(MADISON, IL) The current kingpin of the NTT IndyCar Series continued his quest for a second straight title Saturday after and achieved a milestone in the process.
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) won the first of a pair of races held at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison. Dixon, the defending champion of the opened-series, who the front-half of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 dual race event that continues with a similar 200-lap feature Sunday afternoon.
Dixon claimed the lead in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda with 35 laps left and staved a hard charge from Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) at the checkered flag.
Dixon topped last week’s Indianapolis 500 winner by 0.1404 seconds at the finish, claimed his fourth win of the season and 50th overall.
“Fifty, that sounds awesome,” said Dixon, who landed in the runner-up slot at the yellow-flag ending Indy 500. “Last week was bit of a bummer so it was nice to get a win. We’re gonna keep on trucking and get a few more.”
Dixon has won half of the eight races held this season and widened his lead in the NTT IndyCar Series points standings as Josef Newgarden, who was trailing 386-269 heading into the weekend, finished a disappointing twelfth.
Even with the runner-up result, there is plenty of optimism in the Sato camp as he will have the pole in Sunday’s race that begins at 2:40 p.m. Meanwhile, Newgarden (Team Penske) will start outside row 1 in the 23-car field.
Pato O’Ward (ARROW McLaren SP), who is the process of completing his first full IndyCar season, claimed his second podium finish of the year with a third-place result.
Colton Herta (Andretti Harding Steinbrenner AutoSport) and Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Pole sitter Will Power (Team Penske) finished 17th.
Sunday’s race can be seen on the NBC Sports Network with coverage beginning at 2 p.m.
