{"id":47949,"date":"2024-09-02T09:57:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T14:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=47949"},"modified":"2024-09-02T11:00:23","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T16:00:23","slug":"fellow-kiwis-mclaughlin-dixon-prevail-at-the-milwaukee-mile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/02\/fellow-kiwis-mclaughlin-dixon-prevail-at-the-milwaukee-mile\/","title":{"rendered":"Fellow-Kiwis McLaughlin, Dixon prevail at the Milwaukee Mile"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Scott McLaughlin – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Joe Skibinski<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio<\/em><\/p>\n

Native New Zealanders Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon spent Sunday afternoon interrupting an NTT IndyCar Series title chase between Alex Palou and Will Power that will be decided during the 2024 season-finale.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Scott McLaughin takes the checkered flag – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Chris Jones<\/p><\/div>\n

McLaughlin held off six-time series champion Dixon to win Race 2 of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s doubleheader in West Allis, Wis. McLaughlin earned his series high-tying third victory of the season in the No. 3 Gallagher Team Penske Chevrolet, finishing 0.4558-seconds ahead of fellow-Kiwi Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Colton Herta completed the podium in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the most fun race I\u2019ve had in INDYCAR,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cIt was a blast. We just stuck with it. The car wasn\u2019t quite good at the start, and we just tuned her up and it was awesome. A lot better in traffic today, which helped a lot. That was awesome. I\u2019m pumped!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alex Palou – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Chris Owens<\/p><\/div>\n

Palou, the two-time\/reigning series champion from Spain, will carry a 33-point lead over native Australian Power into the season-ending Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday, Sept. 15. Palou finished a disastrous 19th in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, while Power placed 10th in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet on a day of disappointment and lost chances for a pair of aces each chasing his third series title.<\/p>\n

Santino Ferrucci finished fourth in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet fielded by A.J. Foyt Racing of Waller, Texas, mirroring the team\u2019s result in Saturday\u2019s Race 1. Ever-aggressive, Ferrucci put on a show with 63 on-track passes _ most of any driver in one race this season.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Santino Ferrucci – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Chris Owens<\/p><\/div>\n

“Pretty stout weekend overall,\u201d said Ferrucci, a resident of Dallas who remained 10th<\/sup> in the point standings. \u201cYou know, obviously rough to miss the podium twice, but we’ve been working really hard at it and it’s just so hard to be competitive and be in the top-five in this series. Everything needs to be so perfect. But it’s awesome for points. I’ve got my own personal goals of being on a trophy hunt by the end of the year and we’ve got one more race to make it happen.<\/p>\n

 “The crew’s done a great job all weekend. It’s really, really tough, especially in these quite tight turnarounds. Great job on (pit) stops all day. We only had one bobble all weekend. But considering we did probably 10 or so pit stops under pressure, they did a great job. And Engineering did a great job, all around hard to beat.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

Santino Ferrucci – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Chris Owens<\/p><\/div>\n

Ferrucci earned his second straight top-five finish and tenth top-10 of the season. Moreover, \u201cSantucci\u201d was the only driver to finish in the top-five in both Milwaukee races.<\/p>\n

Team President Larry Foyt, youngest son of team-owner and open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr., indicated his 89-year-old father may attend the season-finale at Nashville in support of Ferrucci and teammate Sting Ray Robb.<\/p>\n

“It’s a really rewarding weekend here at Milwaukee, especially for the No. 14 team and Santino,” Larry Foyt said. “I can’t think of any drivers that were more exciting to watch than Santino this weekend, and the crew did a great job in the pits. For us to get two top-fives here just really shows how far our team’s come. Everyone, including the No. 41 team (of Robb), has really put a big effort in and I think it’s really showing with the way we’ve been performing lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Marcus Ericsson – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Joe Skibinski<\/p><\/div>\n

Marcus Ericsson placed fifth in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda of Andretti Global, the Swede\u2019s best result since finishing fifth at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 7.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin, who started sixth, passed Herta on Lap 218 of 250 to take the lead for good. That decisive dive under Herta in Turn 1 came after a feisty, three-lap joust between the two young stars, as McLaughlin took advantage of fresher Firestone Firehawk tires and traffic in front of Herta to erase Herta\u2019s seven-second lead in just 14 laps.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alexander Rossi – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by James Black<\/p><\/div>\n

It appeared Alexander Rossi might have a chance to challenge McLaughlin after the Kiwi took the lead, as Rossi was gaining ground in his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. But Robb crashed the No. 41 Goodheart Vet\/Pray.com Chevrolet of Foyt Racing in Turn 2 on Lap 228, triggering the last of six caution periods.<\/p>\n

