Dixon Wins At Mid Ohio As Newgarden Spins On The Last Lap: Video
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Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda came out on top at Mid Ohio on Sunday, with Scott Dixon holding off teammate Felix Rosenqvist in a thrilling last-lap battle to take his second win of the 2019 IndyCar Series season.
Will Power led the field to green after Team Penske put in a dominant qualifying session on Saturday that saw all three of its Chevrolet powered entries start in the Top 5. Tire strategies defined the race as the mid-summer sun beat down on the 13-turn, 2.2-mile road course, negating some of the advantage usually provided by the red stripe option tire and forcing teams to get creative with their pit stops.
Penske opted for a two-stop strategy for Power, which ultimately cost him a chance at victory as the drivers who opted for a three-stop passed him in the latter portion of the race on fresher rubber.
Among those drivers were Rosenqvist and Dixon, with the Swede short stinting the reds earlier in the race and Dixon electing to run them later on. As the final 30 laps wore on, Rosenqvist began to bear down on Dixon on his fresher black tires, but a couple of backmarkers still stood in his way. He smartly worked his way past the two lapped cars and made a number of desperate attempts for the lead on the final lap, but was unable to pass his veteran teammate and settled for second.
Championship contender Josef Newgarden, meanwhile, made an aggressive pass attempt on Ryan Hunter-Reay at the keyhole section of the track on the final lap and spun himself out, helping fellow American Alexander Rossi close the championship lead to just 16 points. Rossi finished fifth overall.
Click here for full results from the Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio and be sure to check out the full highlight reel in the video embedded above.
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The last couple of laps of this race was incredible; but these guys still lack the intensity of NASCAR as these guys drove hard except they didn’t try touching their opponent as they bump and push in NASCAR and if they had done that in this race, it would have been even more intense with cars flying all off the course.