Scott Dixon makes history at Honda Indy Toronto

On Sunday afternoon on the streets of Toronto, the NTT IndyCar Series returned for the first time in three years in front of a packed crowd. Colton Herta started on the pole, and Scott Dixon started second. For Dixon, he was looking for his fourth Toronto win as he was on a 23-race winless drought and looked to tie the great Mario Andretti with 52 wins.

The first caution came out on the second lap when Takuma Sato and Simon Pagenaud made contact at turn two, causing Sato to have left suspension damage that put him out of the race. On replay, Sato aggressively tried to get around Pagenaud, and the two made contact.

Herta stretched his lead to 1.679 seconds over Scott Dixon by lap 13. Four laps later, Herta made his first scheduled stop of the day as Felix Rosenqvist took the lead. Dixon pitted a lap earlier than Herta.

On lap 32, Herta passed Rinus VeeKay for the third position. Behind them, smoke was coming out of Dalton Kellett’s car, but no caution came out. Kellett blew an engine and finished in 24^th place. On lap 45, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi battled for the fourth position when Rosenqvist shoved Rossi out of the way at turn three. Rossi lost the steering, going into the wall that led to the second caution. These two will be under the same employer next season at McLaren.

Everyone except for Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly pitted during the caution. VeeKay was the leader on the restart at lap 49. VeeKay kept the lead, but Dixon, Herta, and Rosenqvist went by Conor Daly. As VeeKay was leading, the third caution came out on lap 55 when chunks of concrete came off the track, and track crews went to work to repair it. It took three laps before the race resumed on lap 58.

Two laps later, Kyle Kirkwood tried to get around Jimmie Johnson at turn nine, and they made contact for the fourth caution of the afternoon. The situation could’ve been prevented had Kirkwood backed off and gotten Johnson another time. Rinus VeeKay pitted during the caution with Scott Dixon, the new leader, on the restart at lap 66.

Scott Dixon did a great job not using up his tires and fuel, while Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist were fighting for second place. Both drivers gained on Dixon in the closing laps, but in the end, Scott Dixon ended his 23-race winless drought by 0.8106 over Colton Herta. Dixon is now a four-time winner in Toronto and tied Mario Andretti for second all-time in wins (52). He is now 15 wins away from tying A.J. Foyt (67).

The rest of the top ten finishers were Felix Rosenqvist third, Graham Rahal fourth, Marcus Ericsson fifth, Alex Palou sixth, Simon Pagenaud seventh, Christian Lundgaard eighth, Scott McLaughlin ninth, and Josef Newgarden tenth. There were seven lead changes and four cautions for 15 laps.

“We struggled a little bit on reds. We made some adjustments after this morning on some of the different tracks that we’ve been throughout the year. We had fought with understeer, and that definitely wasn’t the case today. It was a tough drive, man,” said Scott Dixon. “Ended a streak there, which is fantastic. Just so happy for the team. A crazy year for the 9. The PNC Bank No. 9 back in the winner’s circle. It just feels so good.”

When asked about tying Mario Andretti’s record? Dixon said. “It’s amazing. To be close to Mario, every time I’m asked these questions, I’m just so thankful that we still have A.J. and him in the pits. We get to see them; we get to talk to them. It’s just fantastic. It’s huge, man. I just feel so lucky to be a part of this group.”

“Felix was really fast, and I’m glad we were able to keep him behind us. He looked like a few more laps, and he was going to get us,” said Colton Herta. “We struggled a little bit with tire wear at the end, but other than that, our car was amazing.”

The NTT IndyCar Series heads to Iowa Speedway for a doubleheader starting Saturday at 4 pm on NBC. Tickets for the race can be purchased on StubHub.

Finishing Order: