IndyCar: Scott Dixon wins 2018 championship

With his second place finish in the final race of the 2018 IndyCar season, Scott Dixon secured his fifth career IndyCar championship.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon entered the 17th and final race of the 2018 IndyCar season with a 29-point lead over Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi in second place in the championship standings (598 to 569).

While the 38-year-old Kiwi did not win the 85-lap race at the 12-turn, 2.385-mile (3.838-kilometer) Sonoma Raceway road course in Sonoma, California, he did finish in second place, the same position in which he started the race, in his #9 Honda.

The 80 points that Dixon scored in this double points-paying race as a result of his second place finish were enough to secure him his fifth career championship, moving him into second place on the all-time titles list behind only the legendary A.J. Foyt, who won seven championships over the course of his IndyCar career.

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Rossi started the race in sixth place in his #27 Honda, but contact with the #98 Andretti Herta Autosport Honda of Marco Andretti caused damage to his car and sent him to the back of the pack. He was relegated to 25th, last, at which point he was more than one minute out of the race lead.

At one point, Rossi was no longer on the lead lap. However, the 26-year-old Nevada City, California native got back on the lead lap, and a timely caution flag period that began on lap 44 as a result of the fact that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal went off the track and stopped in turn seven allowed him to catch up to the back of the pack, at which point he came into the pits to top off for fuel.

After restarting the race in the back of the pack, Rossi quickly worked his way up to seventh place. He came into the pits for his final stop of the race before anybody else did, meaning that had a caution flag period taken place before anyone else came into the pits, he would have become the race leader,

However, to prevent this from happening, Dixon came into the pits for his final pit stop shortly thereafter. Once the pit cycle had concluded, Rossi was in fifth place. He ended up losing two positions before the race ended and finished in seventh, scoring 52 points in the process.

Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power were also eligible to win the championship coming into the race, but they both entered the race in a third place tie in the championship standings with 511 points, trailing Dixon by 87 points.

Both Newgarden and Power needed to win the race and have Dixon finish in 22nd place or lower to even have a chance at winning the championship. If that would have happened, they would have had to collect at least three of the four possible bonus points on the table and Rossi would have had to finish in ninth or lower.

Power finished in third place and collected 71 points while Newgarden finished in eighth and collected 49.

Congratulations to Scott Dixon on becoming just the second driver in IndyCar history to secure his fifth career championships! Will he secure his sixth career title next year? The 2019 IndyCar season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 10, 2019 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.