Dixon wins again at Gateway as Newgarden crashes out of championship fight

Scott Dixon scored his second consecutive IndyCar victory with a brilliant tactical drive in the Gateway 500.

In signature Dixon style, he laid the foundation early with a long first stint and managed his fuel and tyres perfectly thereafter. From 16th on the grid he climbed to victory making just three pit stops while all his closest challengers made five.

Dixon won by a whopping 22.2 seconds over Pato O’Ward in second. His 55th career win brings him within 74 points of Palou, who finished seventh today after starting 14th.

Josef Newgarden’s bid for a win, a sweep of this year’s oval races and – most importantly – a third championship title – slipped through his fingers with 50 laps to go.

The Penske driver, who led 98 laps from pole position, was battling O’Ward on the track. He had had just made his final pit stop, but slid off the racing line into turn one, washed up into the marbles and hit the wall in turn two.

Newgarden limped back to the pits without causing a caution but his race was effectively over. Suspension damage left him 25th, and eliminated the Indianapolis 500 winner from contention for the series title.

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O’Ward held onto second, racking up his seventh podium finish in a season where he is still yet to win a race. David Malukas scored his second straight podium at the Gateway oval, finishing third, the last driver on the lead lap.

Alexander Rossi took in fourth, ahead of Scott McLaughlin in fifth, and Colton Herta in sixth. Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, and Marcus Ericsson rounded off the top ten.

Palou – in the midst of his second contract dispute with an IndyCar team in as many years – can clinch the 2023 IndyCar championship with a podium finish at Portland next week.

In what was a tough race for other cars to overtake on track, the marbles at the edge of the corners caught out a number of drivers other than Newgarden. Takuma Sato’s final start of 2023 started poorly as he washed out into the marbles several times before crashing into the wall on lap 122.

Sato had drawn the ire of Callum Ilott earlier. The Juncos Hollinger driver had clipped the wall trying to avoid a slowing Sato in front of him, forcing him to retire after 58 laps.

Benjamin Pedersen never got that far. At the start of the race, Pedersen was hit from behind by Ed Carpenter at turn one, pitching the rookie into the wall and out of the race on the opening lap. The race was a tough one for the rookies, with 18th-ranked Linus Lundqvist the first of them to take the chequered flag.

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Gateway 500 results

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IndyCar

• McLaren left reeling after “abysmal” Barber weekend
• McLaughlin and Power put Penske back on top with one-two
• McLaughlin denies Power pole position to lead Penske one-two in Barber
• Newgarden admits he “failed my team miserably” over disqualification
• Ghiotto gets 11th hour call-up for IndyCar debut at Barber