LEXINGTON, Ohio (Sunday, July 6, 2025) – Scott Dixon combined
masterful fuel saving and a rare mistake by teammate and NTT INDYCAR
SERIES championship leader Alex Palou with five laps to go Sunday to win
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport.
Dixon continued two remarkable series-record streaks with his 59th
career victory, first win this season in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi
Racing Honda and seventh career win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: He
has won at least once in 21 consecutive seasons dating back to 2005 and
has recorded a victory in 23 seasons during his illustrious career.
“It was definitely a tough race,” Dixon said. “We had fantastic
cars. But just so much fun to try and pull off what we did and do it
with what we had was fantastic.
“They were supposed to (remove downforce) from the front wing on the
last stop. I just had to look at the corner, and the car was going to
turn. I was just hoping the rear tires were going to hold on.”
Six-time series champion Dixon crossed the finish line just .4201 of a
second ahead of Palou’s No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the
closest result this season in the series. Christian Lundgaard placed
third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti
Global w/Curb-Agajanian, while 2024 Mid-Ohio winner Pato O’Ward
rounded out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
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
when he ran wide into the dirt adjacent to Turn 9 and slowed, with Dixon
squeezing past for a lead he would not surrender.
“Just a stupid mistake, honestly,” Palou said. “A mistake on my
part. The car was amazing all weekend, all race. I just lost it a little
bit on (corner) entry and kind of really couldn’t get power going on.
“Nobody to blame but me. Just got a bit wide on entry and lost it
completely.”
Palou pulled to within .356 of a second with two laps to go but could
draw no closer as Dixon put on a master class of choosing lines that
maintained speed while slyly and legally blunting the momentum of his
trailing rival.
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.
Dixon’s victory was as masterful as it was improbable.
With a starting spot of ninth, Dixon and strategist Mike Hull decided to
capitalize on Dixon’s legendary ability to save fuel and attempt to
complete the race on just two pit stops, one fewer than most teams
attempted. 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 Christian Rasmussen’s 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 up front in the lead, knowing he had to build a sufficient
gap on track 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 13-turn, 2.258-mile circuit ahead of Dixon on track. He
expanded his lead to 1.8 seconds by Lap 77 and appeared to be headed to
his seventh victory of the season.
Then Palou bobbled with five laps to go, and Dixon pounced.
“We still had to save fuel all the way to the end, so it was
definitely very tight,” Dixon said. “I didn’t see what happened. I
saw he went off in Turn 9. We got a little bit lucky with that.”
There was some solace for Palou despite the barbed disappointment of
giving away a win. His championship lead, 93 points entering this event,
grew to 113 points. That’s a gap of more than two races with seven
races remaining this season.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event weekend is the Sukup INDYCAR Race
Weekend, a doubleheader July 12-13 at Iowa Speedway. The Synk 275
powered by Sukup is 5 p.m. ET Saturday, July 12, with the Farm to Finish
275 powered by Sukup at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, July 13. FOX, the FOX Sports
app and the INDYCAR Radio Network will broadcast both races live.