Event statistics following the ninth race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Scott Dixon moved to the points lead with his 43rd career IndyCar victory, taking sole possession of third all-time in IndyCar wins (was tied with Michael Andretti going into the event). Dixon topped Simon Pagenaud by 4.2943 seconds, with Alexander Rossi trailing closely behind. James Hinchcliffe was fourth, with Ryan Hunter-Reay fifth. Hondas took eight of the top nine positions.
DXC Technology 600
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, Texas
- Winner (starting position): Scott Dixon (7th)
- Podium: Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi
- Full Results: Scott Dixon, Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal, Takuma Sato, Sebastien Bourdais, Ed Jones, Charlie Kimball, Spencer Pigot, Max Chilton, Josef Newgarden, Marco Andretti, Gabby Chaves, Zach Veach, Zachary Claman DeMelo, Will Power, Robert Wickens, Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, Matheus Leist
- Laps Completed: 248
- Race Leaders: 7
- Lead Changes: 9
- Laps Led: Scott Dixon (119), Josef Newgarden (59), Robert Wickens (31), Simon Pagenaud (26), Alexander Rossi (7), Graham Rahal (5), Ed Jones (1)
- Pole Position: Josef Newgarden (220.613 mph; 46.9964 seconds)
- Fastest Race Lap: Josef Newgarden (221.352 mph; 23.4197 seconds; Lap 235)
- Hard Charger: Graham Rahal (+14; 20th to 6th)
- Margin of Victory: 4.2943 seconds
- Car Count: 22
- Cars Entered: 22
- Cars Running at Finish: 16 (of 22; or 73 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 9
- Cautions: 3 for 29 laps
- Cautions: 3 for 29 laps
- Average Speed: 177.250 mph
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Honda (12), Chevrolet (10)
- Time of Race: 2:00:53.2155
- Green Flag/Yellow Flag Laps: 219/29
- Total Passes: 688 (242 for position)
- Weather at Start of Race: 95 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds S 4 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 87 degrees Fahrenheit, clear, winds NW 4 mph
Notes of Interest – Race Recap (DXC Technology 600)
- This is Scott Dixon’s second victory of the 2018 IndyCar Series season and the 43rd of his career (42 in IndyCar Series, 1 in CART). Dixon breaks a tie with Michael Andretti to move into sole possession of third all-time in IndyCar victories.
- This is Dixon’s third victory at Texas Motor Speedway; he also won races at Texas in 2008 and 2015 (both of which he went on to win championships).
- Dixon is the third driver this season with multiple IndyCar victories. He joins Josef Newgarden and Will Power as two-time winners this season. Dixon is also one of six drivers to win this season, as Sebastien Bourdais, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay each have one victory.
- Dixon has earned two or more victories in 13 seasons in IndyCar Series competition. Overall, Dixon has won at least one IndyCar race in each of the last 14 seasons, and in 16 of his 18 seasons (including one of two seasons in CART).
- Dixon is now tied for second all-time in IndyCar victories at Texas Motor Speedway, as Sam Hornish Jr. also has three victories at the track. Helio Castroneves leads all drivers with four Texas wins.
- Dixon jumped to the points lead, 23 points ahead of Alexander Rossi. This marks the sixth race this season in which the race winner moved into the points lead (only three races that the race winner did not take the points lead were the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the two races as part of the Detroit Grand Prix).
- This is Dixon’s 42nd victory with Chip Ganassi Racing, extending his all-time record for most IndyCar victories with a single team. It also marks Dixon’s 42nd win in the No. 9 car (his only fulltime season in the IndyCar Series that he didn’t win, in 2004, he drove the No. 1 machine).
- This is Dixon’s 21st IndyCar victory on an oval. His last victory on an oval was at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, in 2016.
- Thirty-one of Dixon’s victories have come in a Honda.
- This is Dixon’s 100th podium. He has finished on the podium in 33.8 percent of his 296 IndyCar races.
- Dixon won from the seventh starting position, the second time he’s won at Texas from seventh and the second time in 43 wins he’s won after starting seventh.
- Four of the 30 IndyCar races at Texas have been won from the seventh starting spot (Jeff Ward, 2002 Race 1; Al Unser Jr., 2003 Race 1; Scott Dixon, 2015 and 2018).
- During the race, Dixon led his 5,000th lap in IndyCar Series competition (he needed only five laps to achieve the feat). Overall, he’s led 5,188 laps in his IndyCar career. He led a race-high 119 laps. It also marked Dixon’s 136th career IndyCar race led.
- This is the fifth consecutive race won by a driver 37 years of age (Will Power and Scott Dixon twice and Ryan Hunter-Reay once).
