INDYCAR ace Dixon capitalizes on rare Palou miscue to prevail at Mid-Ohio
By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
Scott Dixon’s latest INDYCAR victory extended a pair of remarkable streaks and rekindled a somewhat reluctant conversation concerning open-wheel icon A.J. Foyt Jr.
Dixon combined his signature fuel-saving prowess with a rare mistake by Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou with five laps to go to win The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the All-New 2026 Passport.
A six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, Dixon delivered his record 59th career victory Sunday, his first win of the 2025 season and seventh career victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Dixon now has won at least once in 21 consecutive seasons dating to 2005 and has recorded a victory in 23 seasons during his illustrious career.
SEE: Race Results
For the record, career victory No. 59 has positioned Dixon eight behind Houston native Foyt for INDYCAR’s all-time lead. At age 44 and in a stretch that has seen Palou emerge as the series’ dominant driver, is the idea of tying and/or passing 90-year-old “Super Tex” attainable?
“Well, if you have a season like Alex is having, sure, we would be almost there,” said Dixon, alluding to Palou’s six wins in 10 races this season. “Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll keep knocking on the door. Yeah, some years are tougher than others and some years things kind of just roll your way and you keep…wins just come a little easier.
“We’ll see, man. We’ll see where it ends up, and obviously stats _ like I’ve said many times _ are something that you can look at, and when you’re done with the sport, hopefully you’re happy with them.”
Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda crossed the finish line 0.4201-seconds ahead of Palou’s No. 10 Open AI CGR Honda, the closest series result this season.
“Honestly, each race I go to, I’m there to win,” said Dixon, a native of New Zealand. “This year has been super-frustrating for us, for all of us on the No. 9 car. Anytime we could have something roll our way, it just hasn’t. We’ve had a load of mechanicals. It’s been extremely frustrating. Indy, I think, was one of the best 500 cars I’ve had and it was over before it even started.
“This is big for team morale and for everybody involved. We know we can win, just hopefully we can get on a roll here.”
Christian Lundgaard of Denmark continued his impressive string of performances by placing third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. “Obviously, happy to be on the podium but still a little disappointed,” said Lundgaard, 23. “I think we had much more. We need to take the positives from this weekend. We didn’t get any points in Road America when we had a car to win the race. So here, there’s a little bit of redemption, but I really wanted that win today.”
Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, while 2024 Mid-Ohio winner Pato O’Ward completed the top-five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“I would have loved to have been fourth, but it was a crazy race today for us,” said O’Ward, a 26-year-old native of Mexico with family ties to San Antonio, Texas. “The strategies flipped in the middle of the race. Guys that weren’t planning to full-push ended up full-pushing, and the guys that were pushing ended up fuel saving to the end.
“We fought our way forward and were aggressive and calculated. I was confident in the car, and you really treasure these weekends when you can put the car where you need to. It’s just a bummer we didn’t start further up front, but it’s a good job by Arrow McLaren and good to see Christian on the podium.”
Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci placed a lead-lap 16th in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet fielded by Waller, Texas-based A.J. Foyt Racing. And Foyt Racing teammate David Malukas finished 17th in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevy.
NTT P1 Award-winner Palou led Dixon by approximately two seconds and appeared to be headed to his seventh victory of the season on Lap 85 of the 90-lap/203.22-mile race when he ran wide into the dirt adjacent to Turn 9 and slowed, with Dixon squeezing past for a lead he would not surrender.
“Big mistake, man. Big mistake,” said Palou, the three-time/reigning series champion and current point leader from Spain. “Yeah, nothing in particular happened. Just lost it a little bit. Then kind of got into the marbles and went out.
“Yeah, lost everything there. It was a big, big mistake by my part. The car was on fire today. The team gave me, as well, the strategy, the pit stops we needed to win the race. But yeah, man, it’s not over until it’s over, until you see the checkered flag. I was just trying to push. I was trying to open the gap a little bit more with Scott. I felt confident with the car.
“Yeah, just lost it.”
Palou pulled to within 0.356-seconds with two laps to go but could draw no closer as Dixon put on a master class of choosing lines that maintained speed while legally blunting Palou’s momentum. Palou led 75 laps around the 2.258-mile/13-turn natural-terrain road-course en route to his second runner-up finish of 2025, eighth podium of the season and 39th of his career.
“I think when you lose…I think we lost today,” said Palou, a 28-year-old native of Spain. “It’s not like we got beaten, but we lost it, myself. Yeah, that’s going to hurt a little bit. I’m hopefully going to learn from that. It’s still good in a way that we got one-two; we lost it but we kept it in the team. I think that’s going to keep the team happier and Chip happier.
“But yeah, for sure it hurts, man. It hurts doing a big mistake like that when you could have just…it’s easy now to just say, ‘Save a little bit there, you don’t need to be on the limit.’ But when you’re driving, you don’t feel like you’re that in the limit.”
