Scott Dixon grabbed his 1st win in the 2023 season, his 54th win of his IndyCar career. The Iceman extended his win streak of at least 1 win in 19 straight seasons on his 319th consecutive start.
5. Devlin DeFrancesco Can Drive
He may not be back with Andretti Autosports in 2024, but what a weekend for the Canadian driver. Coming into the weekend, DeFrancesco’s best start in the NTT IndyCar Series was Gateway in 2022 starting P9, but today he started P5. During his IndyCar career so far, DeFrancesco led a single lap, today he led 8. Even if he didn’t win, the pass he made to take the lead on the opening lap is something to remember forever.
OKAY DEVLIN! pic.twitter.com/9Fz06iyhvA
— Andretti INDYCAR & INDY NXT (@AndrettiIndy) August 12, 2023
4. Palou Drama 2.0
Reports broke late Friday night stating Alex Palou may not be driving for Arrow McLaren in 2024 as everyone was led to believe. Palou also cut ties with his management team as well. On Saturday, car owner Chip Ganassi spoke out about his IndyCar driver. The start of a new chapter in what is lining up to be a spicy IndyCar silly season.
— Chip Ganassi Racing (@CGRTeams) August 12, 2023
3. Graham Rahal Can Still Drive At A High Level
With a season of a lot of lows and not too many highs, this weekend laid claim that Graham Rahal can still drive with the best of them! He was the fastest in the practice session on Friday, while capturing his 1st NTT P1 Award since Belle Isle in 2017. Today, he led a race leading 36 of 85 laps and was only outpaced by race winner Scott Dixon by just 0.4779 seconds.
"I'm not bummed, but I'm bummed." @GrahamRahal reflects on coming up just short of his first win since 2017.#INDYCAR // #GallagherGP pic.twitter.com/SYOu3VvNlD
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 12, 2023
2. Scott Dixon = GOAT
What more can be said? 54 career wins, 200 career top-five finishes and at least 1 win now in 19th straight seasons. His start on Sunday broke a tie with Tony Kanaan for the most consecutive starts with 319th. Dixon earned this win in Scott Dixon Style. The 6-time IndyCar champion got caught up in a first lap accident, only to fight back with an alternate strategy. Conserving just enough fuel to hold off Rahal at the end.
“What a day to win on.” ⁰⁰Hear from the ICE MAN after his first win of the season!⁰⁰#INDYCAR // #GallagherGP pic.twitter.com/26YSW2UFY5
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 12, 2023
1. IndyCar Points Championship Locked up?
Josef Newgarden’s championship bid took a huge hit on Saturday after an early crash on lap 1. With Alex Palou finishing P7, the Spaniard extended his points lead now to 101 points. Race winner and CGR teammate Scott Dixon overtook Newgarden for second place in the points standings. Impressively Palou’s average finish in 2023 is P3, meaning Dixon has a tough hill to climb if he wants to knock off his teammate with 3 races to go.
.@scottdixon9 is on the move 👀
#INDYCAR // #GallagherGP pic.twitter.com/BhW1LHdQ6a— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 13, 2023
Up Next: Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Sunday August 27 3:30 PM / ET
