06/08/15

Firestone 600 - Race Report

Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) driver Scott Dixon won the ninth round of the Verizon IndyCar Series at the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.

After starting seventh Dixon fell one position to eighth by Lap 5 of 248. Dixon worked his way back to the seventh position by Lap 17 and made his first green-flag pit stop of the day for four tires and fuel on Lap 44. Dixon climbed to the sixth position by Lap 70 and broke into the top five on Lap 84. The only caution flag of the day flew on Lap 84 and Dixon brought the No. 9 in for four tires, fuel and a front wing adjustment on Lap 85.

Dixon restarted in the fourth position on Lap 97 and climbed two positions to second place by Lap 103. On Lap 140 Dixon claimed the lead for the first time in the race before pitting one lap later for four tires and fuel. Dixon stayed in the lead until Lap 187 when he brought the No. 9 in for four tires, fuel and slight adjustments to the front wing and tire pressure. He made his final green-flag pit stop of the race on Lap 228 for four tires, fuel and a slight tire pressure adjustment before cycling out the lead where he would remain until the checkered flag waved.

With the result, Dixon holds the third position in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings with 305 markers, 43 points behind the points leader Juan Pablo Montoya.
 

Notes of Interest

· The win was Dixon’s 37th win in Indy car racing.

· It is the fourth win for Dixon in an Energizer car.

· This win was the 111th win for the Target Race Program.

· Dixon’s last win came at the 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

· This is Dixon’s second win at Texas (2008).

· This marks TCGR’s fourth win at Texas.

· With this win, Dixon extends his lead of being the winningest active driver in IndyCar (fifth place all-time).

· The win comes in Dixon’s 247th Indy car start.

TCGR Quoteboard

Scott Dixon, No. 9 Energizer® EcoAdvancedTM Chevrolet:

“A lot of credit goes to the Team Target engineering group for the option that we went with which was on the high downforce level. Another big thanks needs to go to Team Chevy for giving us so many good options to run with and the power they’ve given us as well. Once we got the balance right and we got some front wing in the car with some tire pressure changes, the car was basically on rails. That allowed us to run up there with TK and really push him along. After that pit stop exchange, we were able to take the lead and the car was just fantastic in traffic. I think that was the key to winning this race. We found out last year that not being able to run well in traffic was a huge disadvantage, so we made sure to correct that for this year. It was just one of those nights where you get towards the end and you just hope that there wasn’t going to be any yellows. I knew we had a good car, we just had to get it dialed in. I can’t thank the crew enough. This Energizer car....I told you...we had a run with this thing where we would constantly win. I am just over the moon with it, over the moon.”

diamond diamond

#ScottDixon