All five cars on the lead lap at the time had to decide whether to pit for fresh tires or stay out, and the entire quintet dove onto pit road on Lap 230. McLaughlin powered away from the field on the restart on Lap 239, and Dixon passed Rossi for second in Turn 1.<\/p>\n

\"\"


Colton Herta – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Chris Owens<\/p><\/div>\n

Herta and Dixon then engaged in a spirited fight for second _ racing side-by-side and inches apart _ through Turns 3 and 4. Dixon finally passed Herta for second on Lap 241 and set his sights on McLaughlin, but never got closer than six-tenths of a second. McLaughlin took the checkered by leading his race-high 85th lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think had it gone a few more laps, it looked like he was starting to burn off his fronts (tires) a little bit,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cBut congrats to McLaughlin. Pretty sweet to have a Kiwi 1-2 there.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaughlin\u2019s victory was just one of the ebbs-and-flows in the race, which featured a series track-record 13 lead changes around the historic 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile oval.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Alex Palou – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by James Black<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps the one lead change that appeared probable early in the race did not happen. Palou held onto the championship lead despite one of his most challenging days of the season. Palou finished 29 laps down after an electrical issue on the pace laps relegated his car to the pits and the garage for repairs. Power placed 10th as last car on the lead-lap, squandering a chance to gain even more ground and perhaps take the championship lead after spinning in Turn 4 on a restart on Lap 131 while running in the top-five.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not a great day, but it could have been a lot worse,\u201d Palou said. \u201cIt could have been a lot better, obviously. On to Nashville.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Will Power – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Joe Skibinski<\/p><\/div>\n

Power, Roger Penske\u2019s longest-tenured driver, offered a pragmatic look at his title chances after an uncharacteristic unforced error. \u201cA long-shot now,\u201d said Power, who began the weekend 54 points behind Palou and trailed by 43 points when Sunday\u2019s race started. \u201cGod gave us a chance then, but kind of let it go. That\u2019s the season, man. You just can\u2019t have those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaughlin is the only other driver mathematically eligible for the title at Nashville, 50 points behind Palou. But the championship tussle will quickly morph into a two-driver duel for the Astor Challenge Cup between Palou and Power, as McLaughlin will be eliminated if Palou starts the race.<\/p>\n

\"\"


Alex Palou – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Joe Skibinski<\/p><\/div>\n

Palou, strategist Barry Wanser and the entire Chip Ganassi Racing crew avoided catastrophe when Palou\u2019s car stopped at the exit of pit lane at the start of the pace laps with an apparent electrical problem. Palou returned to the track but then headed back to the paddock for additional diagnosis and repairs. Palou mercifully returned to the track at-speed on Lap 37 _ a massive 28 laps down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t really do anything,\u201d Palou lamented. \u201cWe tried everything to try and not lose many laps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palou was the most notable of a handful drivers struck by mechanical misfortune in this race. Another was Race 1 winner Pato O\u2019Ward, who started seventh and finished 24th after completing just 87 laps due to a gearbox problem.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Pato O’Ward – Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 – Photo by Joe Skibinski<\/p><\/div>\n

“I think this weekend represents our year so far _ the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,\u201d said O\u2019Ward, a native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio. \u201cWe won the first race, but then had a gearbox issue in the second race. It’s a bummer because I thought we had another chance to take a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, O\u2019Ward and his No. 5 Arrow McLaren crew emerged from a three-race, summertime swoon with a victory in Race 1. O\u2019Ward scored his third series victory of the season by finishing 1.8215-seconds in front of Power.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Ward\u2019s seventh career victory and 25th-career podium put a definitive end to a frustrating stretch that had seen him finish 17th<\/sup> on the Streets of Toronto on July 21; second-to-last 26th<\/sup> on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval in Madison, Ill., on Aug. 18 and 15th<\/sup> one week ago on Portland International Raceway\u2019s natural terrain road-course in Oregon. Those results effectively eliminated Pato from championship contention.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we have one more to go in Nashville with the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix,\u201d O\u2019Ward said. \u201cHopefully, we can help make it a pretty special race.”<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s Race 2 took an eventful tone from the start. Besides Palou\u2019s car shockingly sitting silent at the exit of pit lane, NTT P1 Award-winner Josef Newgarden was eliminated in a three-car incident on Lap 1. The race start was called off because the rear of the field wasn\u2019t in order, and the No. 8 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of rookie Linus Lundqvist of Sweden hit the rear of the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants CGR Honda of teammate and native New Zealander Marcus Armstrong, who then pinballed into Newgarden\u2019s No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet, punting it into the inside wall.<\/p>\n

