Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda, came home in second place in today’s Hy-Vee 250 at the Milwaukee Mile. In doing so, he claimed his 142nd NTT INDYCAR SERIES career podium, a new record previously held by legend Mario Andretti.
The Iceman came from 17th on the grid to finish the race in second place and speaking following the action he commented saying:
It was definitely a rough start to our weekend, we just lost the balance in practice and qualifying, which put us in a bit of a hole. Yesterday, we couldn’t
catch a break [in the opening race]. But today, it was nice to roll from 17 th [on the grid] and get up to second. The car was definitely good on long runs. Man, the car was fast. Huge thanks to everyone on the PNC Bank #9 and Honda of course. It was a dream to drive out
there today.”
Speaking about his battle with race winner Scott McLaughlin in the closing stages of the event, the Iceman said:
I think had it gone a few more laps, it looked like he was starting to burn off his fronts (tires) a little bit,” Dixon said. “But congrats to McLaughlin. Pretty sweet to have a Kiwi 1-2 there.
For championship leader Alex Palou, the Spaniard who could have claimed the title today, he suffered a mechanical issue at the start of the race and this resulted in him falling multiple laps down and came home in 19th place as a result but after a tough day for Will Power who finished 10th following a spin on one of the race restarts, Palou heads to the final race of the year in Nashville two weeks from now with a 33-point lead in the championship.
We’re a bit sad and disappointed. We had no power. Then we thought we had it fixed, but it stopped again. The problem we had was not in my control, or the team or HRC. It’s a sport. It is what it is. We changed the battery and then we could get back out. Once we got going, we were happier. We were getting points: one more point, one more point, and so on. So, not a great day, but could’ve been a lot worse.”
There was celebrating for Linus Lundqvist who has been crowned INDYCAR SERIES Rookie Of The Year.