- Scott averaged 177.250 mph, the fastest race since he won the 2015 race at 191.940 mph. The race was marred by only three full-course cautions for 29 laps, the fewest since the 2015 race featured only one caution for 13 laps.
- Dixon and Alexander Rossi are the only two drivers this season to finish all 1,200 laps.
- Dixon now has an average finish of 4.22, with four podiums, six top fives and a series-leading eight top 10s (worst finish was 11th in Long Beach Grand Prix).
- This is Chip Ganassi Racing’s second victory of the season and the 105th win for Ganassi in IndyCar competition. Dixon extended Ganassi’s streak with at least one victory to 14 straight seasons (since 2004) and 15 of 16 (CGR’s last winless season was in 2003). It is Ganassi’s 81st victory with a Honda.
- This is Ganassi’s fifth victory at Texas, with previous wins coming in Jeff Ward (2002), Dario Franchitti (2011 Race 1) and Dixon (2008, 2015 and 2018).
- Simon Pagenaud finished second, his first podium finish of 2018. Pagenaud’s previous-best finish was sixth in the Indianapolis 500. He now has only one top five and six top 10s, with an average finish of 11.0.
- Pagenaud led 26 laps, the most he’s led in a race this season (had led only two races for three laps going into Texas).
- This is the first time Pagenaud has been the highest-finishing Team Penske driver this season.
- This is Pagenaud’s 27th career podium in IndyCar competition. He is also 65 laps shy of leading 1,000 laps in his IndyCar career.
- Alexander Rossi finished third, notching his season-leading fifth podium finish. Rossi has an average finish of 5.0 this season, second only to Scott Dixon’s 4.22.
- Rossi led seven laps at Texas, for his series-leading seventh race led this season. Four other drivers have led six of the nine races.
- Rossi now has nine podiums in 42 IndyCar races, with eight of those coming in the past 15 races.
- Rossi has now finished 17 consecutive races, which lead all drivers, and finished every lap this season. In the last 17 races, he’s finished on the lead lap in 15 races.
- Overall, Rossi has five podiums and seven top fives this season. His seven top fives are tied with Ryan Hunter-Reay for the most of any driver this season.
- James Hinchcliffe finished fourth, his third top-five finish of the season and his first since the fourth race of the season at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Two of his three top fives this season have come on ovals.
- Ryan Hunter-Reay finished fifth, his fourth consecutive top-five and season-leading seventh top-five of the season (tied for most with teammate Alexander Rossi).
- Hunter-Reay failed to lead a lap for the first time in four races; he’s led six races this season (this marked the first oval race he hasn’t led this season; he led only six laps in three oval races this).
- Graham Rahal finished sixth, advancing a race-high 14 positions after starting 20th. He has advanced positions from start to finish in seven of nine races (one of five drivers to do so), and in nine races has advanced 64 positions, or an average of 7.11 positions per race, both series bests.
- Rahal was one of three drivers to advance at least 10 positions in the race (James Hinchcliffe made up 11 positions and Max Chilton advanced 10 spots).
- It marks Rahal’s eighth top-10 finish of the season (tied for the most with points leader Scott Dixon).
- Rahal’s teammate, Takuma Sato, finished seventh, his sixth top-10 finish of the season.
- Sebastien Bourdais was eighth, his fourth top-10 finish of 2018 and first since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis (breaks three-race streak of finishing outside the top 10).
- Ed Jones finished ninth, his third consecutive top-10 finish and fifth of the season. Jones was the final driver to finish on the lead lap.
- Charlie Kimball finished 10th, his second straight top-10 result and third of the season.
- Polesitter Josef Newgarden finished 13th, after leading 59 laps. The pole was Newgarden’s second of the season, fourth of his career, first at Texas and second on an oval (2015 Milwaukee).
- Zach Veach finished 16th, the final driver to finish the race.
- Five of the six drivers failed to finish the race after contact: Zachary Claman DeMelo (17th), Will Power (18th), Robert Wickens (19th), Ed Carpenter (20th) and Tony Kanaan (21st).
- Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist finished 21st (next-to-last) and 22nd (last) respectively, both driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. It marks the second time this season a team has finished last and next-to-last in the same race (Carlin Racing teammates Max Chilton last and Charlie Kimball next-to-last at Barber Motorsports Park). It is also the second time Leist has finished last this season (Grand Prix of St. Petersburg) and third time an A.J. Foyt car has finished last (James Davison was last in Indianapolis 500).
- A total of 12 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- The next race will be Sunday, June 24, with the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
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