Scott Dixon fires off the six-shooters in victory lane following his win in Saturday night’s Verizon IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo by Chris Jones
Scott Dixon made his victory in the Firestone 600 look easy, though the three-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion said it was one of the most hotly-contested and unpredictable in recent memory at Texas Motor Speedway.
Dixon led 97 of the 248 laps in the No. 9 Energizer EcoAdvanced Chevrolet to earn his second victory of the Verizon IndyCar Series season and his second at Texas Motor Speedway in the fast-paced race on the 1.455-mile, high-banked oval.
The 191.940 mph average speed set a track race record, aided by a lone caution for debris.
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams teammate Tony Kanaan finished 7.8000 seconds behind in the No. 10 NTT Group Chevrolet. Helio Castroneves, who has won four times at TMS, finished third in the No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet.
It was the 99th Indy car victory for team owner Chip Ganassi, and Dixon, his longest-tenured driver, picked up his 37th Indy car win – fifth on the all-time list. Dixon, who also won at Long Beach in mid-April, stretched his streak to 10 years with multiple wins.
“It’s never easy. Even toward the second-to-last stint we were just trying to make changes to the car,” said Dixon, who grabbed the lead in a pit-stop exchange on lap 194 and led all but one lap the rest of the way.
“It didn’t start awfully good because we had a lot of understeer in the car, but once we got the balance right, the car was basically on rails. With the pit-stop exchange we got the lead, and then the car was just very good in traffic and were able to keep the speed up. I knew, once we got the balance right, we could get up there and duel with (Kanaan) to the end.
“This racing is great and you’ve got to give Firestone a lot of credit. They give us a tire that is very durable and safe.”
Dixon also won at the superspeedway on June 7, 2008 – one of six victories on the way to his second Verizon IndyCar Series championship. He is third in the 2015 standings through nine of 16 races – 43 points behind front-runner Juan Pablo Montoya heading to the June 14 Honda Indy Toronto, where he swept a doubleheader on the street circuit in 2013.
Kanaan, who earned his 121st Indy car top-five finish, led 57 laps mid-race. Overall, there were 14 lead changes among nine drivers.
“One-two for the team, I’m happy,” said Kanaan, who won at Texas Motor Speedway on June 12, 2004, and returned that October to celebrate his only series championship. “It was a great race.”
With a fourth-place finish, Montoya increased his points advantage to 35 over Team Penske teammate Will Power. Marco Andretti, who started 11th in the No. 27 Snapple Honda for Andretti Autosport, placed fifth for his third consecutive top five. Power, the pole sitter, led seven laps but faded to 13th in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Verizon IndyCar Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
Firestone 600 – June 6, 2015
1. (7) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 248, Running
2. (8) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 248, Running
3. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 248, Running
4. (5) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 248, Running
5. (11) Marco Andretti, Honda, 248, Running
Remember that sexual impotence is not a curable disease, but it can be prescription order viagra without palliated with oral medicines. It has magical effects on erection and has proven to be a successful and viagra online delivery generally safe medication in treating ED. It would be quite appropriate to say that generic variations viagra online sales are somewhat inferior to branded drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. The wholehearted contribution of doctor find out this viagra on sale cheapest and patient can discuss to find the right dosage. 6. (4) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 247, Running
7. (9) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 247, Running
8. (19) Ryan Briscoe, Honda, 247, Running
9. (12) James Jakes, Honda, 247, Running
10. (20) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 246, Running
11. (2) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 246, Running
12. (10) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 245, Running
13. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 244, Running
14. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 244, Running
15. (6) Graham Rahal, Honda, 243, Running
16. (13) Takuma Sato, Honda, 243, Running
17. (22) Pippa Mann, Honda, 242, Running
18. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 241, Running
19. (23) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 239, Running
20. (16) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 156, Mechanical
21. (14) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 149, Mechanical
22. (15) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 147, Mechanical
23. (17) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 62, Mechanical
Winners average speed: 191.940
Time of Race: 01:52:47.8511
Margin of victory: 7.8000 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 13 laps
Lead changes: 14 among 9 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-7, Pagenaud 8-66, Kanaan 67-86, Montoya 87-102, Kanaan 103-138, Dixon 139-140, Castroneves 141, Jakes 142-143, Dixon 144-184, Kanaan 185, Castroneves 186-191, Andretti 192-193, Dixon 194-228, Kimball 229, Dixon 230-248
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Montoya 348, Power 313, Dixon 305, Castroneves 286, Rahal 261, Andretti 255, Bourdais 244, Newgarden 215, Kanaan 215, Kimball 214.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.