Only two men have won more IndyCar races than Scott Dixon. Only one man has more IndyCar championships than Dixon. This year has washed out any skepticism that could possibly remain that he isn't one of the greatest drivers we have ever seen. He move up the record book in multiple categories passing the names Andretti and Unser and Foyt along the way. Any argument against him was squashed. The man will talked about for generations to come in the United States and New Zealand.
There is one thing I have noticed with Scott Dixon's historic success and that is the lack of push back. Jimmie Johnson's run to seven NASCAR Cup championships was met with resistance. Many didn't want to see him do it. Plenty have laid blame at his feet for NASCAR's decline. Lewis Hamilton is experiencing the same kind of hatred in Formula One. History has not been embraced. It has been ridiculed.
Dixon has become more of a fan favorite the more he has raced and won. He is making a way into folklore. He might not be John Henry or Paul Bunyan but there is a sense of myth behind the man from New Zealand. He can go further on fuel then anybody else in the field. He can start 22nd at Mid-Ohio and win. Two weeks ago at Portland, his ability to be engulfed in an accident and emerge from the dust with all four wheels intact, engine running and a scuffed nose added to the legend. Other drivers have gotten their brakes but few have a list of absurd survivals as Dixon. A.J. Foyt might be the only other driver that comes close.
I don't know why Dixon, through the string of championships and dominating race victories, has become popular when every other driver of his caliber in other series has become a villain. Dixon wasn't beloved from the start. There was a bit of resentment against Dixon for a long time. His IndyCar career started during a period of resentment. Nobody could find a reason to be happy because the kingdom had been set ablaze. The palaces were gone. The streets were in ruin. We were pissed. The stature had been lost and we knew it was never coming back.
It took us, the IndyCar fan base, a long time to reach acceptance but in the last six years we not only made it there but we have come to appreciate what we have. The lost USAC talents of Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, the blunted careers of Alex Zanardi and Greg Moore, the historic events that died and the home runs that died on the warning tracks do not occupy the IndyCar mindset. We have reached a point where we are happy with what we have and that includes Scott Dixon.
He stuck around. Should that be enough? Well... it is. Just before Dixon's prime IndyCar was not the fashionable place. It is hard to fault a driver for chasing money and bouncing to NASCAR but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of a fan base. Dixon didn't abandon ship and we know he could have at any time. He has the talent to succeed anywhere. He choses to be here.
IndyCar lost a lot over the last twenty years. In Scott Dixon, the series has found the 21st century legend and somebody that can be embraced.
2. It didn't quite work out today for Alexander Rossi. It was a day from hell but he rose from it. It would have been easy to roll over after the turn one incident where he ran into the back of Marco Andretti, breaking his front wing and deflating his right front tire. The man was dead last for far longer than he ever imagined. He was a lap down. The day was over.
Then he got a break, made a pit stop and came out on the lead lap. The charge was on and he went from 15th to sixth in one stint. He rolled the dice and stopped early and forced Dixon's hand. Time had run out but he put himself back in a position to take the title had Dixon faltered. He did run out of fuel coming to the line, ironically the same thing happened in his first Sonoma start. Seventh is what he wanted.
Hindsight is a bitch. He pretty much got back where he started. What would his race have looked like had he gotten through turn one? All races are long races. The first step is getting through the first lap. Rossi arguably had the best season of the year. He left a lot of points on the table. I am not sure they would have all added up to get him the title over Dixon but Rossi is young. This was only his 50th start. This was his third season. There is always next year.
Alexander Rossi's was everybody's sleeper for 2018 at the end of last season. This wasn't some bullshit young driver with a bit of success but no results and elevated because of a load of hope. Rossi wasn't messing around. He was quick and mixing it with the big boys early in his career. He had his stumbling blocks but it didn't take long for him to cement himself as a driver to keep an eye on at every race weekend.
