By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Scott Dixon entered Pocono Raceway was the championship leader for the Verizon IndyCar Series. And thanks to a decent car, he also left leading the championship, too.
Finishing third in Sunday’s ABC Supply 500, it was a comeback day after a mid-pack qualifying effort placed him 13th on the start. And following Robert Wickens’ brutal crash on Lap 7, Dixon was ready to climb further up the ladder to potentially battle Rossi for another win in 2018.
However, that battle was not meant to be for Dixon, who was never able to close in on Rossi throughout the 500-miler toward his podium result. In fact, Dixon finished 41 seconds in rears of Rossi’s checkered-flag claim.
“Definitely a strange one,” Dixon said of the race. “You can get [the car] pretty loose by itself and then just in the traffic it was massive washout. With the kink being as difficult as it was, you just couldn’t pass. Through that mid-stint, we tried to shift up on strategy and got caught with Marco [Andretti]. The leaders just took off and basically all of us were racing for third.”
Indeed, Dixon and much of the field struggled to make ground on track, as the 2018 aero kit made for difficult passing conditions in the 189-lap green-flag run to the end.
“It was really tough to pass,” he said. “You can get cars that are really bad, mid-way pace and you struggled. Marco was lifting big time to get fuel mileage and I couldn’t get a run on him.
“Next year, we definitely need to come back with a revised aero kit.”
The day started spectacular for Dixon, who managed to steer clear of Wickens’ wreck without damage.
“It’s unfortunate to see an accident like that at any time. Especially the first lap of a 500-mile race,” he said. “It is very tough getting through that kink, the way the car functions is difficult. None of us ever want to see that, horrible to see. It’s definitely a close-knit family here.”
While Wickens was admitted into Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest Hospital with orthopedic injuries, Dixon’s day seemed mild. The four-time IndyCar champion exits Pocono 29 points ahead of Rossi, who chopped 17 points off the gap with his win on Sunday.
“Nice to get some points out of it,” Dixon said. “Obviously, we took a bit of a hit with Rossi. Congrats to him, he’s doing a stellar job right now. We definitely need to sort our act out, especially qualifying and pace out of the car.
“If you look at the last couple races, we’ve taken a hit. We haven’t been horrible just a bit blah. You can’t say anything else.”