IndyCar: Scott Dixon’s continued struggle to defend his championships

By Asher Fair | Jun 27, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 08: Scott Dixon of New Zealand, driver of the #9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, spins out with Colton Herta of the United States, driver of the #88 GESS Capstone Honda, during the NTT IndyCar Series DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 08, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

Five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon is still seeking to do something that he has never done in his career: successfully defend a championship.

One accomplishment that has eluded five-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon over the course of his illustrious career in American’s premier open-wheel racing series is a successful championship defense. Never in his 19-year career has he won consecutive championships.

The 38-year-old Kiwi entered the 2019 season with a chance to end this trend for the fifth time in his career after winning last season’s championship in arguably his best fashion yet with an average finishing position of just 4.2, his best average finishing position in a championship season, and a low finish of 12th place, his best worst finish in a championship season.

However, the 2019 season has not gone according to plan for the driver of the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

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I’m not going to be the one to count Dixon out, because whenever anyone counts him out, he always seems to win another championship.

That said, I will be the one to point out that despite all of his heroic rallies to win his championships, four of his five championships to be precise, he has never overcome a 94-point deficit, which happens to be the deficit that he is currently facing with seven of the 2019 season’s 17 races remaining. He currently sits in fourth place in the championship standings with 308 points. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden leads the standings with 402.

We have seen Dixon make some uncharacteristic mistakes this season, most notably with his unforced crash in the first of two races at the Raceway on Belle Isle that threw away a top three finish and his crash in the race at Texas Motor Speedway involving Colton Herta, which also threw away a top three finish. Dixon took the blame for both of these accidents, and rightfully so.

This is not unlike his previous post-championship seasons. Most recently, he finished in sixth place in the championship standings in the 2016 season after winning the 2015 championship.

Uncharacteristic crashes at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Texas Motor Speedway cost him a boatload of valuable points in this season, and perhaps most disappointingly, he was only the fifth highest finishing Chevrolet driver in a season during which Chevrolet dominated, winning 14 of 16 races on the schedule.

Up until the 2016 season, he had not finished outside of the top three in the standings since the 2006 season when he finished in fourth, and this sixth place finish was his worst since his 13th place finish in the 2005 season.

After winning his first championship in the 2003 season, Dixon switched from the #9 Toyota to the #1 Toyota to signify that he was the reigning champion as the 2004 season. After his disastrous 2004 campaign, he has never again used the #1. He finished the season in 10th place in the championship standings with just one podium finish in 16 races.

He did tease that the #1 would be returning this year, but he entered the season using the #9.

It isn’t like Dixon has been terrible this season by any stretch of the imagination, especially not compared to his unsuccessful 2004 and 2016 seasons as the defending champion. However, even with five podium finishes in the season’s first 17 races, which is tied for second among all drivers, he doesn’t appear to have what it takes to keep up with Newgarden and Newgarden’s chief championship rival, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi.

Rossi trails Newgarden by just seven points (402 to 395) in second place in the championship standings, and both drivers have finished ahead of Dixon in four of the last five and five of the last seven races. Dixon has still managed to record two top five finishes, including a podium finish, in these seven races, so even when he records solid points results, he finds himself losing points in the championship fight.

Case in point is this past Sunday’s race at Road America. After a first-lap spin that send him all the way back to 23rd (last) place, Dixon rallied to finish in an impressive fifth even though this race did not feature any full-course caution flag periods.

Meanwhile, Rossi won while Newgarden finished in third place, so Dixon lost ground in the championship fight despite his brilliant drive, the kind of drive that he has become known for putting together in his championship-winning seasons.

However, it goes without saying that Dixon’s mistakes have also cost him relative to Newgarden and Rossi in a big way. When Dixon crashed out of third place in the first of two races at the Raceway on Belle Isle earlier this season, Newgarden was leading while Rossi was running in second. They finished in first and second, respectively.

When Dixon crashed out of second place in the race at Texas Motor Speedway, Newgarden was leading while Rossi was running in fourth and jumped to second as a result of his crash. Once again, Newgarden and Rossi finished in first and second, respectively.

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As many IndyCar championships as Scott Dixon has won throughout his career, will he ever manage to win consecutive championships? If he is unable to rally to do so this season, which is the most likely scenario at this point despite the fact that you can never count him out, the only way he will ever do so is by at least tying A.J. Foyt’s all-time record of seven championships.