Dixon Overcomes Chaos at the Detroit Grand Prix, Winning His Second Race of the Season
Detroit,Michigan (June 2,2024) — Scott Dixon with the help of his team made some savvy decisions Sunday afternoon, choosing not to pit for rain tires early and calculating that he would have enough fuel to race to the finish. Those early yet critical decision paid off at the end helping him to capture the checkered flag at the Detroit Grand Prix. Dixon also had some good fortune on his side, avoiding the chaos that reigned from one end of the track to the other.
“Some of it today was a little bit of luck,” he acknowledged. And he wasn’t wrong
Dixon won a record fourth Detroit Grand Prix, outlasting the competition in a caution-filled race on Sunday to become the first IndyCar driver with two victories in the 2024 NTT Indycar season. The six-time IndyCar Series champion won his 58th career race, trailing only A.J. Foyt’s total of 67 in the series.The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished nearly a second ahead of Ericsson and was followed by Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi thanks to strategy that also served him well during his win at Long Beach in April.
The New Zealand racer was responsible for the fifth and final lead change on Lap 66, then holding off a late charge from Marcus Ericsson to break a tie in the Detroit Grand Prix record books with Will Power and Helio Castroneves.
The Detroit Grand Prix got off to a rough start and failed to find much of a flow as eight cautions stunted nearly half of the 100-lap race. In fact, the race spent an amazing 65 minutes under the caution, limiting green flag racing to stark 55 minutes. Exciting as it was, some fans were disappointed in the way the 100-lap race played out.“I don’t think it’s embarrassing,” Dixon said. “Most people go to races to watch crashes. I don’t.”
If you are by chance one of those who enjoy that type of racing, you got your fill right from the drop of the green flag. Theo Pourchaire tapped Power from behind on the third turn of Lap 1, tangling several cars in one of the few open spots to potentially pass on the tight, short and bumpy track.
Santino Ferrucci, the newly anointed “Man in Black” whose aggressive driving drew Kyle Kirkwood’s ire in practice on Saturday, tried to get around Castroneves and clipped him. Castroneves, a four-time Indy 500 champion, who was filling the seat for struggling Tom Blomqvist for Meyer Shank Racing in the hopes of picking up points, only to finish 25th.
As if the track design didn’t pose enough of a challenge, conditions added another obstacle on the nine-turn, 1.7-mile street course on the banks of the Detroit River.Heavy overnight rain removed the built up rubber from the street circuit and sporadic showers throughout the first 50 laps made it slick in in the narrow streets of the Motor City.
Pole sitter Colton Herta, who led 31 laps early in the race, attempted to make an aggressive inside move midway through the race and lost control of the No. 26 Honda that went into a tire barrier and led to a 19th-place finish.
Dixon was thankful to be above the fray for much of the day.“It was pretty wild,” he said at his post race press conference.
Some drivers just couldn’t handle the tight technical track which made for a “hard to watch” race.
Josef Newgarden had a humbling afternoon a day after Team Penske announced a multiyear contract extension with the back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner. Late in the race, Newgarden lost control of the back end of his car — with no one nearby — and hit a wall to set up a 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-paying races. “A lot of guys that you know are going to be racing for a championship had a rough day,” said Dixon, who moved passed Palou, his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate to become the season’s points leader.
Dixon finished ahead of second place finisher Marcus Ericsson by 0.8567 of a second. Marcus Armstrong finished in third followed by Kyle Kirkwood in fourth and Alexander Rossi finished in fifth. Rossi was the best finishing Chevrolet in General Motors hometown. There were six different lap leaders during the race. Dixon led 35 laps, Colton Herta led 31, Kyle Kirkwood led 24, Christian Lundgaard led 6 laps while Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden each led one lap.
Ericsson and Kirkwood had season-best finishes, a week after both were disappointed with early exits 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.
When pressed about overall feel of the Detroit Grand Prix he quipped; “It wasn’t weird,” Ericsson said. “It was terrible. I think people are driving reckless this year. We’re some of the best drivers in the world of racing so we shouldn’t be having incidents like today.”
That remains to be seen.
IndyCar now shifts to Road America in Wisconsin on Sunday, putting drivers on a permanent road track to compete for a third straight week.Hopefully all the chaos from the Detroit Street course will be put behind them.