July 6, 2025 | By IndyCar PR

Dixon Takes Record-Extending Win at Mid-Ohio After Rare Mistake by Palou

LEXINGTON, Ohio—Scott Dixon combined masterful fuel saving and a rare mistake by teammate and NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Alex Palou with five laps to go Sunday to win The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport.

Dixon continued two remarkable series-record streaks with his 59th career victory, first win this season in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda and seventh career win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course: He has won at least once in 21 consecutive seasons dating back to 2005 and has recorded a victory in 23 seasons during his illustrious career.

“It was definitely a tough race,” Dixon said. “We had fantastic cars. But just so much fun to try and pull off what we did and do it with what we had was fantastic.

“They were supposed to (remove downforce) from the front wing on the last stop. I just had to look at the corner, and the car was going to turn. I was just hoping the rear tires were going to hold on.”

Six-time series champion Dixon crossed the finish line just .4201 of a second ahead of Palou’s No. 10 Open AI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, the closest result this season in the series. Christian Lundgaard placed third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Colton Herta finished fourth in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global w/Curb-Agajanian, while 2024 Mid-Ohio winner Pato O’Ward rounded out the top five in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

NTT P1 Award winner Palou led Dixon by approximately two seconds and appeared to be headed to his seventh victory of the season on Lap 85 when he ran wide into the dirt adjacent to Turn 9 and slowed, with Dixon squeezing past for a lead he would not surrender.

“Just a stupid mistake, honestly,” Palou said. “A mistake on my part. The car was amazing all weekend, all race. I just lost it a little bit on (corner) entry and kind of really couldn’t get power going on.

“Nobody to blame but me. Just got a bit wide on entry and lost it completely.”

Palou pulled to within .356 of a second with two laps to go but could draw no closer as Dixon put on a master class of choosing lines that maintained speed while slyly and legally blunting the momentum of his trailing rival.

Dixon’s ability to adjust his racing lines on the fly was most evident in Turn 2, the famous “Keyhole” corner, on the last two laps.

On Lap 89, Dixon opened the low line for Palou to explore and then eased from mid-corner across Palou’s lower line on corner exit, taking advantage of the wider line in the turn to pull away on the back straightaway. On the final lap, Dixon instead chose the low line through Turn 2, eliminating a prime overtaking spot for Palou.

Dixon’s victory was as masterful as it was improbable.

With a starting spot of ninth, Dixon and strategist Mike Hull decided to capitalize on Dixon’s legendary ability to save fuel and attempt to complete the race on just two pit stops, one fewer than most teams attempted. The fuel mileage alchemy needed some laps under yellow to have a chance to succeed, and Dixon got that during the final caution period from Laps 31-34 when Christian Rasmussen’s No. 21 ECR Splenda Chevrolet stopped off course in Turn 8.

Dixon made his final pit stop at the end of Lap 61. Meanwhile, Palou was pushing hard up front in the lead, knowing he had to build a sufficient gap on track to keep the top spot from Dixon after his final stop and make a three-stop strategy work.

Palou entered the pits for his final stop at the end of Lap 72 and rejoined the 13-turn, 2.258-mile circuit ahead of Dixon on track. He expanded his lead to 1.8 seconds by Lap 77 and appeared to be headed to his seventh victory of the season.

Then Palou bobbled with five laps to go, and Dixon pounced.

“We still had to save fuel all the way to the end, so it was definitely very tight,” Dixon said. “I didn’t see what happened. I saw he went off in Turn 9. We got a little bit lucky with that.”

There was some solace for Palou despite the barbed disappointment of giving away a win. His championship lead, 93 points entering this event, grew to 113 points. That’s a gap of more than two races with seven races remaining this season.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event weekend is the Sukup INDYCAR Race Weekend, a doubleheader July 12-13 at Iowa Speedway. The Synk 275 powered by Sukup is 5 p.m. ET Saturday, July 12, with the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, July 13. FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network will broadcast both races live.


THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO 
PRESENTED BY THE ALL-NEW 2026 PASSPORT RACE RESULTS

LEXINGTON, OHIO - Results Sunday of The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
2. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
3. (2) Christian Lundgaard, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (5) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
5. (14) Pato O'Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
6. (15) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 90, Running
7. (8) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 90, Running
8. (7) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 90, Running
9. (26) Rinus VeeKay, Honda, 90, Running
10. (3) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 90, Running
11. (4) Nolan Siegel, Chevrolet, 90, Running
12. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
13. (24) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 90, Running
14. (6) Louis Foster, Honda, 90, Running
15. (11) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 90, Running
16. (17) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17. (13) David Malukas, Chevrolet, 90, Running
18. (19) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 90, Running
19. (12) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
20. (23) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 90, Running
21. (27) Robert Shwartzman, Chevrolet, 90, Running
22. (25) Jacob Abel, Honda, 90, Running
23. (21) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 89, Running
24. (20) Graham Rahal, Honda, 89, Running
25. (16) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 36, Contact
26. (22) Will Power, Chevrolet, 11, Contact
27. (18) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 111.166
Time of Race: 01:49:41.0967
Margin of victory: 0.4201 of a second
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Palou, Alex 1 - 27
Simpson, Kyffin 28
Dixon, Scott 29
Palou, Alex 30 - 56
Dixon, Scott 57 - 60
Palou, Alex 61 - 72
Herta, Colton 73 - 75
Palou, Alex 76 - 84
Dixon, Scott 85 - 90

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 430, Kirkwood 317, O'Ward 305, Dixon 282, Lundgaard 263, Rosenqvist 259, Herta 217, Armstrong 209, Power 202, Ferrucci 198, McLaughlin 197, Malukas 187, VeeKay 179, Rossi 176, Simpson 162, Rasmussen 155, Siegel 147, Daly 144, Newgarden 142, Ericsson 141, Rahal 139, Foster 118, Shwartzman 113, Robb 105, DeFrancesco 99, Ilott 95, Abel 64, TAkuma Sato 36, Helio Castroneves 20, Ed Carpenter 16, Jack Harvey 12, Ryan Hunter-Reay 10, Kyle Larson 6, Marco Andretti 5