By INDYCAR
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Scott Dixon proved yet again Sunday that almost nothing is impossible for him behind the wheel of a race car, winning the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix with a dramatic blend of patience and aggression over the closing laps.
Nobody in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES saves fuel better than Dixon, and he drove the last 34 laps of the 85-lap street race on one tank of Shell 100% Renewable Race Fuel in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to hold off a hard-charging Colton Herta – who was on a more conventional, less risky fuel strategy – by .9798 of a second.
SEE: Race Results
“That was tough; that was really tough,” Dixon said. “Honestly, I didn’t think we were going to make it, and they kept giving me a (fuel) number, and it just wasn’t getting … I was close but not enough. Luckily, we were on the safe side there.”
Dixon, who started eighth, even had enough fuel left in his Honda engine to perform a celebratory burnout after claiming his first victory of the season and the 57th win of his legendary career. It was his second victory on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile Long Beach temporary street circuit, joining his triumph in 2015.
Reigning series champion Alex Palou finished third in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Series points leader Josef Newgarden placed a disappointing fourth in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet after looking to be Dixon’s biggest threat until Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global made contact with him late in the race.
Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top five in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda fielded by Andretti Global, as that team and Chip Ganassi Racing each claimed two of the top five finishing positions.
The 27-car field splintered into two groups of differing strategies on Lap 15 when the only caution period of the race was triggered by Christian Rasmussen’s spin and wall contact in Turn 4 in the No. 20 GuyCare Chevrolet fielded by Ed Carpenter Racing.
Then race leader Will Power and Dixon led a group of drivers that dove into the pits during that caution, with Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Armstrong, Graham Rahal and Linus Lundqvist among the other leading lights adopting that tactic.
That strategy play handed the lead to Newgarden on Lap 17, and he kept the top spot when green-flag racing resumed on Lap 19.
For the next 45 laps, the early-stopping drivers used every tactic in their bag of skills to save fuel,…
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