Taking the lead on Lap 96 and never looking back, Scott Dixon picked up the win in the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix held on Saturday.
This win was Dixon’s thirty ninth career win which places him into a tie for fourth with Al Unser Jr. on the all-time IndyCar racing win list. This is also his twelfth consecutive season with at least one win which is also an IndyCar all-time record. This race was the first time that Indy Car has been back to Phoenix International Race in eleven years.
“It’s fantastic obviously to be back at Phoenix,” Dixon said. “I think 10 or 11 years since we’ve been here, and I think I was one of the few on the grid to have actually driven here in previous years. The weekend wasn’t totally smooth for us. We missed a little bit in qualifying, and we knew we had a good race car, and a lot of it was going to be about track position amongst people with similar speeds.
“It was definitely a tough fight out there tonight, probably one of the toughest short ovals that I can think of in recent history, just with how you had to manage the tires, fuel-mileage strategy, and for me tonight, a lot of credit goes to the team. Strategy was perfect. The pit stops were just amazing, and the setup was fantastic on the car. But yeah, it was really tough. I think for next year, everybody did a great job for first time back after being away for about 11 years, so the track has changed a lot. I think we learnt a lot tonight. Everybody did. I’m excited to come back next year.”
There was a great mix of drivers in the top-ten tonight with some rookies as well as some veterans. In past IndyCar races at Phoenix the drivers who led the most laps during those races had a lot of experience and had raced at the track previously. However during this race the drivers that led laps during it were veterans however most of them have never raced on the track before this season.
Dixon and Montoya have both driven the track with Montoya in NASCAR and Dixon in IndyCar, before they stopped going to the track. Montoya led laps before his issue and then Dixon took the lead and ended up winning. So maybe having the experience of running the track in an IndyCar helped Dixon out even though it is a different chassis, aerokit, etc. and probably a much different race set-up.
“You know, I think being in scenarios of knowing what you need to manage definitely helps, and the correspondence with the team, too, and just trying to maintain something that you knew you could do for the whole stint, and that was the hardest part,” Dixon said. “You could run flat out, you could pass cars if you needed to, but you didn’t want to be doing it all the time because it definitely took a toll on the tires. It was mostly about management, and I think that helped definitely a lot of the veterans tonight. I know TK was charging through the field.
“They had a bit of a misstep on strategy there I think towards the end, and I don’t know, I can’t say enough about obviously the Verizon IndyCar Series and getting us back to Phoenix and seeing the passion that the fans have had this weekend and even at the test, and the enthusiasm at all the autograph sessions and how excited everybody is to have us back here, and that’s what it’s all about. We’ve got to keep pushing, keep growing the sport, and it’s a great way to do it.”
In previous years, Dixon is known to get the season off to a slow start and then comes on strong towards the end. This season however, he pulls out a win in the second race of the season. Understandably as a result he is happy because it was his first win of 2016 and his first win at Phoenix for both him and his team, which is a big milestone in his career. A strong start to the year helps as he has always said that if they could start the season out a little bit easier then it would make the end of the season a little easier for them as they wouldn’t have to overcome and setbacks.
“The Verizon IndyCar Series is so tough,” Dixon said. ” The competition level is through the roof, and what it comes down to is nights and days when you can get points, you’ve got to maximize on it, and today was one of those days we maximized as a team and as a group to get most laps led, the bonus points, and obviously the victory. So yes, it’s great, but it doesn’t mean — didn’t guarantee us anything. We’re going to have to work out every race.”
Prior to racing at Phoenix International Raceway, all the IndyCar drivers were allowed to test at the track for two days at the end of February. The only difference was that the test took place mostly during the day and the race was held in the late afternoon early evening. Dixon said that was a huge difference to him and his team as to their set up. He said they made quite a few changes from the start of the race to help them as the car started out quite loose and there was a moment while racing with Ed (Carpenter) the car went a little sideways. He added that he knew the track was going to change and that there is much more of a shift during a day to night race and the testing helped the team cover all their bases for set up because it started out in the day and ended at night.
One of the other challenges that Dixon encountered was passing, as it was extremely difficult during the race, especially to get around lapped cars. Dixon said he felt if they would have had to push the issue with them, there was going to be a problem. However if they did need to push a harder then he would do so to maintain what him and his team needed to win. Dixon’s team manged to have pretty decent pit stops all night long which helped him have good track position and keep him in the lead so he didn’t have to worry to much about passing other cars.
Moving forward, he mentioned that he feels the whole passing issue can be improved for future races at PIR.