Dixon Wins Firestone 600 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.
IMS Offers Special Ticket Discounts for 2016 Indianapolis 500 Fans
All ticket reorders for the 2016 Indianapolis 500 must be received no later than Monday, June 8. Fans who reorder their Indianapolis 500 tickets will be eligible for special pricing until Monday, June 8, for next year's Coors Light Carb Day, Qualification Days, Practice Days, Firestone Legends Day and parking:
Montoya Earns $2.4 Million for Winning 99th Indianapolis 500
In driving his No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet to victory, Montoya held off reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion and teammate Will Power by 0.1046 of a second – the fourth-closest finish in race history. The Penske pair battled Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in a thrilling final 15 laps. This marks Montoya’s second Indianapolis 500 win, as the Colombian won "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" as a rookie in 2000.
Five of the race’s 37 lead changes occurred in the last 15 laps following a restart when Montoya, who led four times for a total of nine laps, passed Dixon in Turn 1 for second place before overtaking Power exiting Turn 4 to capture the lead on Lap 197. He held the lead for the remainder of the 200-lap event. The nine laps led by Montoya is the third-fewest laps led by a winner. Dan Wheldon led one lap in 2011 and Joe Dawson led two laps in 1912.
News from INDYCAR: 99th Indianapolis 500 Race Results
1. (15) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 200, Running
2. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 200, Running
3. (14) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 200, Running
4. (1) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 200, Running
5. (17) Graham Rahal, Honda, 200, Running
6. (8) Marco Andretti, Honda, 200, Running
7. (5) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 200, Running
8. (10) JR Hildebrand, Chevrolet, 200, Running
9. (9) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 200, Running
10. (3) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 200, Running
11. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 200, Running
12. (31) Ryan Briscoe, Honda, 200, Running
13. (24) Takuma Sato, Honda, 200, Running
14. (23) Townsend Bell, Chevrolet, 200, Running
15. (16) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 200, Running
16. (26) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 200, Running
17. (20) Alex Tagliani, Honda, 200, Running
18. (19) James Jakes, Honda, 200, Running
19. (18) Simona de Silvestro, Honda, 200, Running
20. (11) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 200, Running
21. (6) Justin Wilson, Honda, 199, Running
22. (25) Pippa Mann, Honda, 197, Running
23. (27) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 175, Contact
24. (28) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 175, Contact
25. (29) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 175, Contact
26. (4) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 151, Contact
27. (33) James Davison, Honda, 116, Mechanical
28. (32) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 116, Mechanical
29. (13) Oriol Servia, Honda, 112, Contact
30. (12) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 112, Contact
31. (30) Bryan Clauson, Chevrolet, 61, Contact
32. (21) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
33. (22) Conor Daly, Honda, 0, Mechanical
Actor Patrick Dempsey to serve as Honorary Starter for 99th Indianapolis 500
Dempsey is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Derek Shepherd on the hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy," with which he won a Screen Actors Guild Award and multiple People's Choice Awards. He also appeared in many films including "Made of Honor," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Loverboy."
The Maine native knows his way around motorsports and has competed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - he drove on the road course last summer in a Tudor United SportsCar Championship race. He also drove the Pace Car at the 91st Indianapolis 500 in 2007.
Castroneves, Team Penske make history at TAG Heuer Pit Stop Challenge
INDIANAPOLIS, Friday, May 22, 2015 - The long-running epic battle between Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing jumped from the track to pit lane on Friday to decide the winner of the 2015 TAG Heuer Pit Stop Challenge during Coors Light Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.When the smoke cleared, it was three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and his Team Penske crew winning in 12.561 seconds in the No. 3 Shell V-Power Nitro+ Team Penske Chevrolet over Charlie Kimball and his No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet squad, who finished the contest with a time of 13.017 seconds.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)