Scott Dixon wins IndyCar opener with dominant run at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — IndyCar packed every bit of its delayed season-opening event into one long, hot day in Texas without any fans in the stands. Scott Dixon was the fastest for most of it at a place he knows well.

Dixon, a five-time IndyCar champion, took the checkered flag at dusk Saturday for his fourth win at the 1½-mile, high-banked oval, where drivers had also practiced and qualified earlier in the day. The 39-year-old New Zealander raced to his 47th career victory and matched A.J. Foyt’s record of 18 seasons with a win.

“It was such a team effort,” said Dixon, third on the career wins list behind Foyt’s 67 and Mario Andretti’s 52. “It’s just so fast. Any situation we were in, we could just go for it.”

After a restart with three laps left following a caution when his young teammate Felix Rosenqvist crashed, Dixon sped away in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Honda for a 4.4-second victory over Simon Pagenaud. Defending IndyCar champion and pole sitter Josef Newgarden finished third behind Pagenaud, his teammate at Team Penske.

Nearly three months after the start of the season was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, IndyCar finally got on the track for what would usually be the midpoint race of its season.

The massive grandstands that can seat well more than 100,000 people were empty, and not because of extreme heat — temperatures in the mid-90s with a heat index around 100 degrees Fahrenheit throughout practice, qualifying and even much of the race. No spectators were allowed, as will also be the case for the next race, July 4 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“It’s rotten that the fans aren’t here. I wish everybody was here to celebrate,” said Dixon, who extended his own record to 16 seasons in a row with a victory.

Gov. Greg Abbott rode in the pace car for the first professional sporting event in Texas since sports shut down nationwide because of the coronavirus. The only at-track spectators were the people watching from their condos in the building overlooking Turn 2.

Dixon had the top speed during the two-hour practice session, and qualified second to start on the front row alongside Newgarden. Dixon went on to win the IndyCar title each of the three previous times he won the race at Texas.

Rosenqvist had been running behind Dixon for several laps when he crashed trying to move through traffic. He got high going onto the backstretch with nine laps remaining, bringing out the final caution. He finished 20th out of the 23 and crashed cars that started the race.

“It was really my breakthrough on ovals, I think. I really had a good shot there and threw it away,” said Rosenqvist, who slammed the steering wheel with both hands after the car came to a stop. “Just one silly thing screwed everything up.”

Dixon led 157 of the 200 laps, and had an earlier 6-second lead over Newgarden wiped out by a caution for debris. Newgarden led twice for 41 laps, and fourth-place finisher Zach Veach led the remaining two laps….