Chip Ganassi Racing Texas Race Report

Franchitti Victorious, Dixon Second for Team Target in Race One of the Texas Twin 275s

Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) driver Dario Franchitti came home with his first victory at Texas Motor Speedway in race one of the Texas Twin 275s, while Target teammate Scott Dixon finished second.

Franchitti lined-up second on the grid and put the No. 10 Huggies Honda Dallara into the lead on the first lap in turn one from pole sitter Alex Tagliani. He went on to lead 110 of the 114-lap event and took the checkered by 0.0527 seconds over teammate Scott Dixon. The win is the 28th of Franchitti’s Indy car career, giving him sole position of 10th on the all-time Indy car wins list ahead of Johnny Rutherford.

Dario Franchitti, Target Chip Ganassi Racing celebrates

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

Dixon started the race in seventh and wasted little time in moving into the top-five. After leading during green flag pit stops, the No. 9 Team Target pit crew got Dixon out of the pits ahead of Will Power and into second behind teammate Franchitti. Dixon remained behind Franchitti for the rest of the race, finishing in second.

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Dixon Second, Franchitti Seventh for Team Target in Race Two of the Texas Twin 275s

Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) driver Scott Dixon came home in second in race number two of the Texas Twin 275s while Dario Franchitti finished in seventh. Both drivers had to start deep in the field following the blind draw at the conclusion of race one with Dixon starting 18th and Franchitti starting 28th.

Dixon started race two in 18th and wasted little time moving toward the top-10 and ultimately the top-five. By the three-quarter mark of the 114-lap event, Dixon had driven his way up to second behind eventual race winner Will Power. In the closing laps, Dixon maintained his top-five position and brought the No. 9 Target Honda Dallara home in second.

Franchitti started the race in 28th and patiently worked his way through the 30-car field. By the half-way point, Franchitti had cracked the top-15 and had then the top-10 by the three-quarter mark. The Huggies crew gained Franchitti three spots on their final pit stop with less than 10 laps to go, helping Franchitti come home in seventh. From green to checkered, Franchitti gained 21 positions, tying him with Marco Andretti for the most positions gained throughout the 114-lap race.

With the finishes, Franchitti is second in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings, 21 behind leader Will Power, while Dixon stands third (- 71).

Dario Franchitti (From Race One): “There’s no doubt the Huggies car was good out front, I could get my way through traffic. But it was a handful in traffic, especially when lapped cars were blocking, doing all kinds of crazy stuff. I think we got it up to a 4.7 second lead at one point, then the yellow came. I saw Dixie. That's a guy you don't want to see, especially with a side-by-side restart. He's pretty good at pretty much any track you drive on. I managed to get a good restart, was able to stay ahead of him, and at the same time he was able to stay ahead of Will. That was 1-2 for the team. Worked out pretty good.

Scott Dixon (From Race One): "It’s tough when cars are on the bottom and have new tires, but I didn’t try to pass Dario until the last lap. Dario’s car, the Huggies car, is quick and was the class of the field. The race just blows by. It’s hard to keep count how many laps are left.The race went by pretty quick and it’s tough to pass the leader when he’s on the bottom. It was fun out there, and then crazy."

-source: cgr