As consolation, Palou exited Mid-Ohio with a still-massive 113-point lead (430-317) over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global. Palou began the day with a 93-point advantage in search of his fourth championship. That 113-point lead is a gap of more than two races with seven remaining.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s why probably it’s not going to take two days to recover. It’s going to take just a couple of hours,” Palou said. “But yeah, still, we lost the race there.”
Only Palou, Kirkwood and now Dixon _ all powered by Honda Racing _ have stood atop the podium 10 races into the 17-event schedule. “Yeah, it’s pretty sweet,” Dixon said. “Congrats to everybody at Honda, to everybody at HRC. I know they work extremely hard. It’s been a tremendous year for them and we’ll definitely try and keep that streak rolling.”
Dixon’s ability to adjust his racing lines on the fly was most evident in Turn 2, the famous “Keyhole” corner, on the last two laps. On Lap 89, Dixon opened the low line for Palou to explore and then eased from mid-corner across Palou’s lower line on corner exit, taking advantage of the wider line in the turn to pull away on the back straightaway. On the final lap, Dixon instead chose the low line through Turn 2, eliminating a prime overtaking spot for Palou.
With a starting spot of ninth in the 27-car field, Dixon and veteran strategist Mike Hull decided to capitalize on Dixon’s legendary knack of fuel-saving and attempt to complete the race on just two pit stops, one fewer than most teams. The fuel mileage alchemy needed some laps under yellow to have a chance to succeed, and Dixon got that during the final caution period from Laps 31-34 when Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen and his No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet stopped off-course in Turn 8.
Dixon made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 61. Meanwhile, Palou was pushing hard in the lead, knowing he had to build a sufficient gap to keep the top spot from Dixon after his final stop and make a three-stop strategy work.
Palou entered the pits for his final stop at the end of Lap 72 and rejoined the circuit ahead of Dixon on track. He expanded his lead to 1.8-seconds by Lap 77 and appeared to be headed to that seventh victory. When Palou bobbled with five laps to go, Dixon pounced.
“Well, on the approach to (Turn) 9, I saw the dust and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe that’s a lap-car or something,’^” Dixon said. “There’s been some times in these sessions where the dust has actually been lingering in the air. I didn’t know if it was him (Palou), and then obviously I see it’s a black car. He’s had multiple colors this year, so it’s always hard to figure out, and I saw that he was kind of struggling to get going. Hate to say it, but pleasantly surprised when I saw that he was rejoining the track.
“We still had to save fuel all the way to the end, so it was definitely very tight. We got a little bit lucky with that.”
The race’s eight lead changes tied the series’ all-time record at Mid-Ohio. Dixon’s margin of victory of four-tenths of a second was the closest finish in 10 years _ thanks also in part to the pit work by Dixon’s crew.
“I think the guys today were a little disappointed because they had two really good stops,” Hull said. “But I think they got beat for the average that they worked for because some people did a three-stop strategy, so they short-filled.
“They work really hard. They’re dedicated to the team. They’re dedicated to Scott, certainly. On the tire situation, we were lucky that Alex ran (Firestone Firehawk’s alternate) reds for the first stint so we knew how long they could go because we really didn’t know until then, and Kyffin (Simpson of CGR) did the same. I think Kyffin ran 30 laps on reds. Alex ran 27 laps and we were asking Scott to run 31 laps. I think we got to 30 or 31 and that was significant for us.
“I would just simply say this one more thing about how teams work on the professional level, especially in motor racing. Most teammates are so carnivorous with each other; they don’t really give an inch to their teammate. I think that’s what we didn’t see today. What we saw were two people at the end of the race that knew what they were doing, and they followed Chip’s rules. He has only two rules _ No. 1, don’t hit your teammate because you don’t _ or hit him hard enough to where you helicopter out of the place; and No. 2, remember Rule No. 1. That’s what we saw today, and it was spectacular to finish first and second.”
Next series event is the Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend, a double-header July 12-13 at Iowa Speedway in Newton. The Synk 275 powered by Sukup is scheduled for 5 p.m. (EDT) Saturday, July 12, with the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 13. FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network will broadcast both races live.
Rookie Dennis Hauger kept his cool after an unexpected break Sunday and expanded his INDY NXT by Firestone championship lead with a victory in the Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.
A 22-year-old native of Norway, Hauger earned his fifth win in eight starts this season in INDYCAR’s developmental series. His lead over fellow-Andretti Global rookie Lochie Hughes of Australia grew to 47 points with six races remaining.
SEE: Race Results
Pole-sitter Hauger led every lap to beat native Brazilian Caio Collet’s No. 76 HMD Motorsports car to the finish by 3.3220-seconds, delivering the 300th overall win across all series in Andretti Global’s rich history. Hughes placed third in the No. 26 McGinley Clinic/USF Pro Championship car.
“The team did an amazing job getting the balance for the race,” Hauger said. “Huge congrats on the 300th win, really cool to be a part of that history.”
Salvador de Alba of Mexico placed fourth in the No. 27 Grupo Indi machine, the third Andretti Global car in the top-four. Josh Pierson completed the top-five in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports entry.
