IndyCar rivalry heats up: Scott Dixon and Will Power set for Road America rematch

Scott Dixon celebrates winning the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix. Photo / AP

New Zealand IndyCar racer Scott Dixon is on a roll. The six-time champion has won five of the past 10 races, and last time out on the streets of Detroit became the first driver to win twice this season.

Dixon has regularly been the dominant driver in the second half of the season, routinely notching at least one win. Last year, he won three of the last four.

The 43-year-old leads the title race by 18 points from Alex Palou, with Will Power a further 13 back.

Dixon’s rivals will not want him to extend his points lead this weekend at Road America in Wisconsin, a track where he has won twice.

“Things always change, man. Some of the other guys are close to winning two races and the points are pretty close,” Dixon said on an IndyCar podcast.

“In 2020, I think I had a 155-point lead with six races to go and almost lost it [championship title]. Anything can happen and that’s what is so great about IndyCar racing.

“You look at Josef [Newgarden], who might get on another fantastic run, and Iowa has changed this year, so I don’t know how that will pan out. There’s also Milwaukee and Nashville and new tracks, and some will adapt more quickly than others.

“It’s always wide open, man, and you’re going to see a lot of these people [other drivers] having a big resurgence come along shortly.”

It will be interesting to see how Dixon and Power get on this weekend, because last year there was a bit of chest-thumping.

They had a coming together and both cars were badly damaged. Power stormed over to Dixon as the Kiwi tried to apologise but the angry Aussie grabbed him briefly.

Kiwi Marcus Armstrong achieved his best IndyCar result by finishing third last weekend. He started 19th and clawed his way through the field, avoiding all the chaos and carnage to get on the podium.

This weekend, he’s at what he calls his favourite track — a road course where he led an IndyCars race for the first time last year. Armstrong is 13th in the championship and hoping for more points this weekend.

“We haven’t really shown what we can do this year,” he said. “Last weekend was a good result and now I’m at my favourite track. I feel like we can keep improving and it would be a perfect place to get another podium.”

Fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has experienced both ends of the success spectrum this season. He had a podium finish stripped from him, bounced back with a win and a top-six finish, set the fastest pole speed record at the Indianapolis 500, only to finish sixth, and then crashed out at Detroit while challenging for the lead.

“Just driver error there on that incident in the tyres,” said McLaughlin. “We were in a fantastic position up to that point. I hate it for my Gallagher Chevy team and our partners, and I’m gutted it cost us a shot at a win. We’ll press on to Road America, one of my favourite race tracks in the world.”

Dixon may be leading the championship but there’s a long way to go. Of the six point-scoring races, there have been five different winners and there may well be another this weekend.

Dixon leads the series on 218 points, followed by Palou (198), Power (185), Pato O’Ward (160), Alexander Rossi (150) and fellow Kiwis McLaughlin (141) and Armstrong (116).