Rossi suddenly slowed to enter the pits for a green flag stop on Lap 123 of the 225-lap race.
Dixon, immediately behind him, was unaware of the Ed Carpenter Racing driver’s plan to pit.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver centre-punched the back of the preceding #21 car, sending Rossi spinning initially to the inside before collecting the outside wall entering Turn 3.
Dixon’s car, meanwhile, suffered a broken front wing and damage to its right front suspension.
“I was pitting. You have to slow down to pit,” said Rossi.
“It’s insane. I love Scott, I don’t want to say anything bad, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do in that situation.”
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Rossi thought it was “pretty obvious” that he was pitting, though Dixon disputed that account.
“It was just one of those circumstances where I thought he was blocking,” Dixon explained.
“Then he kind of moved back up to the middle of the track.
“Typically we get a bit of a heads up from the spotters saying, ‘hey, the car in front is going to pit’. There was none of that.
“I asked my spotter and, just as he was coming to pit, they said he was pitting.”
Dixon said that moves made by the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner made him think he was blocking.
“He was running the high line, I had a pretty good run, went low – same as the lap before – and then he covered the low side,” said Dixon.
“Then on the next lap when I had a better run, I went to the low side then he went low, so I went lower and all of a sudden he moved back up again.
“I thought he was letting me go, and then he slammed on the brakes to come into the pits. I had no idea he was coming into the pits.
“I was surprised by his move too. I don’t know what to say.”
Dixon was not penalised for the incident.
He returned to the pit lane for repairs and eventually returned to the race, finishing seven laps down in 18th.
The IndyCar Series returns on August 10 (AEST) at Portland.
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