Originally scheduled for 35 laps, the event reverted to a timed race due to a massive crash between Andretti/Cape Motorsports teammates Ricardo Escotto of Mexico and Sebastian Murray of Scotland that triggered a red flag on Lap 5 for repairs to barrier damage.
Hauger pulled away from Collet on the start, building a gap of around one-half second. Murray and Escotto were racing side-by-side on Lap 4 through the track’s fast “kink” section between Turns 3 and 4 on the 2.258-mile/13-turn circuit when their wheels touched, hurtling the No. 2 Dream Racing Dubai entry of Murray and the No. 3 Frank’s Red Hot car of Escotto into the barrier, with Murray going airborne.
Both cars sustained heavy damage, but neither driver was injured. The remaining field returned to pit lane and climbed from their cars as facility crews and the INDYCAR AMR Safety Team needed approximately 37 minutes to complete major repairs.
Once the race resumed, Hauger again held off Collet. With 20 minutes remaining, Hauger led by seven-tenths of a second. That margin grew to more than a second over the next few laps. With approximately six minutes remaining, Hauger dropped the hammer and padded his lead to two seconds. He kept the pace high, turning his quickest lap on the third-to-last trip around the track.
“It was not easy; the first couple of laps were not the easiest,” said Hauger, referring to the race’s resumption. “Once we got into a rhythm, it was just spot-on. We just had a perfect race, so we’re happy about that.”
The next INDY NXT by Firestone race is Saturday, July 12, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, the second of four oval races on the 2025 schedule.
Results of The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the All-New 2026 Passport NTT IndyCar Series event on the 2.258-mile/13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
- (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
2. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
3. (2) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (5) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
5. (14) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
6. (15) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 90, Running
7. (8) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
8. (7) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
9. (26) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 90, Running
10. (3) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
11. (4) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 90, Running
12. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
13. (24) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 90, Running
14. (6) Louis Foster, Honda, 90, Running
15. (11) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17. (13) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 90, Running
18. (19) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 90, Running
19. (12) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
20. (23) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 90, Running
21. (27) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 90, Running
22. (25) Jacob Abel, Honda, 90, Running
23. (21) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 89, Running
24. (20) Graham Rahal, Honda, 89, Running
25. (16) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 36, Contact
26. (22) Will Power, Chevrolet, 11, Contact
27. (18) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 111.166
Time of Race: 01:49:41.0967
Margin of victory: 0.4201-seconds
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders
Palou, Alex 1 – 27
Simpson, Kyffin 28
Dixon, Scott 29
Palou, Alex 30 – 56
Dixon, Scott 57 – 60
Palou, Alex 61 – 72
Herta, Colton 73 – 75
Palou, Alex 76 – 84
Dixon, Scott 85 – 90
NTT IndyCar Series Point Standings _ 1, Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 430; 2, Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global, 317; 3, Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren, 305; 4, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 282; 5, Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren, 263; 6, Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing, 259; 7, Colton Herta, Andretti Global, 217; 8, Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing, 209; 9, Will Power, Team Penske, 202; 10, Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing, 198;
11, Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske, 197; 12, David Malukas, A.J. Foyt Racing, 187; 13, Rinus VeeKay, Dale Coyne Racing, 179; 14, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter Racing, 176; 15, Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing, 162; 16, Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing, 155; 17, Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren, 147; 18, Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 144; 19, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 142; 20, Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global, 141;
21, Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 139; 22, Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 118; 23, Robert Shwartzman, PREMA Racing, 113; 24, Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing, 105; 25, Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 99; 26, Callum Ilott, PREMA Racing, 95; 27, Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing, 64; 28, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, 36; 29, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing, 20; 30, Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, 16;
31, Jack Harvey, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 12; 32, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports, 10; 33, Kyle Larson, Arrow McLaren with Henrick Motorsports, 6; 34, Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian, 5.
FOX SPORTS’ 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES BROADCAST COVERAGE SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 2 _ Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, March 23 _The Thermal Club, Thermal, Calif. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, April 13 _ Streets of Long Beach, Calif. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)
Sunday, May 4 _ Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Ala. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Saturday, May 10 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road-Course (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, May 25 _ Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, June 1 _ Streets of Detroit (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)
Sunday, June 15 _ World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Ill. (Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global)
Sunday, June 22 _ Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Sunday, July 6 _ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing)
Saturday, July 12 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 1 (FOX, 5 p.m.)
Sunday, July 13 _ Iowa Speedway, Newton, Race 2 (FOX, 1 p.m.)
Sunday, July 20 _ Streets of Toronto, Canada (FOX, noon)
Sunday, July 27 _ WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, Monterey, Calif. (FOX, 3 p.m.)
Sunday, Aug. 10 _ Portland (Ore.) International Raceway (FOX, 3 p.m.)
Sunday, Aug. 24 _ The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wis. (FOX, 2 p.m.)
Sunday, Aug. 31 _ Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. (2:30 p.m.)
NOTE _ All times Eastern. Dates and times subject to change.