The days leading up to the finale were spent looking at the three-year arc of Rossi's IndyCar career. The resentment Dixon had Rossi also fought. He wasn't invested enough. He wasn't passionate enough. He wasn't open enough. To some, despite being born in California, he probably wasn't American enough. All that counterbalanced the talent, the driver who was holding his own in Europe, finished second in the GP2 Series to a McLaren development driver and made it to Formula One. Rossi has probably been the best American driver in single-seater racing for the last five years but the European junior series do not get any attention in the United States. Rossi mind as well have been driving a forklift at Costco. It would have earned him more respect.
But it is funny what success can do in three years. Rossi wasn't floundering around at the back. He wasn't someone IndyCar fans could poo-poo as just another inflated talent who spent years in Europe and around the Formula One landscape and thought they were the shit. Rossi backed it up. He stepped on toes along the way. He has never cared.
Rossi is the American driver we wanted. He doesn't give an inch. He isn't polite. He doesn't let anyone else push him around. It doesn't matter how many races or championships a competitor has won, Rossi doesn't let it faze him. The accolades aren't in mind when he behind the wheel. He doesn't see championships and race victories in his mirrors. It is just another driver and one he is beating.
Dixon and Rossi both fall in a boat of drivers who we wonder what they could do if given a shot at Formula One. Rossi got there but we knew his time would be brief and results were not going to be impressive. Dixon may be fine with never getting that shot but Rossi is young enough for a second go. Rossi might be content with IndyCar but his ruthlessness and swagger could lead him to take another swing at it and he would know IndyCar is always there to return to.
3. On to the race winner and Ryan Hunter-Reay finally gets a top five championship finish. He hadn't finished in the top five of the championship since he took the 2012 title. Every year Hunter-Reay has at least three races where things go against him and they are usually mechanical failures while he is in the top five. It happened this year at Gateway. Before that there was Pocono where he and Robert Wickens got together. He lost it into the turn three tires at Toronto and he had no radio at Iowa before suspension issues derailed his day. And everybody seemed to hit him at Long Beach. If there were only 12 races a season Hunter-Reay might win the title every year.
All joking aside, after two years where Hunter-Reay couldn't get back to the top step of the podium he ends 2018 with two victories and six podium finishes. All ten of Hunter-Reay's top ten finishes were top five finishes. This was a "he's still got it year" for Hunter-Reay. There is no shame in not winning a race in an IndyCar season. It is difficult. There are only 17 races. Plenty of top names do not win a race. But when you don't win a race for two consecutive years you start to ask questions. Hunter-Reay's career was left for dead 12 years ago. He has come a long way. He is getting older. He has 18 victories. The only full-time active drivers with more are Dixon, Sébastien Bourdais and Will Power. He isn't as celebrated as those three but he has had a stellar career.
4. Will Power got another podium finish and it was a year where Power could have won the title but the last three years Power has won a bunch and then piled up retirements. This year was an un-Penske year. The things that went wrong always seemed to bite Power and they were little things. Power is no longer the skittish driver when it comes to crunch time. If the team can sure up the things under the body work Power will win another title.
5. Simon Pagenaud will end the year with ten consecutive top ten finishes after he finished fourth today and 2018 was a disappointment. I am not sure there is a driver who was as close to the front as he was and not a contender. Other than Texas there wasn't a race where Pagenaud was fighting for the victory. He was quick but didn't have that last bit to get him over the top. This year is already being compared to 2015 where Pagenaud's first year with Penske was also the first year of the aero kit. The results didn't come but then he came out like gangbusters in 2016. I think Pagenaud will win a race next year but the field is too deep for him to dominate like that again.
6. Marco Andretti rounded out the top five and finished in the top ten of the championship despite entering the day in 12th! You cannot say this was a bad year for Andretti. He was solid. He isn't a flashy driver but he can hold his own. He had eight top ten finishes this year. It just doesn't seem to click for Andretti. He will be fast on Friday and be in the top five in both practice sessions and then in qualifying not make it out of round one. If he can find that consistency I think he can win a race or two. A championship is a stretch but Andretti could still have a breakout year despite being around for more than a decade.
