IndyCar: Scott Dixon’s Mid-Ohio win screams ‘here we go again’

By Asher Fair | Aug 1, 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’s victory in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course screams “here we go again” as it pertains to his IndyCar championship hopes.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon entered the 13th race on the 17-race 2019 IndyCar schedule, the Honda Indy 200, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in fourth place in the championship standings and on the brink of being put in a position where it would be nearly impossible for him to make a rally to win his sixth title.

Dixon entered this race trailing points leader Josef Newgarden of Team Penske by 98 points (487 to 389), and his starting position of eighth place was the lowest of the other three championship contenders. Newgarden started in third while Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi started in second and Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud started in fourth.

But by the time the 90-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile (3.634-kilometer) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course road course in Lexington, Ohio had concluded, the 39-year-old New Zealander had sent out waves of “here we go again”.

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Dixon won this race in thrilling fashion by only 0.0934 seconds over rookie teammate Felix Rosenqvist after holding on for dear life on extremely old tires after he led the race by more than 10 seconds over Rosenqvist, who was on a three-stop pit strategy unlike Dixon, who made only two pit stops throughout the race.

The win was Dixon’s sixth career win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and his first at the track since the 2014 season. Nobody else has ever won two IndyCar-sanctioned race at the track, and six different drivers had won the last six races there entering the weekend.

Newgarden, meanwhile, threw away 16 points on the final lap by spinning out from fourth place in an attempt to challenge Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay for the third and final podium position. He ended up finishing in 14th and scoring 17 points as opposed to the 33 points he would have scored by finishing in fourth.

And in the matter of under two hours, Dixon went from a seemingly unmanageable margin of 98 points behind Newgarden to 62 points behind Newgarden.

Here we go again.

Dixon, the only five-time champion IndyCar has ever had aside of seven-time champion A.J. Foyt, won four of his first five championships in come from behind fashion. But he has never overcome a 98-point deficit to win a title.

In 2003, he had never won a title, and he trailed points leader Helio Castroneves by 42 points with just three races remaining.

He changed that.

In 2013, he had never overcome a 92-point deficit to win a title.

He did that.

In 2015, he had never overcome a 47-point deficit in the season finale to win a title.

He did that also.

In 2018, he had never overcome a four-race start to a season featuring no podium finishes to win a title.

Yes, he did that as well.

So go ahead and count him out because “he can’t do it this time” or something or “he hasn’t done it like this before”. The man is the Tom Brady of IndyCar. He thrives under pressure when everybody is banking on the next generation to come through and steal his throne while assuming, for whatever reason, that he can no longer get the job done.

I’m sure we’ll hear that “he has six wins at Mid-Ohio yet has never won a championship when he won there” and that “he has never successfully defended a championship” over the next few weeks leading up to the season’s 14th race at Pocono Raceway to go along with the idea that “he has never overcome a 98-point deficit to win a title”.

Keep adding fuel to that fire.

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Whether Scott Dixon ends up winning the 2019 IndyCar championship to become the sport’s second ever six-time champion or not, he can truly never be counted out until there is no possible way by which he can mathematically launch himself to the top of the standings. Never.

His win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course proved that. And with that in mind, it must be said that in the back of the heads of the other championship contenders, and slowly creeping toward the front, are those four words that nobody but Dixon wants to hear.

Here we go again.