For the sixth time in his career, Scott Dixon has won the NTT Data INDYCAR Series Championship. Dixon dominated the series all year long as he finished 16 points ahead of Josef Newgarden. Newgarden won the season finale at St. Petersburg but it wasn’t enough as Dixon ran third.
In a year unlike any other, it was something that has only been done twice in the past 20 years. Dixon won the title in wire to wire fashion. The feat has only been done by Sam Hornish in 2001 during the Indy Racing League season and Sebastian Bourdais in 2006 during the Champ Car campaign.
“It’s never just one thing or one person,” Dixon said in a release. “For me, it’s about the team effort. We had a lot of changes in the offseason. Credit to Josef (Newgarden) and Team Penske. They drove the last part of the season flawlessly and a lot points, so that was pretty awesome to race them again. And we know next year is going to be the same, but huge thanks again to everyone on the team.”
Once the INDYCAR season returned Dixon’s domination began. He opened up the season with a dominating win at Texas. Then cruised to back to back road course victories at Indianapolis and Road America. Dixon didn’t win again until the series went to St. Louis. Despite not winning, he finished 12th in the second Road America race.
Then went second and fifth respectively while at Iowa and second in the Indianapolis 500. On the year Dixon had nine top five finishes and 13 top ten finishes. His worst finish all year came at Road America with that 12th place run.
All six of Dixon’s titles have come with Chip Ganassi Racing. This title comes amidst the weirdest season of all-time. He won four races en route to the title and won the first three races of the season. The sixth title puts him one shy of tying A.J. Foyt who holds the all-time record of seven INDYCAR titles.
“Well, six is good. Seven is better,” Dixon said. “That’s going to be the goal. But it’s tough. As you can see from the competition, even if you mess up just a little bit in qualifying, we had some problems this weekend and just couldn’t piece it together. Credit again to the team and just being able to pull ourselves out of that hole and stay consistent and just have a smooth race, and that’s what we did.”
Newgarden took second in the standings despite a late season push. In the final six races he finished no worse than 4th except for an 8th at the second Mid-Ohio race. That run included three wins but it was just not enough.
Following his win at St. Pete, Newgarden was thrilled to win the race. Yet, disappointed he couldn’t pull off back to back titles after taking it all in 2019. The Team Penske driver did what he needed to in keeping his title defense alive but it wasn’t enough to hold off Dixon.
“It’s definitely bittersweet. First off, congratulations to Scott and all his guys, his crew. It’s big time to win six championships. I’m sure they’re thrilled. They’re a great competitor,” Newgarden said. “On one hand, I don’t really know what I could do different this year. I don’t know what I could ask my guys to do different. They were flawless. Fastest in the pits all year long. I’m extremely proud to drive for my team.”
Colton Herta finished third in the final standings, Pato O’Ward took fourth and Will Power rounded out the top five in the championship standings.
Dixon will look to begin his title defense back on the streets of St. Pete on March 7th, 2021.