Dixon seeks elusive Barber victory in tight IndyCar season

Scott Dixon: 'There have been years when we really thought we were going to win it, but it just slipped away.' Photo / Photosport

Multiple IndyCar race winner New Zealander Scott Dixon might be second on the all-time list with 58 victories, but Barber Motorsport Park is one place he’s yet to knock off.

In 14 starts he’s had nine podium finishes and this weekend he’d really like to get that elusive first win in Alabama and his first win of the season.

“I haven’t won there [Barber] and had lots of podiums and finished second six times, I think, which is crazy,” Dixon told the Weekend Herald.

“There have been years when we really thought we were going to win it, but it just slipped away.

“It’s a fun track but in the past we’ve been hit with being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last year was a crazy race when I collided with [Graham] Rahal and ended up going off track. He didn’t do anything wrong; it was just one of those things.

“I’m definitely looking to get a win this weekend at this track. I’m also looking for more than just the one win this season – there’ll be more, that’s for sure.”

Dixon sits fifth in the title race on 86 points behind Felix Rosenqvist (88), Christian Lundgaard (96), Kyle Kirkwood (108) and series leader and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Palou (142).

The championship has always been hard-fought. However, these days it’s the depth of the field and the number of drivers who are capable of winning that makes it even more difficult.

While Palou is gunning for his third successive title and out front at the moment, some of the more established runners are struggling, with Will Power in ninth, Josef Newgarden 10th and Alexander Rossi in 11th.

“It’s been pretty tight recently and if you make a mistake you’re back in the pack. Qualifying is really important and if you get it right, you’re okay. I’ve just got to learn not to stress too much about Q1 and Q2 as we definitely have the speed to get through, Dixon said.

“Unfortunately [so far this season], either I’ve made a mistake, or we’ve ended up in traffic.

“You’ve definitely got to be on your game now. What’s different now is that every team strategy-wise are really on it and you also have to make sure the pitstops are right.

“Very rarely now do people make mistakes and if you do you get caught out. Everybody’s caught up to us now [Ganassi Racing for years set the benchmark for race strategy and slick pitstops].

“The Penske guys [Scott McLaughlin, Power and Newgarden] have qualified strangely this year. This is a bit of a Penske circuit, and they were quickest in testing so it’ll be interesting to see how they go, and they’ll be the team to beat.”

The weather is looking unsettled for the weekend and rain is forecast.

While some drivers tested at Barder recently, Dixon was not one of them, which may potentially hand opponents a slight advantage. The Kiwi is not too concerned as he and his team had a solid test at Indianapolis.

“Most of the teams have tested here, but we didn’t. Our testing at the road course [Indianapolis] was good and we found some good things. We ended up fastest, which was a good result.

“It looks like there might be some rain for qualifying that should mix the field up. You’re restricted on the number of wets we can have so there will won’t be a lot of practice to test much.

“It’s a fun track in the wet and pretty high grip, unlike a lot of the other tracks we go to,” he said.