Dixon wins at Texas again ahead of rookie McLaughlin

Scott Dixon finished first in a race of two New Zealanders, the veteran six-time IndyCar champion ahead of the series rookie racing in his debut on an oval track.

“Definitely the most happy I’ve ever been finishing second,” Scott McLaughlin said.

It was another dominating victory for Dixon at Texas Motor Speedway, winning Saturday night in the first of two races on consecutive days at the series’ first oval this season. He passed Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and polesitter Alex Palou at the start of the third lap and went on to lead 206 of 212 laps for his 51st career victory, the fifth at the high-banked, 1½-mile track in the Lone Star State.

The 40-year-old Dixon finished .2646 seconds ahead of McLaughlin, the 27-yearold Team Penske driver and three-time defending Australian V8 Supercars champion. “That guy in front of me, Scott Dixon, is a legend in this sport . ... It was very special for me and for New Zealand,” McLaughlin said.

“Huge result for a race for a couple of Kiwis, which is great to see,” Dixon said. “He’s going to have a lot of victories. I’ve got to try to hold him off while I can.”

McLaughlin will race in his first Indianapolis 500 later this month in the No. 3 famed “yellow submarine” driven by past winners Johnny Rutherford, Rick Mears and Helio Castroneves.

Dixon moved within one of matching Mario Andretti’s 52 victories for the second-most on the career list that A.J. Foyt tops with 67. Dixon has now won a race in 19 different seasons, breaking a tie with Foyt for the most. Dixon last year won his sixth season title, one short of Foyt’s record seven.

Pato O’Ward finished third, with Palou fourth ahead of Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden. There have been three different winners in the three IndyCar races this season.

Dixon is the first driver to win consecutive IndyCar races at Texas, which has now hosted 33 races — the 34th comes Sunday — in the track’s 25 seasons. He won last June in what was the opener in the pandemic-altered 2020 season.

IndyCar moved up the start of the race 35 minutes because of the increasing threat of rain deeper into the evening, though it was still dry long after the checkered flag. Qualifying was canceled earlier in the day because of overnight rain and morning mist that created a damp track that took a long time to dry before a single practice.