Scott Dixon was short of words to describe his disappointment after a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding cost him his second Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday.
“It’s just heartbreaking, to be honest,” the Ganassi driver said after the race.
The six-time IndyCar champion had sat on pole position with the fastest four-lap pole run in Indy 500 history. He led almost half of the race’s laps – 95 out of 200 – and became the all-time record holder for most laps led in the history of the event. A second Indy 500 win seemed certain.
But all of these statistics and minor accolades achieved in the days and moments before the finish were no consolation after Dixon locked up entering the pit lane for his final pit stop. He entered the pits just one mile per hour over the designated 60mph (96kph) speed limit, and was given a drive-through penalty which harpooned his victory hopes.
“I don’t know, it must have been very close,” said Dixon. “I kind of came into the pit, locked the rears – and then kind of locked all four, and I knew it was going to be close. I think I was a mile an hour over or something.”
It’s the latest in a recent string of missed opportunities for Dixon to achieve his second win in the Indy 500, after winning it for the first time in 2008 – the first year of the reunified IndyCar Series.
Last year a full-course caution during a pit window forced Dixon to take on emergency service in a closed pit lane. Dixon, who had started on pole as he did this year, finished 17th after falling a lap down due to the ensuing penalty. A similar misfortune befell his team mate Álex Palou early in this year’s race, but the reigning IndyCar champion was able to rally back to a ninth-place finish.
In 2020, Dixon led 111 laps, but was overtaken by Takuma Sato with 16 laps left, and a late race caution left him unable to retake the lead. Unlike on Sunday, there was no red flag and late restart on that occasion….