LEXINGTON — Nothing is impossible for Mr. Mid-Ohio.
Scott Dixon didn’t just take the checkered flag in Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, he did it in have-to-see-it-to-believe-it fashion.
The Australian-born Dixon won at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the fifth time since 2007 despite starting dead last in the 22-car field. He was sent to the back of the starting grid after spinning into the grass during Saturday’s rain-soaked — and slippery — qualifying session.
“I had to apologize to the team for my mistake in qualifying,” Dixon said from victory circle. “That was the only reason we started last, because of me.
“All weekend we had a car that was in the top three.”
He proved it Sunday.
The 34-year-old New Zealand native benefitted from a full course caution on lap 37 caused when Ryan Hunter-Reay spun while exiting turn 11. Dixon, who had taken four tires and fuel on lap 31, grabbed the lead for the first time under yellow on lap 39 when virtually the entire field, including leader and pole sitter Sebastien Bourdais, went to the pits for service. Dixon stayed out on the 2.25-mile, 13-turn permanent road course and when the race went green on lap 43, the driver of the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine was in command.
“(Mid-Ohio) suits me, but it also suits the team,” said Dixon, last year’s series champ who earned the 34th victory of his career and first since Houston last October. “If you look at it, I’ve had five wins here and the team has had 10, (including) six in a row. It’s nothing to sneeze at.
“It’s a place I love. It has great flow to it. I love old-school American tracks like Watkins Glen, Road America and Laguna Seca. The kind that are very physical and very demanding (with) lots of elevation, very technical. I think it’s a combination of things. You get a flow going and it just keeps taking off.”
Dixon lost the lead briefly when he pitted on lap 62, but regained the top spot when leader James Hinchcliffe went to the pits five laps later. Needing to go the final 28 laps on a single tank of fuel (the fuel window was 17 to 24 laps under green flag conditions with a three pit stop strategy), Dixon built an insurmountable lead and cruised to the win.
Bourdais was second, 5.3864 seconds behind. Hinchcliffe was third after starting 17th.
“Seventeenth to third sure sounds impressive until you talk to Scott,” Hinchcliffe joked. “He always wins here. … Scott’s one of the best all-around drivers we have on the series and has been for a decade.
“I can’t wait until he gets old and slows down. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s coming any time soon.”
Like Hinchcliffe, Bourdais was impressed with Dixon’s jaw-dropping performance.
“To be honest, we really didn’t have anything for ‘Dixie,’ ” Bourdais said. “The fastest car won the race.”
The last two Mid-Ohio races were run without a caution. That streak came to an end on the first lap Sunday as a multi-car incident in turn 4 knocked both Tony Kanaan, Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, and Marco Andretti out of the race.
“I went on the inside of (Josef) Newgarden a d it was really tight for both of us and I don’t know if he saw me or not,” Kanaan said. “I was all the way alongside him and then towards the middle of the corner he was actually a little bit ahead, so there was contact there and he touched my front wheel and I spun.
“Man, I was in a tough position there. And Marco didn’t see me unfortunately and I feel bad for Marco, I feel bad for the Target Chip Ganassi boys.”
Ganassi had the last laugh Sunday, though.
“Mid-Ohio has been really special for me my whole career. I did a lot of racing here as a driver,” Ganassi said. “It’s great to bring the team here. … It’s really an honor to be here in victory circle.
“I just want to thank all the fans because they are just so good to us here.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
