Scott Dixon has been left frustrated by a serious of unfortunate events as he finished eighth in the Gateway IndyCar race.
The six-time champion was among the handful of drivers who were on the lead lap throughout the 260-lapper, at least in effective terms, but never appeared to seriously threaten the very front-runners.
He was eighth during the second and final Caution/red flag period, which lasted more than two hours due to rain and a lightning hold, and ceded another spot by pitting again just before the restart.
That was a call taken also by Chip Ganassi Racing team-mates Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou, but it paid off for none of them, with Dixon only regaining one position in the 36-lap green flag run to the finish.
Ironically, his high-water mark of fourth came during the first Caution period, as a results of three cars ahead taking pit stops.
Among them were eventual race winner Josef Newgarden, with Dixon hinting that his crew should have made the same call.
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The #9 timing stand had tried its luck at other times during the race, usually pitting earlier than most, but the strategy never quite worked out.
Still, with series leader Will Power getting home a relatively lowly sixth, Dixon is just 14 points off the top of the series standings, even if he has dropped a spot to third.
“We just really struggled to get on a roll,” said the New Zealander.
“Any kind of undercut or whatever we tried, we got blocked into a lapped traffic scenario. Definitely frustrating.
“We missed a valuable pit stop on one of the Cautions which maybe would have changed it, maybe not.
“The #9 PNC Bank team did a hell of a job, the pitstops were awesome all night.
“It came out okay, we’re still 14 points out of the championship and with two races to go we’re definitely in it.”
Cars #8, #9, and #10 finished seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively, meaning Ganassi’s three IndyCar big guns are fourth, third, and fifth in the standings, respectively.
Ericsson is only three points behind Dixon, and hence firmly in contention for the title.
While Palou is 43 points behind Power, the equivalent of almost a full event, he insists that he too is in the hunt for what would be back-to-back series victories despite there being just two races to go.
“We’re still in the hunt,” declared the Spaniard.
“The championship is really close and we’re heading to the West Coast, where we were quite strong last year, with chances to win.
“We need to focus on ourselves, try to win the last two races of the year and try to get this championship back home again.”
IndyCar heads to Portland on September 2-4 (local time), before the finale a week later at Laguna Seca.
Every IndyCar race is live and ad-free on Stan Sport.
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