Scott Dixon, who has won the Indy 500 once before and is a six-time champion in the IndyCar Series, started the race in 21st place. Throughout the race, he steadily moved up the positions and was in the lead after the final pit stops with less than 30 laps left.
However, Josef Newgarden from Team Penske overtook Dixon, followed by Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward from Arrow McLaren.
Dixon managed to regain one position by passing Rossi just before the last lap, but he couldn’t catch up to Newgarden, who crossed the finish line first, ahead of O’Ward.
Dixon said, “Yeah, kind of, honestly, all we had,” after finishing less than a second behind Newgarden.
The last restart of the race on lap 155 showed the challenge Dixon faced. Although he was leading at the restart, O’Ward and Rossi quickly passed him.
Dixon said, “Went and made that restart from first position, and from the start-finish there was two of them past me already, and I knew it was going to be pretty tough.”
He praised the pace of his competitors, saying, “They had much better pace than us today. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough there at the end.”
Despite starting from behind, Dixon was the top finisher among the Honda drivers. He was joined by Alex Palou, his teammate, and Kyle Kirkwood from Andretti Global in the top 10.
Dixon expressed satisfaction with his performance and that of his team, saying, “I think the biggest thing is when you get out of the car you’re happy with what you did today. I think we gave it all, man. I think that’s myself and the team.”
He also mentioned the importance of giving their best effort, saying, “Yeah, I think in that way the only bummer you can have is when you leave the track and you know you didn’t give everything you had. I know we as a group left nothing on the table.”