After that melee, the race settled into a pattern of nonstop action. There were a season-high 763 on-track passes _ most on record in an INDYCAR race at The Milwaukee Mile _ and 56 passes in the top- five, another track record.<\/p>\n

Results of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s Race 2 <\/strong>NTT IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile The Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n2. (17) Scott Dixon, Honda, 250, Running
    \n3. (18) Colton Herta, Honda, 250, Running
    \n4. (12) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n5. (16) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 250, Running
    \n6. (6) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n7. (15) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n8. (19) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 250, Running
    \n9. (14) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n10. (4) Will Power, Chevrolet, 250, Running
    \n11. (8) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 249, Running
    \n12. (25) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 248, Running
    \n13. (24) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 248, Running
    \n14. (13) Jack Harvey, Honda, 247, Running
    \n15. (22) Katherine Legge, Honda, 246, Running
    \n16. (23) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 243, Running
    \n17. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 230, Retired
    \n18. (21) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 221, Contact
    \n19. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 221, Running
    \n20. (5) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 215, Contact
    \n21. (27) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 181, Mechanical
    \n22. (9) David Malukas, Honda, 126, Mechanical
    \n23. (26) Graham Rahal, Honda, 123, Contact
    \n24. (7) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 86, Mechanical
    \n25. (11) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 23, Mechanical
    \n26. (3) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 6, Contact
    \n27. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 5, Contact<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Race Statistics<\/strong>
    \nWinner’s average speed: 120.334 mph
    \nTime of race: 2:06:31.3981
    \nMargin of victory: 0.4558-seconds
    \nCautions: 6 for 57 laps
    \nLead changes: 13 among 7 drivers<\/p>\n

    Lap leaders<\/strong>
    \nNewgarden, Josef 1 – 4
    \nMcLaughlin, Scott 5 – 43
    \nPower, Will 44 – 54
    \nFerrucci, Santino 55 – 56
    \nLegge, Katherine 57 – 58
    \nPower, Will 59 – 96
    \nFerrucci, Santino 97 – 100
    \nPower, Will 101 – 115
    \nRossi, Alexander 116 – 161
    \nMcLaughlin, Scott 162 – 163
    \nHerta, Colton 164 – 187
    \nMcLaughlin, Scott 188 – 198
    \nHerta, Colton 199 – 217
    \nMcLaughlin, Scott 218 – 250<\/p>\n

    NTT IndyCar Series point standings<\/strong> _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 525; 2, Will Power, Team Penske, 492; 3, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 475; 4, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 462; 5, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 443; 6, Pato O\u2019Ward, Arrow McLaren, 419; 7, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 384; 8, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 365; 9, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren, 350; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 339;<\/p>\n

    11, Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 301; 12, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 301; 13, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 292; 14, Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, 282; 15, Marcus Armstrong, Chip Ganassi Racing, 272; 16, Linus Lundqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing, 255; 17, Romain Grosjean, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 246; 18, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 244; 19, Pietro Fittipaldi, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 177; 20, Sting Ray Robb, A.J. Foyt Racing, 175;<\/p>\n

    21, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 174; 22, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 147; 23, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 142; 24, Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing, 126; 25, David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing, 125; 26, Augustin Canapino, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 109; 27, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 99; 28, Theo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren, 91; 29, Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, 56; 30, Tom Blomqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 46;<\/p>\n

    31, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 45; 32, Toby Sowery, Dale Coyne Racing, 45; 33, Callum Ilott, Arrow McLaren, 39; 34, Luca Ghiotto, Dale Coyne Racing, 27; 35, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 26; 36, Kyle Larson, Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren, 21; 37, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 19; 38, Tristan Vautier, Dale Coyne Racing, 12; 39, Juri Vips, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 11; 40, Colin Braun, Dale Coyne Racing, 10;<\/p>\n

    41, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports, 6; 42, Hunter McElrea, Dale Coyne Racing, 6; 43, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb Agajanian, 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Native New Zealanders Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon spent Sunday afternoon interrupting an NTT IndyCar Series title chase between Alex Palou and Will Power that will be decided during the 2024 season-finale. McLaughlin held off six-time series champion Dixon to win Race 2 of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":678,"featured_media":47954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[22,899,672,164,862],"class_list":["post-47949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indycar","tag-indycar","tag-milwaukee-mile","tag-ntt-indycar-series","tag-scott-dixon","tag-scott-mclaughlin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Scott-McLaughlin-Hy-Vee-Milwaukee-Mile-250-By_-Joe-Skibinski_Large-Image-Without-Watermark_m117229-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-ctn","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47949"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47975,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47949\/revisions\/47975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}