a tie in the Detroit GP record books with Helio Castroneves and Will Power, who own three wins apiece in the Motor City.
The third-place finisher was 23-year-old Marcus Armstrong, one of Dixon’s Ganassi teammates and a fellow New Zealander, followed by Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood and Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi. Only Rossi, with a Chevrolet engine, prevented Honda from a top-five sweep at a race sponsored by the bow-tie brand and held in the shadow of General Motors’ headquarters.
“It felt good to spoil the party, for sure,” Ericsson said of Honda’s success.
The same strategy that made Dixon a winner in April on the streets of Long Beach, California, paid off Sunday in downtown Detroit.
“Scott Dixon is the best ever at what he did today, saving the fuel,” Ericsson said.
The race got off to a rough start and failed to find much of a flow as eight cautions stunted nearly half of the 100-lap event.
“I don’t think it’s embarrassing,” Dixon said. “Most people go to races to watch crashes. I don’t.”
Theo Pourchaire tapped Power from behind on the third turn of the first lap, tangling several cars in a rare spot to potentially pass on a course known for being tight, bumpy and short, with nine turns over 1.6 miles near the banks of the Detroit River.
A week after racing on a 2.5-mile oval for the Indianapolis 500, it was quite a contrast.
Santino Ferrucci, whose driving drew Kyle Kirkwood’s ire in practice on Saturday, tried to get around Castroneves and clipped him. Castroneves, a four-time Indy 500 winner who hadn’t competed this season, was filling in for struggling Tom Blomqvist for Meyer Shank Racing in the hopes of picking up points for the team. He wound up 25th.
“I think people are driving reckless,” Ericsson said. “We’re some of the best drivers in the world racing, so we shouldn’t be having incidents like today.”
AP photo by Paul Sancya / Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon races in the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday. Dixon won the race for a record-setting fourth time and became the first IndyCar driver this season with two wins in points races.Conditions added another obstacle as overnight rain removed some rubber from the street circuit and sporadic showers made it slick in spots.
Colton Herta, who started in pole position and led 31 laps early, attempted to make an aggressive inside move midway through the race and lost control as his Andretti No. 26 Honda went into a tire barrier. Herta finished 19th, extending his winless drought that began after a road-course victory at Indy in May 2022.
Dixon was thankful to be above the fray for much of the day.
“It was pretty wild,” he said.
Josef Newgarden had a humbling afternoon a day after Team Penske announced a multiyear contract extension with the two-time series champion, who was coming off his second straight Indy 500 victory. Late in the Detroit GP, Newgarden lost control of the back end of his car — with no one nearby — and hit a wall, leading to his 26th-place finish in the 27-car field.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou, who won last year’s race in Detroit, started second and finished 16th to end a run of being eighth or better in points races.
“A lot of guys that you know are going to be racing for a championship had a rough day,” said Dixon, who moved past Palou, one of his Ganassi teammate, and into the top spot of the season standings. Dixon has 216 points, 18 ahead of Palou, while Power is third at 185.
Ericsson and Kirkwood had season-best finishes a week after both were disappointed at the Indy 500. Blomqvist, a rookie, caused Ericsson to crash on the opening lap to end his bid to repeat at the Brickyard, while Kirkwood had his hopes end with a penalty for avoidable contact on pit row.
“It wasn’t weird,” Ericsson said. “It was terrible.”
IndyCar will race for the third Sunday in a row when the series visits Road America in Wisconsin next weekend.