Motorsport: ‘rookie mistake’ causes Scott Dixon to miss Indycar title fight

A ‘rookie mistake’ by Scott Dixon has seen him cough up a chance to nearly close out the Indycar title.

Dixon was second in today’s race at Mid-Ohio when he got too wide in a corner and ended up on the grass. That pushed the Kiwi back to 20th, giving up any chance of a fifth win this season.

Dixon managed to fight his way back to finish 10th, the same place he claimed in the first race of the weekend. He hit the track with a chance to mathematically clinch his sixth IndyCar championship with a strong weekend, but instead performed unusually poorly. He qualified 17th for yesterday’s race and couldn’t make up enough positions to prevent Josef Newgarden from taking 20 points off his 96-point lead in qualifying.

His lead in the overall standings now sits at 72 points with just three races remaining.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver admitted he made a ‘stupid mistake’ finishing at the back of the field.

“I got a little aggressive. I hit the over-take at the start to one and too much power from Honda there, it spun the tires and the car spun,” Dixon said after the race. “It caught me totally off guard. A total rookie mistake. I’m bummed for the team. It was such a stupid mistake I shouldn’t have made.”

He still leads the Indycar standings with three races remaining, but a win today would have almost secured his sixth title.

Colton Herta won the race, his first victory of the season. He led teammates Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay in a sweep for the Andretti group.

“It’s so big. So big,” team owner Michael Andretti said. “Man, 1-2-3, after how things have been for us this year, this is huge.”

Josef Newgarden, second behind Dixon in the season standings, was eighth.

Racing returns in October with another double-race weekend at the Indycar Harvest GP in Indianapolis, followed by the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.