IndyCar: Is Mid-Ohio the final chance for a Scott Dixon 2019 championship run?

By Asher Fair | Jul 28, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 07: Scott Dixon of New Zealand, driver of the #9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, stands on the grid during US Concrete Qualifying Day for the NTT IndyCar Series - DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 07, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Scott Dixon sits 98 points behind the leader of the IndyCar championship standings. Is the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course his final chance to launch himself back into championship contention?

Heading into the 13th of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, the Honda Indy 200, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon is one of four drivers who are considered still in championship contention, although there are several other mathematically-eligible longshots who need pretty much everything to go their way for them to even have a chance.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden leads the championship standings by 29 points (487 to 458) over Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi in second place. Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud sits in third with 429 points, trailing Newgarden by 58 and Rossi by 29, while Dixon sits in fourth with 389 points, trailing Newgarden by 98, Rossi by 69 and Pagenaud by 40.

Dixon has rallied to win several of his five championships before, but he has never overcome a 98-point deficit at any point in a season. His biggest rally came after he was in seventh place in the championship standings with 10 of the 2013 season’s 19 races having been completed. He trailed points leader Helio Castroneves by 92 points at the time.

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With five races remaining on this year’s schedule, he is most definitely still in play despite the fact that he is 98 points behind Newgarden and a championship comeback at this point would be his greatest championship comeback in a career full of championship comebacks.

However, is today’s race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the Honda Indy 200, his final chance to truly launch himself into striking distance heading down the home stretch?

I don’t think there’s really any doubt about this.

Yes, Dixon entered the double points-paying 2015 season finale in third place in the championship standings and 47 points behind points leader Juan Pablo Montoya, who entered the race having not trailed in the standings at any point through the season’s first 15 races.

He made up that difference to tie Montoya by winning the race while Montoya finished in sixth place, and Dixon won the tiebreaker since he ended the season having won three races while Montoya ended it having won only two.

You can truly never count Dixon out, especially considering his 2015 championship is one of not one, not two, not three but four championships that the five-time champion has won in what can be considered come from behind fashion.

Dixon doesn’t need to be super close to the lead of the championship standings heading into the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, especially since that is a double points-paying race, for him to have a shot at winning the title, and he proved that four years ago.

However, for the 39-year-old New Zealander, today’s Honda Indy 200 is crucial.

Dixon, also known as Mr. Mid-Ohio, is the only driver who has won at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course more than once since it was added to the IndyCar schedule ahead of the 2007 season, and he is a five-time winner at the track. He won the races there in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

The 13-turn, 2.258-mile (3.634-kilometer) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course natural terrain road course in Lexington, Ohio is Dixon’s best track, so he will need to capitalize on that — likely with a win and poor performance by the other three championship contenders.

Otherwise, his hopes of winning his sixth career championship this year could be shot even though he is a driver who can technically never be counted out. Dixon has been strong at several of the other tracks that remain on this year’s schedule, but so have the other championship contenders.

Unless he has an amazing weekend this weekend at his strongest track, a track at which the other three contenders have also had success, with each winning one of the last three races there, Dixon won’t be able to go into the season’s final four races and simply try to collect points like he has become known to do to put himself in position to win championships.

Because even if he does that, he will likely still be beaten.

We saw this last weekend at Iowa Speedway. Dixon was struggling to stay in the top 15, but a bold pit strategy call paid off, and he ended up finishing the race in an opportunistic second place.

However, he still lost points in the championship fight, as Newgarden dominated the race en route to winning it. Pagenaud and Rossi also had solid points days by finishing in fourth and sixth place, respectively.

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Is this afternoon’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Scott Dixon’s final chance to effectively turn his 2019 IndyCar season around and establish himself as a true championship contender, and if so, can he really stay in the fight? I don’t think there’s any doubt that he needs a great result, likely a win, in this race, and he needs the other three championship contenders to struggle to make this a possibility.

Tune in to NBC at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of this race. Dixon is set to start in eighth place behind each of the other three championship contenders. Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud are set to start in second, third and fourth, respectively, so it won’t be an easy task for him.