MONTEREY, Calif. — There were no tears when Scott Dixon climbed out of his No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for the final time after 25 great seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing.
He had just finished 17th in Sunday’s Mission Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
But there were plenty of heartfelt hugs, handshakes, congratulations from his crew, and even a few goodbyes.
It’s difficult to put into words the “End of an Era” that Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing had together. Of his 59 career IndyCar wins, 58 came with Chip Ganassi Racing, including the 2008 Indianapolis 500. He also won six NTT IndyCar Series championships, second only to the great AJ Foyt.
But Sunday at Monterey was the end of the road for the driver and team as Dixon moves over to Arrow McLaren beginning next season.
Dixon did not show much emotion on pit lane after the race, but he certainly had his emotional moments throughout the day.
“I came close (to tears) a couple times, for sure,” Dixon said. “The pre-race, for sure, the driver meeting.
“There were definitely many moments. I think the pre-race meeting, and then pre-race itself, you just see old snippets and different memories.
“Good riddance to this year, for sure. It was definitely a tough one. I’ll enjoy a few moments of downtime over the next weeks.
“It’s more about the emotions and how Chip has dealt with it, I think has been amazing.”
The 2026 season was the first time since 2004 that Dixon has gone winless over a season. He won a race every season for an IndyCar record 21-straight seasons and had at least one victory in a total of 23 seasons.
But Dixon’s team delivered by winning the season-long pit stop championship as the fastest and most efficient team on pit road of any team in IndyCar.
As for the race, Dixon’s team had to go off strategy because he was starting 16th. Because of that, the team had to gamble in an attempt to get to the front.
“We definitely tried a strange kind of strategy, and we really had to push hard and came up a little short,” Dixon said. “We definitely had good speed, just a tricky day.”
So how does one of the greatest drivers in the history of IndyCar, a man whose name will be mentioned with AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti for enduring greatness, sum up 25 years with Chip Ganassi Racing before beginning another chapter next season with Arrow McLaren?
“I guess you have to go on YouTube and look at what I did a long time back,” Dixon said. “It’s kind of like my son (Kit). The girls at least have grown up to see a good portion of the career, but a lot of younger generations, there’s a lot of stuff out there.
“Lots of big years, lots of wins, lots of those kinds of situations.
“But I will always remember Chip crowd surfing.”
That’s a memory that Dixon will take away from his time at Chip Ganassi Racing, when the team owner dove into the crowd at Sonoma Raceway in Northern California after Dixon won the championship in 2015 and replicated it in 2018.
It’s memories like that, that Dixon will remember the most.