7. Sébastien Bourdais nipped Rossi at the line for sixth. Bourdais was all over the board this year. He seemed to have it at the start of the year but then things hit the fan and he couldn't get a result. He ended strong with four top ten finishes in the final five races. I think this team could put together an underdog championship run but Bourdais and Dale Coyne Racing have to be on it every week and can never had a day of misfortune. I am excited for what this pairing can do next year.
8. Josef Newgarden does not defend his title and for the first time he does not improve his championship position. That streak was bound to end. After all, you can't do better than champion. He won three races but didn't stand on the podium in any other races. He only had three other top five finishes this year. He still finished fifth in the championship. There is no need to be concerned. He will be fine next year.
9. Patricio O'Ward is going to have a full-time ride this year. He started fifth and finished ninth on debut. That is pretty good for a kid who had not driven an IndyCar until one test day last week. It is easy to hype a rookie. It seems like we do it every three years and pronounce a driver as the next great young star and about one in ten of those live up to the hype. I think O'Ward will be fun to watch next year.
10. Ed Jones likely ends his Chip Ganassi Racing tenure with a tenth place finish. I think Jones is quick and could become a decent driver but I think he was rushed into the Ganassi seat. I think Ganassi took a flier and it ended up not going as the team had hoped. At the same time, I don't think Ganassi was that invested in Jones. The Felix Rosenqvist talks all summer kind of confirm that. But this is the second consecutive year Ganassi has had a poor falling out with drivers. Last year, Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton were disappointed in team decisions to retire cars when they wanted to compete. I wonder what the culture is like in that team. Dixon deserves all that he gets but one day Dixon will not be there and how will the team handle its drivers then? Let's keep an eye on this.
11. Santino Ferrucci's brief IndyCar rookie season ends with an 11th place finish. He wasn't that far off his teammates in the final two races. I will be honest and say I think he is a bit of a punk and he is trying to be the victim after the Formula Two incident. If he is full-time next year there will be rough patches and let's see how he handles it. There is a room for somebody that is not liked.
12. Tony Kanaan's 300th consecutive start ends with a 12th place finish. This was not the dream season he and A.J. Foyt Racing had in mind. I think it will be an uphill battle next year.
13. We are going to speed through the rest of the field. Jordan King went from 25th to 13th, which is good. King's rookie year was good. He showed pace but never got a top ten. I think he will stick around.
14. Zach Veach's rookie year didn't end as planned but he showed he is game for IndyCar and I expect him to pick it up in his sophomore year.
15. James Hinchcliffe struggles to end a season on a good note. He holds onto a top ten championship position on tiebreaker over teammate Robert Wickens, the guy that missed the final three races. That seems fitting. A lot happened to this team but the final results are disappointing.
16. I am going to cover a few part-time drivers in one go: Pietro Fittipaldi held his own in his few starts. I want to see what he can do with more time and when he is healthy. Jack Harvey and Meyer Shank Racing had moments this year, Long Beach and the Indianapolis 500 to be specific but the team didn't leave a mark. I think they could and we will have to see what 2019 brings. Carlos Muñoz's second race as substitute for Robert Wickens wasn't great. I think Muñoz should be a full-time competitor.
17. Matheus Leist wasn't great in his rookie year and outside of his first qualifying run at St. Petersburg and a respectable showing in Indianapolis 500 qualifying, he was non-existent. It makes you wonder if Foyt made the right decision going out on a limb for a teenager over keeping one of Muñoz or Conor Daly.
18. Colton Herta's debut wasn't as great as his teammate's but he is 18 years old. He is the first driver born in the 21st century to start an IndyCar race. Give him some time.
19. Carlin's first IndyCar season ends with Max Chilton in 21st and Charlie Kimball in 22nd. Chilton's one good day was qualifying at Mid-Ohio. I think everyone expected it to be a rough year but Chilton never had a good day. Kimball got top ten finishes for the team. I think the team should be pleased but know it has to do better in 2019 and it should expect to build and do better.
20. Spencer Pigot's finale ended prematurely again. He will be back with Ed Carpenter Racing next year. It would make sense to keep King as the road/street course driver but I think Pigot would benefit from another veteran teammate at road/street courses. He needs someone to lean on and I think that would be much better for his development.
21. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's year ended with double retirements. Graham Rahal didn't win a race but he was in the top ten more than he wasn't. Takuma Sato won a race and had pace. The team was just a bit off this year and it may have been because of the expansion to two cars but I think the team can get back to where it was and retaining both drivers for 2019 is a positive
22. Finally, let's cover the start of this race and the clash with NASCAR. Live television folks, you got to love it. It was unfortunate. It was hysterical as well but sometimes this happens and it sucks the race had to start on CNBC and then be simulcasted on NBCSN during the red flag for the NASCAR race and then go back to CNBC only and then wait for the NASCAR race victory lane interview.
It will not happen next year with the Laguna Seca finale likely on network NBC and with the NASCAR Cup race the night before at Richmond. Everything worked out though. It was a pain and a buzzkill. I am not sure IndyCar could have held off the start any longer. There are people at the track and they showed up for a scheduled start time. There are a lot of people that have to be pleased and in this scenario somebody has to lose out.
In the end, it worked out. The race ended on NBCSN, Rossi's charge through the field was on NBCSN and we got to see Scott Dixon and his family be handed the Astor Cup on NBCSN. Everything was fine.
23. This was the final race with Verizon as title sponsor of IndyCar and it is tough to see Verizon go. It is odd any time a title sponsor or any sponsor is leaving. Everyone thanks the company for its support, whether it was for one season or 21 seasons but at the same time it is understandable to feel angry. The partnership is deemed no longer viable for business. The money is gone and the series, teams, drivers and crews are left wondering where the money is going to come from.
Verizon did a really good job for five years. We shouldn't expect companies to commit for anything longer than that. We were fooled during the days of tobacco money. We thought everyone had a pot that large and deep. In the last 15 years we have learned that isn't the case. After all Coca-Cola doesn't need to spend $25 million dollars to sell soda. Mars doesn't need to spend $25 million to sell M&Ms. The return on investment isn't practical when it comes to consumer products.
The next title sponsor for IndyCar will likely have the same shelf life. In five years we will be back here again. The truth is there isn't that wonder company that will dump money down the IndyCar drain. The Amazons/Apples/Microsofts of the world don't have to go crazy with promotional dollars and motorsports makes no sense. What company will see it as worth it?
24. This was the final race for Sonoma. It is tough to see it go. I went in 2009. Sonoma is a lovely venue and not far from San Francisco. Sonoma was on the schedule for 14 consecutive years. That is quite impressive considering IndyCar's recent history and that is part of the reason why it will be missed. It was one of the venues we got used to when racetracks were skeptical about IndyCar.
On the flip side, Sonoma never got the racetrack layout correct. The esses were deemed too fast with not enough runoff room for IndyCar, so the series ran the turn nine section. The hairpin was deemed not to have enough runoff from so the series ran the motorcycle hairpin before having an intermediate hairpin for the latter years.
I wish Sonoma had tried something. I wrote about this before. I was open to anything. Sonoma doesn't have an iconic layout. The track has been altered so much over the last two decades and IndyCar didn't have a long history with the track. No one was partial to any layout.
The race moved to mid-September three years ago and that move didn't help. The attendance was sparse in late August and moving the race back and moving the start time back to after 3:30 p.m. local time didn't make it better.
Sonoma was in an odd spot at the end: Not drawing a large enough crowd to turn heads but beloved within the paddock because sponsors loved the location. It became a holiday week to end the season. It has been a corporate weekend, not a fan weekend.
A lot of people wish for Sonoma to return soon but with Laguna Seca set to host the finale for the next three years I am not sure that will happen. Sonoma could be run in February when it is green but that isn't going to happen. It may return one day but it is likely further away than most wish for.
25. Another late night. It is ironic the best Sonoma race was the final Sonoma race. Not every finale is going to be a thriller. This race lost some of its luster in turn one. It happens. Now the offseason is here and we have a lot of review. But that is for tomorrow. Enjoy the night.
