IndyCar: Six for Dixon? How Scott Dixon could still be 2019 champion

By Brittany Frederick | Aug 23, 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 is a five-time IndyCar champion, and going into the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be 2019 champion.

Scott Dixon knows what it takes to be NTT IndyCar Series champion. He’s done it five times before. And that’s just one of the many reasons why he’s still capable of adding the 2019 IndyCar title to his exhaustive resume.

With three races left on the schedule, the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driver sits fourth in the championship standings. He’s 52 points behind current leader Josef Newgarden. Yet that’s not as big a margin as it sounds, especially when you’re one of the most successful IndyCar drivers of all-time.

Firstly, there’s just the math: there are 200 points still on offer before the season ends, and that’s not counting the bonus points available each weekend. Mathematically, all it takes is Dixon adding one more victory as early as Saturday, and he’ll be smelling blood in the water.

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That’s the least of his encouraging signs, however.

Dixon’s consistency is his biggest strength, and it’s been on display again over the last few races. One has to go back to Saturday, June 8 at Texas to find the last time he didn’t finish in the top five. That’s more than two months!

He’s been on the podium (and in the top two) for all of the last four races, including a win at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, July 28.

There’s no reason to assume that will change in the remainder of the season. In the previous two races since IndyCar added Gateway onto its schedule, the No. 9 hasn’t finished worse than third there. Dixon was also in the top five in the series’ Portland race last year.

If that’s not impressive enough, he has historically performed well in season finales, to the point where it’s dumbfounded. Though 2019 will finish at a different track in Laguna Seca, Dixon has only come across the line lower than fifth in an IndyCar closer once in the last 13 years, excepting the Las Vegas finale in 2011 that was called off due to the death of Dan Wheldon.

Think about that: more than an entire decade of at least top five finishes, which includes two victories. That’s incredible by any standard.

So not only does Dixon have all the momentum on his side right now, he’s also got precedent in his favor — including the fact that he’s at his best in that final, double-points race.

Now we’ve got all the numbers out of the way. There are other reasons Scott Dixon could easily be holding the Astor Cup for the 2019 IndyCar season, reasons which have to do with his tradecraft and his competition.

There are two things that Dixon is known for in his IndyCar career: being a wunderkind at saving fuel, and minimizing mistakes. His ability to stretch a fuel tank has been talked about at length (and one can add tires to that after his 15-lap miracle at Mid-Ohio), and the New Zealander very rarely does something he’ll regret.

When the No. 9 crashed in Detroit, it was the first time Dixon had taken himself out of a race in two years. He even manages to avoid other people’s trouble, like that Portland pile-up in 2018 that should have doomed his season.

Dixon knows how to get the most out of his resources in every race and how to avoid unforced errors — two things that can ruin someone’s title hopes.

The other, as Alexander Rossi may have just learned last weekend, is sheer bad luck. Both Rossi and Newgarden have had terrible breaks in recent weeks that have led to poor finishes; the former was 18th at Pocono, the latter 14th after spinning at Mid-Ohio. Of the three drivers higher than Dixon in the standings, only Simon Pagenaud hasn’t had something go incredibly wrong.

That’s part of Scott Dixon’s championship hunt, too. He needs the competition to be losing points each weekend, and that’s what is currently happening to his two biggest rivals.

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Dixon will take advantage of any continued weakness, unforced or otherwise, and he has the skills to ensure that he’ll keep getting closer to a sixth title. Those two things make for a dangerous equation. While his competitors are struggling, he’s on the rise yet again — so it’d be no surprise at all if Scott Dixon is the 2019 IndyCar champion.