Dixon rues Pocono miss, worries over Gateway, confident of title shot

The Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda driver led more laps than anyone at Pocono Raceway [51] but says that Chevrolet’s performance near the end of the race left his team running out of options.

“We led a lot of laps,” he told Motorsport.com, “but what it came down to was that when the Chevys turned it up, they had a bigger delta. The thing we did wrong was that we trimmed too much so toward the end I couldn’t stay flat nearly as much as I could earlier.

“When the tires were new it was OK, and then after 10 laps of each stint, I think everyone was breathing the throttle a little bit in Turn 1. Then once we trimmed out too far and had to start breathing it in Turn 3, before that long straight, it really hurt our lap time.

“We could have maybe been where [Alexander] Rossi was, third. But when I was second, leading that second group, Will [Power, winner for Penske-Chevrolet] was out front running 215mph laps and I think the best we could run was 213s, maybe one or two 214s.”

With the last three rounds of the IndyCar season taking place on a short oval (Gateway, tomorrow) and two road courses (Watkins Glen next week and Sonoma on Sept. 17), Dixon would appear to have an uphill battle ahead against the four Penske-Chevrolets, given the aerodynamic drag issues faced by Honda teams anywhere but superspeedways. However, the 41-time race winner said it was only Gateway this weekend that had him worried.

He said: “I think the Glen and Sonoma we’ll still have a good shot. But I think this weekend is going to be pretty miserable for us from what we saw at the test. I was second at the last test and the Penske car [driven by Helio Castroneves] was still four or five tenths up the road.

“The problem is that for a short oval, the straight at Gateway is so long, and so I think it will be like Phoenix [where Dixon and teammate Tony Kanaan finished fifth and sixth] but a lot worse.

“But you know, I could be wrong. There have been times when I’ve been surprised how competitive we’ve been considering what we know about the aerokit deficit. I think we’re one of the teams that knows the difference between the Chevy and Honda kits through and through, and it’s a huge downforce penalty and a ton more drag, so it’s the worst of both worlds.”

However, with his positive outlook on the final two rounds, Dixon said he’s confident he will be contending for his fifth IndyCar Series title.

“We’re second right now, just 18 points behind Josef [Newgarden], Sonoma is double-points, and strategy can really play into it at the last two tracks,” he observed. “I think we just have to be best ‘in class’ at Gateway by maximizing our potential.

“The Watkins Glen test was pretty good for us. Sonoma is a bit more of an unknown, because there’s another little tire compound change this year, and Penske are testing out there before the race. So that could be tricky.

“But I don’t know man, it’s easy to speculate. Do we have a shot? Absolutely. Do we think we have the absolute performance to do it? Maybe not… but I still think we’re strong contenders.”

Dixon said that although taking on the Penske quartet – Newgarden, Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power – would be a daunting task, he said that having all four drivers in contention for the championship at the season finale might actually work in his favor.

“I think you’ve just got to take things as they come and not come up with theories and stuff beforehand,” he warned, “but I see those as four individual teams, and they seem to race that way too! So I don’t think they’ll get into a group gang-up against us, and certainly if they’ve all got a shot, I think they’ll look after themselves, not each other.”

Dixon also said he didn’t necessarily expect Penske to occupy the first two rows of the grid at Sonoma, as they did last year.

“That’s possible but I think there’ll be more of a mix out there,” he said. “Andretti were fast in the test there pre-season, for example. Yeah, you’d say Sonoma is a Penske track, if you look at its history, but you know, it’s always tough going up against those guys, whatever the year, so we’re used to that. Nine times out of ten, it’s them we’re racing them for the title.”

Reflecting on the season so far, Dixon said he’s not surprised that the Ganassi team has been able to overcome its unfamiliarity with the Honda aerokit to put him in the running for the championship.

“Our team is pretty good at analyzing the state of play, and we knew going into this deal that road, street and short ovals would be demanding,” he recalled, “but the way it started for us – in terms of speed at least – was pretty fantastic. We could have won St. Pete but got hosed with the yellow, and then we lost out on strategy at Long Beach.

“That was a pleasant surprise to be that quick though, that was the encouraging thing. I think the other manufacturer has caught us a little bit on power since then, but we’ve still been good. We also lost out on two tracks that should have favored us – Indy which is double-points and Texas – so I think to be where we’re at in the championship says a lot about this team.”