Roy J. Akers- Opinion- Checkered Flags and in the Pits after Long Beach

By Roy Akers Apr21,2024 #NTT Indy Car

Photo by Penske Entertainment- James Black

Opinion: By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net

NTT Indy Car saw Scott Dixon drive away from the field and won the 57th race of his illustrious career and is only ten behind the all-time leader AJ Foyt.

Checkered Flag- Scott Dixon– Dixon won the 57th race of his illustrious career for owner Chip Ganassi and this is two straight for his team as Alex Palou won the $1M exhibition race last month. Dixon won by nearly ten seconds but Ganassi said the win almost did not happen. Ganassi said Dixon had been saving fuel for nearly 50 of the 85 laps and “absolutely” did not think Dixon was going to make it. “I said he was going to run out on the last lap.” Dixon never wavered and unlike 2023, he is putting his mark on the 2024 Championship with an early win.

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time- Josef Newgarden finished fourth on Sunday. Newgarden was run into by Colton Herta with lapped traffic midway through the race. Newgarden appeared to have the speed to catch Dixon, but Dixon only needed one break to pull away. He led twice for 17 of the 85 laps in the race. Newgarden leads the NTT Indy car in points after two races by five points with Dixon second.

When finishing third drops you to fourth– Alex Palou- finished third on Sunday but the 2023 NTT champion slipped to fourth in points after two races. Palou has a win in the exhibition and a third place finish. It looks like the heavyweights are moving to the top of the point standings for a season long duel.

Saving Fuel– Will Power finished 6th for Team Penske on Sunday. For Power, it was a race of what might have been. Power led laps 2-16 but tried to take advantage of a caution. Power, like Dixon made a pit stop and this gave Newgarden the lead on lap 18. Power went into full fuel saving mode for the rest of the race and finished in a final position of sixth.

The Points standings show Newgarden with a 12 point lead over Dixon. Colton Herta, Palou and Power round out the top five.

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Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 98.350 mph
Time of Race: 01:42:03.1416
Margin of victory: 0.9798 of a second
Cautions: 1 for 4 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 6 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Rosenqvist, Felix 1
Power, Will 2-16
Newgarden, Josef 17-29
Herta, Colton 30-32
Dixon, Scott 33-50
Kirkwood, Kyle 51
Newgarden, Josef 52-57
Herta, Colton 58-61
Dixon, Scott 62-85

UP NEXT: IndyCar races next Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Scott McLaughlin is the defending race winner. After nearly a five-week break, IndyCar is now on track seven of the next eight weekends.

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