IndyCar: Will Scott Dixon defend his championship in the 2019 season?

Scott Dixon has never won the IndyCar championship in two consecutive seasons. Will he change that in the 2019 season by winning his sixth career title?

By winning the 2018 IndyCar championship, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon became a five-time IndyCar champion. As a result, he now sits in second place on the all-time IndyCar championships list behind only seven-time champion A.J. Foyt.

But while Dixon has won five championships over the course of his 18-year IndyCar career, he has never successfully defended any one of his championships.

Dixon won his first championship in the 2003 season, which was his first official season competing in IndyCar after spending the first two seasons of his career, the 2001 and 2002 seasons, competing in CART.

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In the 2004 season, Dixon finished in 10th place in the championship standings, and he failed to win any races. He finished 263 points behind champion Tony Kanaan.

Dixon won his second championship in the 2008 season. In the 2009 season, he finished in second place in the championship standings. He finished 11 points behind champion Dario Franchitti despite the fact that he won five races.

Dixon won his third championship in the 2013 season. In the 2014 season, he finished in third place in the championship standings. He finished 67 points behind champion Will Power with just two victories, tying his lowest win total since he won only one race in the 2005 season.

Finally, Dixon won his fourth championship in the 2015 season. In the 2016 season, he finished in sixth place in the championship standings, which was his lowest finish in the standings since he finished in 13th back in the 2005 season. He finished 182 points behind champion Simon Pagenaud with just two victories, once again tying his lowest win total since he won only one race in the 2005 season.

Will Dixon successfully defend his 2018 championship by winning his sixth career championship in the 2019 season?

Here is what Dixon had to say about defending this championship and about his history in failing to do so, according to Motorsport Week.

"“Yeah, I’ve never gone back-to-back so obviously I’ve got a problem with that. It’s something I need to figure out. It’s something that’s obviously at the forefront of not just myself but the whole team. But yeah, it’s always difficult. I think as everybody has spoken up here and everybody knows, just the competitiveness and how tough the competition is right now, there’s never one stand-out.“There’s four, five, six teams that have the possibility of winning with many drivers, so that’s what drives me every day of wanting to train harder, prepare better and obviously work with our partners to try and get a bit of a leg up. It’s definitely not going to be easy, but going into the season, we know that’s definitely the goal.”"

It is no secret that Dixon has struggled to defend his championships even though he is almost always the runaway favorite to become champion again after every season he finds himself winning the title. His average finish in the championship standings in seasons after winning a championship is just 5.5, and he finishes an average of 130.75 points behind the champion in those seasons.

But in the first season of the UAK18 aero kit, he established himself as the championship favorite early in the season and never looked back. Despite the fact that he failed to finish any of the first four races on the podium, which is something that he had not failed to do since the 2005 season, he ended the 17-race season with no finishes outside of the top 12 and just two finishes outside of the top six.

Dixon was practically on rails, and that allowed him to win the championship by a rather comfortable 57-point margin (678 to 621) over Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi in second place. He has shown no sign of anything that would lead anyone to believe that he will not be just as good in the second season of the UAK18 aero kit era.

That said, Dixon has had success early in other “eras” as well, not just the UAK18 aero kit era. The 2003 season was his first official season in IndyCar while the 2013 season was the second season of the DW12 era and the 2015 season was the first season of the unique Honda and Chevrolet aero kits. As stated above, he failed to defend any of these championships.

The IndyCar field is as competitive as it has ever been. There are several drivers on several teams who have a legitimate chance to be crowned champion when the season concludes in September. While Dixon is most definitely the favorite to win the 2019 championship, history suggests that he may not get the job done. No matter how you look at it, he has his work cut out for him.

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Will Scott Dixon defend his championship for the first time in his IndyCar career in the 2019 season? The 2019 season is set to consist of 17 races, and it is scheduled to last from Sunday, March 10 through Sunday, September 22.

The opening race of the 2019 season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, is set to take place on the streets of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida. To see more details regarding the 2019 schedule, click here.