DETROIT – Leave it to the smoothest, coolest driver in the NTT IndyCar Series to put an end to the chaos in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
It was Scott Dixon, who drove to the 58th IndyCar win of his career in Sunday’s street race in downtown Detroit, in an event that had more time run under caution than green flag conditions.
Dixon led 35 laps in a race that went nearly one hour without a single green-flag lap completed as restart after restart after restart ended in calamity on the race course.
Finally, on lap 74 of the 100-lapper, the field was able to make it through the race course without a crash. That allowed Dixon to stretch his final tank of fuel to take control of the race for the final 26 laps.
He went on to defeat former Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson of Andretti Global by 0.8567 seconds.
Dixon’s teammate, Marcus Armstrong, was third followed by Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood as the top four finishers were in Honda power on a street course that ran around Chevrolet’s headquarters at the General Motors Renaissance Center.
Dixon led 35 laps, Herta 31 and Kirkwood 24.
There were nine caution periods for 47 laps and the race was run for 1 hour, 5 minutes and 44 seconds under the yellow light.
By contrast, there were 53 laps run under the green flag for 1 hour and 24 seconds.
“I made the comment on the radio on lap 50 and thought we could go the rest of the way on a normal stop,” Dixon said after winning the race and taking the points lead. “We won, man. How cool is that?
“It’s the variables. We had rain. It was all over the place and you don’t know how the transition will fall or even the strategy.”
Ericsson rebounded from a last-place finish in the 108th Indianapolis 500 to a second-place finish on the streets of Detroit for his best finish at Andretti Global.
“It was very big,” Ericsson said. “After the month of May we had, it was very big. It was very important. We wanted to have a reset of the season. I was really thankful for that. The car was really strong today.
“One more lap, who knows?”
Kirkwood overcame a few incidents on tracks to claim a fourth-place finish.
“We led a lot of laps there and could have won the race,” Kirkwood said. “Dixon got lucky there with the cautions that came out. We did good in a very hectic race.”
It was Dixon’s fourth Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix victory, including three on the Belle Isle course and Sunday’s win on the streets of Detroit.
He also won at the Raceway in Belle Isle in 2012, 2018 Race 1 and 2019 Race 2.
Dixon’s victory put him first in the championship race. He leads CGR teammate Alex Palou by 18 points and Will Power by 31.
“For sure,” Dixon said. “Until you are out of it, you have to keep chasing it.”
Pato O’Ward, who finished second in last year’s Indianapolis 500, finished seventh. Josef Newgarden, who won his second-straight Indianapolis 500, finished 26th, six laps down after he hit the Turn Nine wall and his Chevrolet experienced a broken toe link on the rear of his car.