Dixon a legitimate threat to win 2019 NTT INDYCAR Series Championship

By Aug 1, 2019, 7:00 AM EDT
INDYCAR Photo by Chris Owens
INDYCAR Photo by Chris Owens
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Don’t count out five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in this year’s battle for the championship. By winning last Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio for a record-extending sixth time in his career, Dixon chopped 36 points off his deficit to points leader Josef Newgarden, who spun off course on the final lap.

That puts Dixon 62 points out with four races to go, including the final race that pays double points at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca on September 22.

Dixon is fourth in points heading into the two-weekend break before racing resumes in the August 18 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Does last Sunday’s win at Mid-Ohio elevate Dixon to “Dark Horse” status in the 2019 championship race?

“Yes, big-time,” Dixon told NBC Sports.com. “We know with the last four races to go; it’s going to be pretty tough. Penske is strong and Alexander Rossi has been tough as well. We’ll keep our heads down and try to make the most of it.

“It shifts it up a bit. We started the weekend 98 points back and now we are only 62 points back. Those are the weekends that you need. You don’t wish that on your competitors, but it sounds like he got caught up with Ryan Hunter-Reay on an awkward part of the track and it cost him 10 spots or so. We know Josef is a huge competitor and will bounce back strong.”

But, with three top drivers ahead of him including Team Penske’s Newgarden, sensational Andretti Autosport star Alexander Rossi and reigning Indianapolis 500 winning driver Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske, is it “doable” that Dixon can leapfrog all three drivers up and make up the 62-point deficit?

“Yeah, because it’s double points for the last one,” Dixon said. “Anything is possible, man. We’ve just got to keep our head down. We can’t start thinking about that right now, and if you win races, that will take care of it.”

That is exactly the mindset Dixon was in when he told NBC Sports.com that he was taking a “win or else” attitude into the Honda Indy Toronto on July 9. At that time, he was 106 points behind Newgarden.

Since that time, Dixon has been on a tear.

He finished second in Toronto, second the following weekend in the Iowa 300 at Iowa Speedway and won last Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.

Newgarden finished fourth at Toronto, won at Iowa and made a crucial last-lap mistake at Mid-Ohio when he tried to pass Hunter-Reay for third place on the final lap.

The two drivers banged wheels and Newgarden was knocked into the gravel pit and stalled his engine. Instead of finishing fourth, he finished 14th. Combine that with Dixon’s victory and it dramatically tightened the points race.

“That’s a big shift,” Dixon said. “Those are the weekends you need. We always go on about that 100-point mark, but when you come to the last race if you’re that far back it’s going to be impossible.

“You’ve got to take it. You don’t wish that on anybody. Talking to Ryan, who I guess that altercation was with, he really didn’t know what Josef was trying to do. I’m kind of a bit surprised to be honest, especially in the situation that he’s had, but it happens. It happens to the best of us. We make these mistakes, and the unfortunate part with Josef, I think that’s going to wind him up even more and he’s going to be super strong come Pocono.

“Either way, I think he’s going to be the person to beat. That team is super strong right now, and we’re going to have to work hard.”

Each of the next three races has the normal points structure which includes 50 points to win, one bonus point for the pole and one bonus point for leading the most laps. The final race of the season pays double, meaning the winner gets 100 points instead of 50.

By scoring his sixth win at Mid-Ohio, Dixon re-established himself as “The King of Mid-Ohio.” He must maintain that regal status at Pocono, Gateway, Portland and Laguna-Seca to claim a sixth NTT IndyCar Series championship.

Dixon reclaimed his throne at Mid-Ohio and is “The King” once again.

“You can only feel like ‘The King’ when you’ve won and it had been quite a while since we had won at Mid-Ohio,” Dixon said. “The sixth win, it feels really good, just for the sheer fact that we hadn’t won here since 2014. We’ve won a lot here as a team, but it’s been a while since we’ve won.

“There’s always races that you can analyze and maybe work out a little bit different. But today was a good hard race, and man, we really worked for it.

“What is more shocking is up starting sixth and eighth in the field at a track where you can’t pass. It was super exciting today and a crazy finish with Felix racing us hard at the end.”

“It’s hard when you go into a one-lap shootout when you bring a knife to a gun show,” Dixon said. “It was really, really tough.

“As always, super hard racing.”

It’s Dixon’s ability to compete in “super hard racing” that has brought him back into the thick of a championship battle. When it comes to winning championships, nobody in today’s NTT IndyCar Series knows how to do that better than Dixon.

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).